Washington.- Latin America and the Caribbean focus on combating sex trafficking to the detriment of forced labor, says the United States in its annual report on human trafficking presented this Monday, in which Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua remain on the black list.
Migrants and asylum seekers “are especially vulnerable to sex trafficking and forced labor” when they cannot pay traffickers for debts incurred, it warns.
In general, the countries of the Americas “have good knowledge of sex trafficking and respond to it,” especially that which affects women, but there is concern about “the weak efforts aimed at combating forced labor,” he says.
Labor inspectorates “have limited or no authority to inspect informal sector workplaces,” especially along migratory routes, it notes.
This leaves victims unprotected in sectors such as agriculture, mining, logging, maritime transport and services, he details.
The report covers 188 countries and divides them into three levels based on the degree of compliance with the minimum standards.
States on the blacklist – “level 3” – may be subject to restrictions on access to US foreign aid programs.
Washington continues to include Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, with whose governments it maintains a very tense relationship.
The report dedicates a section to “forced labor” in Cuba’s labor export program.
Coercive laws
Every year the Cuban government sends tens of thousands of workers, especially medical personnel, but also teachers, artists, athletes, coaches, engineers, forestry technicians and almost 7 thousand merchant marines to all over the world, the report recalls.
The Government of President Joe Biden condemns the recruitment practices and affirms that Cuba subjects all these workers “to the same coercive laws.”
Havana labels workers who leave the program without completing it as “deserters” and undesirables – preventing them from returning to Cuba for eight years – and considers those who do not return within 24 months to have “emigrated”, thus losing their rights.
Washington warns of the dangers to the host country’s health system.
“Survivors of the program have reported that the director of the Cuban mission in the country forced them to falsify medical records and misrepresent critical information,” the report reads, calling on governments that use the Cuban programs to “at a minimum” carry out “frequent and unannounced labor inspections.”
The report’s blacklist also includes, among others, China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Afghanistan and Syria. Brunei and Sudan join it this year.
Cindy Dyer, head of the Office of the Department of Monitoring and Combating Trafficking in Persons, stated in a press conference that the Russian authorities or their affiliated forces “used coercion, deception and, in some cases, force to recruit foreign nationals, particularly migrants from Central and South Asia, as well as citizens of Cuba and Syria, to fight in the war” in Ukraine.
The 2024 report also examines “the growing role of digital technology in trafficking,” said the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, during the presentation.
“Trafficking networks target and recruit victims online through social media,” conduct “financial transactions in opaque cryptocurrencies,” and “use encryption to make it difficult to detect their activities or determine the countries in which they operate,” Blinken listed. .
ten heroes
This year the US Government honors ten “heroes” in the fight against human trafficking, including three Hispanic women.
One is Maria Werlau, co-founder and director of the Free Society Project, known as the Cuba Archive, a think tank that defends human rights through information.
It also rewards Bolivian lawyer Marcela Martínez for her “fundamental” work in protecting trafficking survivors and preventing victims.
Spaniard Rosa Cendón has been honored for being “at the forefront” of anti-trafficking efforts in Catalonia and for her work at the height of the European migration crisis.
The other “heroes” are: Al Amin Noyon, from Bangladesh, Mustafa Ridha Mustafa al-Yasiri, from Iraq, Edith Murogo, from Kenya, Oumou Elkhairou Niaré Samaké, from Mali, Samson Inocencio Jr, from the Philippines, Marijana Savic, from Serbia and Letitia Pinas, from Suriname.
With information from AFP
#calls #combat #forced #labor