Tonga ranked for first time in US Trafficking in Persons Report [1]
Sunday, July 3, 2011 - 21:58. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
Sex trafficking in Tonga needs to be publicly recognized and with further Government action to prevent it, the US Department of State recommends in its 2011 report on the Trafficking in Persons, that includes Tonga for the first time.
The US Embassy, Suva, Fiji, stated that the report was launched by the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week, where 184 countries are ranked based on the extent of each government's efforts to comply with the "minimum standards for the elimination of Trafficking", which is stated in Section 108 of the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act 2000. Each country is placed on one of three "tiers".
In the 2011 report Tonga is ranked at Tier 2 with countries whose governments are making significant efforts to comply with the minimum standards of the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act TVPA but do not yet fully comply with those standards.
The report details Tongas prosecution, prevention and protection record on the issue of trafficking in persons over the past year. It states that during the year, the Government of Tonga investigated and prosecuted its first case of trafficking involving two victims of forced prostitution and provided these victims with some limited services. It also noted, however, that the government did not identify other victims or initiate awareness programs for the public about human trafficking.
The report recommends that the Government of Tonga publicly recognize, investigate, prosecute, and punish incidences of sex trafficking and enact a law or establish a policy that provides for explicit protections for victims of trafficking. The report acknowledges, however, the Government of Tongas progress and the engagement of its senior officials in dealing with this global issue.