2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

I N T R O D U C T I O N
To compile this year’s Report, the Department
took a fresh look at information sources on every
country to make its assessments. Assessing each
government’s anti-trafficking efforts involves a
two-step process:
Step One: Finding Significant
Numbers of Victims
First, the Department determines whether a country
is “a country of origin, transit, or destination for
a significant number of victims of severe forms of
trafficking,” generally on the order of 100 or more
victims, the same threshold applied in previous
reports. Some countries, for which such information
was not available, are not given tier ratings, but
are included in the Special Case section because
they exhibited indications of trafficking.
Step Two: Tier Placement
The Department places each country included on
the 2007 TIP Report into one of the three lists,
described here as tiers, mandated by the TVPA.
This placement is based more on the extent of
government action to combat trafficking, rather
than the size of the problem, important though
that is. The Department first evaluates whether
the government fully complies with the TVPA’s
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking
(detailed on pp. 228-229). Governments
that do fully comply are placed in Tier 1. For other
governments, the Department considers whether
they are making significant efforts to bring
themselves into compliance. Governments that are
making significant efforts to meet the minimum
standards are placed in Tier 2. Governments that
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, when applicable, Tier
2 countries are placed on the Tier 2 Watch List.
The Special Watch List—
Tier 2 Watch List
The TVPA created a “Special Watch List” of countries
on the TIP Report that should receive special
scrutiny. The list is composed of: 1) Countries listed
as Tier 1 in the current Report that were listed as
Tier 2 in the 2006 Report; 2) Countries listed as Tier
2 in the current Report that were listed as Tier 3 in
the 2006 Report; and, 3) Countries listed as Tier 2
in the current Report, where:
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, including increased
investigations, prosecutions, and
convictions of trafficking crimes,
increased assistance to victims, and
decreasing evidence of complicity in
severe forms of trafficking by government
officials; or
c) The determination that a country is
making significant efforts to bring itself
into compliance with the minimum
standards was based on commitments
by the country to take additional future
steps over the next year.
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This third category (including a, b, and c) has
been termed by the Department of State “Tier 2
Watch List.” There were 32 countries placed on