Despite recent allegations that government officials in Vietnam have engaged in and covered up human trafficking, the U.S. State Department upgraded Vietnam’s standing on combating human trafficking in a new record on Monday. Vietnam’s increase in the TIP monitoring program has raised questions about whether the U.S. government has politicized its quarterly human trafficking review in order to win over a potential partner in the Indo-Pacific region.
The , State Department , released its annual Trafficking in Persons ( TIP )  , report , on June 24, rating 188 countries and territories around the world for their compliance with the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act ( TVPA ). According to their compliance with TVPA, the yearly Edge report ranks nations in one of four categories.
The State Department determines that the administrations of Tier 1 nations adhere to the most stringent TVPA requirements for preventing people prostitution.
Tier 2 nations are in violation of the TVPA least standards, but the department finds that their governments are making major efforts to comply. Similar to Tier 2, Level 2 Watch List nations are those that attempt to meet the TVPA minimal standards, but with considerable trafficking concerns or weak evidence to support their efforts.
Level 3 nations are regarded as making no effort to improve, falling short of the TVPA maximum requirements, and on the lowest rung.
Vietnam was upgraded from a Level 2 Watch List nation to a Tier 2 nation in this year’s record. It marks the second consecutive season Vietnam’s blacklist score has improved after rising from Level 3 in , 2022 , to Tier 2 Watch List in , 2023.
A Asian human rights group called Project 88, which was cited days before the TIP article’s release, claimed that Taiwanese government officials facilitated a forced labour exchange that resulted in Asian nationals working in Saudi Arabia in 2021.
Cindy Dyer, the U. S. Ambassador- at- Big to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in People, faced questions about Project 88’s claims as she highlighted the 2024 TIP article’s launch during a Monday , media presentation.
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Although she acknowledged Project 88’s claims, Dyer claimed Vietnam may no longer be on the Level 2 Watch List and that it sometimes needed to be upgraded or downgraded.
We decided that it was more acceptable for Vietnam to move up to Tier 2 according to Dyer.
She then credited Vietnam’s state with increasing recognition and support for smuggling patients, as well as investigations, indictments, and convictions of suspected smugglers.
However, Project 88 made the claim last week that the TIP document could be politicized and that Vietnam as a partner would help the United States government as it works to counteract China’s influence in the area.
” Today, it seems as though the US is ignoring Hanoi’s lies in order to overtake China as Vietnam’s principal partner on the global level. The conventional wisdom in America is that Vietnam is “in sing.” From this viewpoint, America, with the right plan, you get Vietnam over to a U. S. led anti- China alliance”, Project 88 wrote next week.
Project 88 went on to identify past , report-state-department-watered-down-human-trafficking-report-idUSKCN0Q821X/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>allegations , of the TIP review group upgraded the tier status of countries considered to be carefully important to the United States, including a 2019 , report , by Reuters, alleging subsequently- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo chose not to include Saudi Arabia in a TIP report child soldiers watch, over the objections of some members on the TIP report team.
During Dyer’s press conference on Monday, Reuters reporter Simon Lewis voiced Project 88’s concerns about the TIP report being politicized.
” Some of the criticism is that Vietnam is perceived as a country that is really important to the United States because of its position toward China or the wider Asia-Pacific, Indo-Pacific strategy,” the author writes. Is that something that’s playing a role here”? Lewis asked.
Dyer and the TIP report team make “our very best assessment” based on the TVPA standards while attempting to avoid “over- emphasis on just one” aspect of a nation’s human trafficking record.
Recently, the U.S. government made efforts to strengthen its ties with Vietnam. Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific Affairs of the United States, traveled to Vietnam last week and met with Vietnamese officials. Kritenbrink , reportedly , used the visit as an opportunity to express concerns to Vietnam about China’s “irresponsible, aggressive, dangerous, deeply destabilizing” behavior in the Indo- Pacific region. Additionally, Krutzbrink’s visit came just days after Vietnam hosted a visit from Vladimir Putin, a growing geopolitical adversary of the United States and a staunch supporter of China.
This article was originally , published , by , FreeBase News , and is reprinted with permission.
