Fiji has been upgraded from Tier 3 to Tier 2 in an international Human Trafficking Watchlist. But concerns remain about Fiji and several other Pacific Islands countries on the list.
On June 14, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released the 2010 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report in Washington DC.
The 177-country report is the most comprehensive worldwide analysis of the efforts of governments to combat trafficking in persons, which is essentially a modern-day form of slavery.
Its findings aim to raise global awareness and spur countries to take effective actions to counter trafficking in persons.
The TIP Report grades countries according to Tiers. Tier 1 Countries are governments that fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards.
Tier 2 Countries’ governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.
Tier 3 Countries’ governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.
Pacific nations named in the report and the tiers in which they are listed are: Australia 1. Kiribati 2, Palau 2, PNG 3, Fiji from 3 to 2, New Zealand 1 and the Federated States of Micronesia 2.
When releasing the report in Washington, Clinton said 10 years ago, the United Nations negotiated the international standards against trafficking in persons and the United States enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA).
“Since then, the international community has witnessed tangible progress in the effort to end the scourge of trafficking in persons.
More victims have been protected, more cases have been successfully prosecuted, and more instances of human rights abuse have been prevented”.
Fiji was named as a Tier 3 nation in the 2009 TIP Report. The 2010 report upgrades Fiji to the Tier 2, alongside Kiribati and FSM. This tier lists countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards, AND: a) the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing; b) there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year; or, c) the determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional future steps over the next year.
Moving from Tier 3 to Tier 2 removes US Congressionally mandated sections against US approval of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank financing proposals.
While Fiji and PNG have both continued to draw down loans from ADB inspite of their Tier 3 status, the Fiji Government has been concerned about its status affecting a proposed US$500 million infrastructure loan from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The report found that the government of Fiji is making significant efforts to comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
During last year, the Fiji government enacted a comprehensive anti-trafficking law, the Crimes Decree, repealing the archaic Penal Code.
The Crimes Decree defines trafficking as a crime of compelled service which does not necessarily involve crossing a border or otherwise moving a victim, and includes several innovative provisions to protect both adult and child trafficking victims.
The government conducted anti-trafficking conferences and training for law enforcement personnel, where high-level officials spoke out strongly against trafficking and committed themselves to fighting this crime in Fiji.
It also actively engaged with the media to raise public awareness of trafficking, and is in the process of developing procedural guidelines for suspected trafficking cases.
Despite these significant efforts, no trafficking offenders have ever been investigated or convicted under any relevant laws in Fiji. It also had no national plan of action to address trafficking during the reporting period.
Fiji has not pro-actively identified trafficking victims or developed a formal system for referring victims to NGOs for assistance; hence Fiji’s placement on the Tier 2.
Fiji’s President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau and US Ambassador based in Fiji, Steven McGann met to discuss this problem and agreed they would work together to make this issue a high priority of their offices.
In November 2009 President Nailatikau urged all relevant government agencies to work with the U.S. Embassy on this matter.
The report recommends a number of steps Fiji could take to improve its efforts against trafficking.
These steps are instructive for other Pacific Islands countries on the watchlist.
The steps include prosecuting, convicting, and sentencing trafficking offenders under the provisions of the new Crimes Decree; developing a long-term, national anti-trafficking action plan; using existing partnerships with civil society and relevant organisations to combat the sex trafficking of children; increasing training for law enforcement officers on victim identification and protection; developing and instituting a formal procedure to pro-actively identify victims of trafficking, especially among vulnerable groups such as prostituted or homeless children and women; implementing a visible anti-trafficking awareness campaign directed at clients of children in commercial sexual exploitation; developing internal procedures to routinely evaluate and improve upon government anti-trafficking efforts; and expanding partnerships with international law enforcement entities to identify and prosecute Fiji residents, foreign visitors, and travel industry personnel involved in child sex trafficking and child sex tourism.
In recognising that TIP remains a serious problem in the United States, the 2010 Report, for the first time, includes the United States as a Tier 1 country.
The Suva-based Pacific Islands Immigration Directors’ Conference, (PIDC) an organisation for Heads of Immigration services from 23 Pacific Islands states and territories has been collecting data on cases of human trafficking and people smuggling in its member countries for the past seven years.
Its secretariat head, Reg Sanday says human trafficking and people smuggling are emerging issues that need to be urgently addressed.
Agencies such as Save the Children Fiji, UNICEF, ILO and the Regional Rights Resources Team (RRRT), PIDC and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat have been working to address the issue in areas such as model legislation, policy advice, research and awareness raising.
Other measures include a six-month attachment this year of an Immigration Officer at the Forum Secretariat to work with PIDC on human trafficking and a regional workshop of Immigration heads in Vanuatu later this year to raise further awareness and discuss ways to harmonise with international efforts.