India rankings on trafficking report questioned

WASHINGTON — The effort to combat sex and labor trafficking is advancing, according to the State Department, but some leaders in the campaign expressed displeasure with the government’s latest report on the global problem. Critics of the report were displeased with the failure to move India to Tier 3 (the lowest level of compliance to U.S. law). “India’s placement on the Tier 2 Watch List for the third consecutive year, despite its failure to create a national law enforcement response to the crime of trafficking, and its blatant unwillingness to address the massive problems of bonded labor and trafficking-related corruption, reeks of political considerations,” Rep. Chris Smith, chief sponsor of the original Trafficking Victims Protection Act, wrote in a statement. “[The watch list] is not a place to hide our friends who fail to make real improvements.”  (TAB)