KINGSTON, Jamaica - JAMAICA has been removed from the United States' State Department Trafficking in Persons Tier Two watch list, National Security Minister Peter Bunting has said.
The country was last year downgraded from a Tier Two to the Tier Two watch list by the State Department's 2012 report on Trafficking in Persons in its ranking of the measures being undertaken by the government here to address human trafficking. The Tier Two watch list consists of countries whose governments do not fully comply with the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act's minimum standards, but are making efforts to bring themselves into compliance. It also noted that Jamaica is a "source, transit and destination country for adults and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour", and that the exploitation of local children in the sex trade remains a problem.
"You will recall that last year at around this time I had to make a statement in this House regarding the 2012 trafficking in persons report released by the US State Department which downgraded us from Tier Two and the implications that that could have had on assistance from the United States and our international reputation," Bunting told Parliament on Tuesday.