THE UNITED Arab Emirates and Jamaica were among 14 countries which were given a Tier-3 rating, the lowest ranking on a three-tier ranking system, in this year's United States Department of State Human Trafficking Report. The report was released in June this year.
Jamaica was downgraded to Tier-3 from a Tier-2 watch-list status, which the country had been placed on during the previous year. The Tier-3 ranking carries stiff economic sanctions, which could become effective October 1 this year. However, the President of the United States has the power to waive the sanctions and lift the ranking if he thinks Jamaica has made significant efforts to combat human trafficking within the three-month period after the release of the report and sanctions take effect.
US, JAMAICA HOLDING TALKS
The U.S. Department of State and the Jamaican Government are now in discussions toward this objective. Based on the United States' recommendations, the Jamaican Government has set up a special unit within the Organised Crime Division, which has the mandate for combating human trafficking on the island.
Head of the unit, Superintendent Devon Watkiss, disclosed about three weeks ago, that within a month, 70 persons were arrested for trafficking in persons within Jamaica.
According to human rights agencies, the trafficking in persons is the illegal and highly profitable recruitment, transport, or sale of human beings into all forms of forced labour and servitude, including trafficking into forced marriage.
The country will know on September 2 whether the United States will lift the country's Tier-3 ranking.
