Heroes
While calling attention to the issues of trafficking and exploitation, the State Department also recognized nine individuals for their efforts to combat trafficking and help victims.
Among them was Mohammed Bassam al-Nasseri of Iraq, who pressed for the passage of his nation's anti-trafficking law. He personally helped 34 Eastern European construction workers who were trafficked into and then abandoned in Baghdad, without their promised pay or proper housing.
"Imagine for a minute if you got a good job offer, received a good job offer that ended up as a degrading job with no decent or dignified salary. Without wages, you ended up eating dried bread. You have no access to clean water to drink or to bathe," said al-Nasseri.
He said this is the harsh reality for trafficking victims who can find themselves cut off from all they know, trapped in forced labor, involuntary domestic servitude and prostitution.
Challenges
The State Department says the countries that rank lowest in dealing with human trafficking are Algeria, the Central African Republic, China, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan, Yemen and Zimbabwe.
Countries were downgraded when officials determined they had not taken ample steps to fight trafficking. Both Russia and China had been on the Tier 2 Watch List for the past nine years.
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