WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States accused its Arab allies Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar on Tuesday of being among the world’s worst offenders in permitting the sale of people into the sex trade and indentured servitude.
In an annual report on human trafficking, the United States included the four in a list of 16 countries subject to possible U.S. sanctions, including the loss of U.S. aid and U.S. support for loans from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
An unidentified girl, former sex slave, looks out in a shelter in this November 30, 2006 file picture. The United States accused its Arab allies Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar on Tuesday of being among the world’s worst offenders in permitting the sale of people into the sex trade and indentured servitude. (Bogdan Cristel/Reuters)
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The others in this category were Algeria, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.
Under U.S. law, these countries have three months to improve their record before being slapped with sanctions. The Bush administration can also choose not to impose sanctions if it deems this appropriate.
“Trafficking in persons is a modern-day form of slavery,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an introduction to the report. “Perpetrators prey on the most weak among us, primarily women and children, for profit and gain.”
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Middle East and Persian Gulf oil wealth makes trafficing in human beings, especially young women, possible. Below: the skyline of Dubai.
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June 13, 2007 at 8:59 am |
[...] these kinds of operations would originate from east Europe. Hence, when I read the post titled ‘US raps several Arab allies for human trafficking’, I was determined than ever to hate [...]