The US has placed Brazil and South Africa on the watch list, according to a report published yesterday by the State Department on the fight against human trafficking around the world, reported Agence France-Presse, quoted by BTA.
The watch list is an intermediate category between countries to which Washington has no claims and those on the blacklist, which leads to potential sanctions.
In South Africa, "the government has identified fewer victims, investigated fewer cases and brought fewer charges", the report states. The conclusion is similar for Brazil, which has not initiated any legal cases under the 2016 anti-human trafficking law, while according to Washington, the number of victims of this trafficking in the South American country is tens of thousands.
The two countries are among the "black sheep" of US President Donald Trump, notes AFP. The US president has imposed punitive tariffs on Brazil. Washington has also imposed sanctions on a magistrate from the Brazilian Supreme Court over the trial of Jair Bolsonaro, Trump's ideological ally, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison for inciting a coup in order to stay in power.
In South Africa, Donald Trump accused the government of persecuting white farmers.
Bulgaria is in the second category of countries in the report - among the countries that do not fully meet the standards, but whose governments are making significant efforts to do so. It is not among the countries under surveillance.
Japan also falls into the same category, the Japanese news agency Kyodo noted. Tokyo is making “significant efforts“ to achieve minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking, but has yet to meet them. The situation has improved compared to the previous year, but the number of criminal cases brought by Japan “for labor trafficking and child sex trafficking remains low” compared to the scale of exploitation.
However, it is acknowledged that Japan will introduce a new system in 2027 aimed at improving protection of the rights of migrant workers.