US puts Maldives into trafficking watch list

The United States on Monday put Afghanistan, Brunei, Laos, Maldives, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam on a human trafficking watch list.

Although reason for inclusion of the Maldives was not stated, treatment of expatriate laborers was believed to be the reason. Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam was bombarded by the State Department for f failing to prevent women from being forced into prostitution.

The move opens the way for the United States to cut off some civilian assistance, although it usually functions as a symbolic means to pressure countries to take action.

The State Department recognized improvements in Malaysia and Fiji, keeping them on the list but removing them from the lowest category of countries that do not even meet the minimum standards on human trafficking.

North Korea, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea remained at that bottom level.

Taiwan was upgraded and listed as fully compliant in efforts against human trafficking. Australia, New Zealand and South Korea were also listed as fully compliant.

Explaining the downgrade for Singapore, the report said that some women from China, the Philippines and Thailand are tricked into coming to the city-state with promises of legitimate employment and coerced into the sex trade.

The report said that while Singapore launched "some significant new steps" to fight forced labor, there were no "quantifiable indicators" that the government was identifying more victims or prosecuting more culprits.

The State Department said that Thailand was a source, destination and transit point for trafficking, with ethnic minorities and citizens of neighboring countries at particular risk of sexual abuse or forced labor.

US senator Jim Webb, who heads the Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asia, had made an unusually open appeal not to place Thailand on the black list.

Webb visited Thailand this month and said US embassy staff disagreed with the intended downgrade as it could curb assistance for democracy and human rights programs.

The downgrade occurs "at a time when this type of aide is desperately needed to bolster political reforms in Thailand and to promote political stability," Webb said last week.