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Anthony Blink
Photo: Michael Sohn/AP
The US has blacklisted Vietnam, Cambodia, Belarus, Brunei and Macau.
The reason: lack of action against human trafficking.
That's according to the US State Department's annual Human Trafficking Report, presented in Washington on Tuesday.
The EU country Bulgaria is therefore on a watch list because of fears that the problem is not taken seriously enough.
"If you look at the report, you'll see a mixed picture of progress," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
"While we deal diplomatically with issues such as climate and corruption, we also have to deal with how they intersect with human trafficking." Corruption is therefore a fundamental problem that often makes human trafficking possible in the first place.
In the past, US allies have often ended up on the blacklist, which has repeatedly led to diplomatic tensions.
Sanctions are imposed on affected countries, but in the case of friendly states, the US government often drops them as long as they promise to improve.
»Overlooked, denied or downplayed«
According to the report, "endemic corruption" in Cambodia means that thousands of children affected by forced labor are not helped.
The authorities would often "overlook, deny or downplay" abuse.
In the case of Vietnam, the report primarily criticizes the fact that the government in Hanoi did nothing against its own embassy representatives in Saudi Arabia, who were accused of human trafficking.
On Bulgaria, which, like Serbia, faces a blacklist if no improvements are made, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, among other things, that victims of human trafficking have been punished for the crimes committed against them.
Malaysia, Afghanistan, Cuba, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Nicaragua, Russia, South Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan and Venezuela have already been blacklisted.
Algeria and the Comoros were removed from the list because the situation there had improved, the Foreign Ministry said.
dop/AFP
