Human Trafficking Thrives in Democratically Deficient Nations

There is a clear relationship between human trafficking, one of the modern world’s most egregious human rights violations, and despotic political regimes, Freedom House said today in response to the State Department’s latest Trafficking in Persons Report.

“The overlap between countries with little or no respect for fundamental freedoms and those that perpetuate the trafficking industry is unsurprising,” said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House. “Most of the governments that don’t respect their citizens’ human rights also lack mechanisms that could limit the exploitation of their most vulnerable residents. Predictably, these countries become breeding grounds for a range of human rights abuses, including trafficking.”

The worst enablers of human trafficking, according to the State Department report, comprise a virtual “Who’s Who” of countries that don’t respect fundamental freedoms.  Of the sixteen countries on the State Department’s Tier Three list of worst offenders, twelve are ranked Not Free in Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2007 survey. Furthermore, seven—Burma, Cuba, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, and Uzbekistan—receive Freedom House’s lowest possible rating for political rights and civil liberties.

Trafficking, an insidious form of modern-day slavery, is thriving, with approximately 800,000 people being moved across international borders annually, according to the report. Last year, up to 17,500 people are estimated to have entered the U.S. through human trafficking networks.

“Two hundred years after the slave trade was outlawed in the British empire, the world’s leading power at the time, today’s democracies need to do more to combat this appalling form of exploitation,” said Paula Schriefer, director of advocacy at Freedom House. “In this country, steps such as the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 should be strengthened to ensure that those countries not taking adequate steps to prevent trafficking are closely monitored and given strong incentives to comply with global standards.”

Freedom House is an independent nongovernmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom in the world.