Trafficking in Persons Interim Assessment
Released by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
January 19, 2007
Bahrain
The Government of Bahrain made uneven progress in combating trafficking in persons since the release of the 2006 Report. In November, the government opened a shelter capable of accommodating 60-80 trafficking victims, and offering medical, psychological, and legal care. Victims have access to library and recreational facilities, as well as skills training while they await repatriation. Victims can only enter the shelter by police referral, and for reasons of security, they are only permitted to leave the premises for official business purposes. The shelter receives only female victims of trafficking.
Trafficking in Persons Interim Assessment
Released by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
January 19, 2007
Bahrain
The Government of Bahrain made uneven progress in combating trafficking in persons since the release of the 2006 Report. In November, the government opened a shelter capable of accommodating 60-80 trafficking victims, and offering medical, psychological, and legal care. Victims have access to library and recreational facilities, as well as skills training while they await repatriation. Victims can only enter the shelter by police referral, and for reasons of security, they are only permitted to leave the premises for official business purposes. The shelter receives only female victims of trafficking.
Bahrain has yet to pass or enact comprehensive anti-trafficking draft legislation that was written in March 2006, but the newly elected parliament is expected to take it up in the new legislative session. Bahrain reports using other statutes to prosecute trafficking crimes, but it is unclear how many of these cases actually involve trafficking. Current legislation is inadequate to prosecute trafficking crimes, particularly those committed against domestic workers and laborers in the construction industry who face conditions of involuntary servitude.
The Government of Bahrain has not formalized victim identification procedures to distinguish trafficking victims from prostitutes and illegal migrants. Currently, victims of trafficking are arrested for prostitution or for violating immigration laws and are jailed or detained until prosecuted or deported, without being offered victim protection services. Victims are still expected to identify themselves as victims of trafficking to the police before receiving entry to the new government-sponsored shelter, but they are often discouraged from doing so for fear of arrest and/or deportation.
Trafficking in Persons Interim Assessment
The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, passed by the Congress and signed into law by the President in December 2003, requires the Department of State to submit to the Congress an Interim Assessment of the progress made in combating trafficking in persons (TIP) by those countries placed on the Special Watch List in September 2006. The evaluation period covers the six months since the release of the June 2006 annual report.
This year, 39 countries are on the Special Watch List. These countries either (1) had moved up a tier in the 2006 TIP Report over the last year’s Report, or (2) were ranked on Tier 2 in the 2006 TIP Report, but (a) had failed to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat TIP from the previous year, (b) were placed on Tier 2 because of commitments to carry out additional future actions over the coming year, or (c) had a significant or significantly increasing number of trafficking victims. Thirty-four of the 39 countries on the Special Watch List are in the second category–ranked as Tier 2 Watch List–including two countries initially ranked as Tier 3 in the June 2006 TIP Report, but reassessed as Tier 2 Watch List countries by the State Department in September 2006 (Belize and Laos). Attached to this Interim Assessment is an overview of the tier process.
In most cases, the Interim Assessment is intended to serve as a tool by which to gauge the anti trafficking progress of countries which may be in danger of slipping a tier in the upcoming June 2007 TIP Report and to give them guidance on how to avoid a Tier 3 ranking. It is a tightly focused progress report, assessing the concrete actions a government has taken to address the key deficiencies highlighted in the June 2006 TIP Report. The Interim Assessment covers actions undertaken between the beginning of May–the cutoff for data covered in the June TIP Report–and November. Readers are requested to refer back to the annual TIP Report for an analysis of large scale efforts and a description of the trafficking problem in each particular country.
Tier Process
The Department placed each of the countries included on the 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report into one of the three lists, described here as tiers, mandated by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended (TVPA). This placement reflects an evaluation of a government’s actions to combat trafficking. The Department first evaluates whether the government fully complies with the TVPRA’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Countries whose governments do so are placed in Tier 1. For other countries, the Department considers whether their governments made significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance. Countries whose governments are making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards are placed in Tier 2. Those countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so are placed in Tier 3. Finally, the Special Watch List criteria are considered and, if applicable, Tier 2 countries are placed on the Tier 2 Special Watch List.
The Tiers
Tier 1: Countries whose governments fully comply with the Act’s minimum standards.
Tier 2: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the Act’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.
Tier 2 Special Watch List: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the Act’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 increasing significantly; or
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.
Tier 3: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.