Credibility of US report on human trafficking questioned

The report by the State Department analyses the issue in about 150 countries and ranks them by their efforts to combat trafficking for forced labour, prostitution, military service and other purposes.

But the explanations for ranking decisions in the annual "Trafficking in Persons Report" "are incomplete" and "not used consistently to develop antitrafficking programmes," said the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, in a damning study released Monday.

While the annual report raised the risk of sanctions against governments that did not comply with minimum standards to eliminate trafficking, it "does not comprehensively describe compliance with the standards," the study said.

This "lessen(s) the reports credibility and usefulness as a diplomatic tool," it said.

"Further, incomplete country narratives reduce the reports utility as a guide to help focus US government resources on antitrafficking programming priorities," it added.

In the latest report released in June, the State Department listed Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Sudan, Cuba, Myanmar, Iran, Syria, Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan, Laos and Belize in the so-called Tier 3 worst offenders of human trafficking.