Russia and Belarus recognised as sponsors of human trafficking
25 June 2024 20:19
The United States has added Russia and Belarus to the list of countries sponsoring human trafficking. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" reports citing the US State Department, which has published the relevant information on its website.
The website contains data from the State Department’s annual report on human trafficking. The document for 2024 contains 13 countries with a documented “policy or pattern” of human trafficking, human trafficking within government programmes, forced labour in government health services or other sectors, sexual slavery in government camps, or the employment or recruitment of child soldiers.
Among them:
- Afghanistan
- Belarus
- Burma
- China, People’s Republic of
- Cuba
- Eritrea
- Iran
- Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of
- Russia
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Syria
- Turkmenistan
Ukraine has already responded to the US move. Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets commented on the move on his official Telegram channel.
“In fact, this information is not surprising, as Russia is an aggressor country that has been violating human rights in Ukraine for 10 years. However, such lists, condemnation of Russia’s actions by other states, may eventually have a powerful result in stopping crimes and bringing the perpetrators to justice,” the Ukrainian ombudsman wrote.
It should be noted that human trafficking is a so-called “umbrella term” used to describe a crime whereby traffickers exploit and profit from adults or children by forcing them to perform labour or engage in commercial sex. When a person under the age of 18 is used to perform a commercial sex act, it is a crime regardless of whether force, fraud, or coercion is used.
The United States recognises two main forms of human trafficking: forced labour and sex trafficking.
