WASHINGTON: Pakistan has been placed in the second tier of the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report by the United States State Department for the third consecutive year since 2022.
The report, which was released on Monday, classifies countries into three tiers based on their compliance with the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) and their efforts in to address human trafficking.
Tier 1 indicates compliance with the TVPA and active efforts to combat trafficking, while Tier 2 includes countries that are not fully compliant with the TVPA but are making "significant efforts" to do so.
Countries placed in Tier 3 may face potential sanctions or restrictions on US assistance, such as non-humanitarian related support, if authorised by the US president.
Pakistan equalises with its neighbour, India, on the list as the report has found both countries to "not meet the minimum standards for ending human trafficking".
However, the report highlighted that the governments of both countries are working diligently to meet these standards, hence their rank in the list.
Additionally, the report noted that Pakistan's government has demonstrated "an overall greater effort than the previous report" with increased prosecutions and punishments for human traffickers.
Furthermore, the report said that human traffickers "exploit domestic, foreign nationals in Pakistan and India".
It highlighted "forced labour" as both countries' "biggest human trafficking problem" with 4.5 million workers being stuck with it across Pakistan.
Human traffickers employ forced labour in kilns, agriculture, coal, carpet industries, the report said.
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