Dhimmi Watch today links to this article on a recent State Department report on modern slave trafficking and Iran. The full-text of the State Department 2006 report on Human Trafficking is here.

The article in full reads
London, Jun. 06 – The United States put Iran among the main countries engaged in human trafficking.

A report released by the U.S. State Department described Iran as a “source, transit, and destination country for women and girls trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude”.

The report cited cased of women and girls being trafficked to Pakistan, Turkey, the Gulf, and Europe for sexual exploitation.

“Boys from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are trafficked through Iran en route to the Gulf states where they are ultimately forced to work as camel jockeys, beggars, or labourers”, the report said.

“Women and children are trafficked internally for the purposes of forced marriage, sexual exploitation, and involuntary servitude”, it said, adding, “The Government of Iran does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so”.

The annual report downgraded Iran to a Tier 3 trafficking country after “persistent, credible reports of Iranian authorities punishing victims of trafficking with beatings, imprisonment, and execution”.

Iran now joins 11 other nations regarded as the worst offenders on the blacklist.

“The Government of Iran did not improve its protection of trafficking victims this year”, it said, adding, “Child victims of commercial sexual exploitation reportedly have been executed for their purported crime of prostitution or adultery. For instance, one 16-year-old sex trafficking victim was hanged publicly by religious authorities who accused her of engaging in "acts incompatible with chastity." The governor of the town later congratulated the religious leader for his ‘firm approach’”. (cont.)

(an okie gardener again) American students learn about the trans-Atlantic slave trade, as least as it appled to North America. What usually is not taught is the East African slave trade, run by Muslims, which transported slaves into the Islamic Middle East. This slave trade continued long after the trans-Atlantic trade was shut down. Another fact, overlooked by the Nation of Islam and African-American converts to Islam, is that Western Europeans in the Middle Ages purchased small numbers of black slaves from Islamic traders in North Africa.

Slavery has continued to be a part of traditional Islamic societies to this day, and is defended by some clerics.

Tier 3 is defined as "TIER 3: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so." In practical terms this means countries in which human trafficking is accepted.

The full 2006 Tier 3 list from the U.S. State Department: Belize, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Laos, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. Communist China is on the Tier 2 Watch list, I assume because of political considerations.

Tier 2 Watch List Defined: "TIER 2 SPECIAL WATCH LIST: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the Act’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards, and:

a) The absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or
is significantly increasing; or
b) There is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year; or
c) The determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional future steps over the next year."

In practical terms this means that the countries know they have human trafficking, have acknowledged the fact, and have promised to to something about it. It does not mean that action is currently being taken against slavery. The Tier 2 Watch List countries are Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Central African Republic, China (PRC), Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya, Kuwait, Libya, Macau, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, Oman, Peru, Qatar, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Togo, United Arab Emirates.

The common thread is poverty. But notice that we have now listed most Islamic countries between Tier 3 and Tier 2 Watch List.

Tier 2 is defined as "TIER 2 : Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the Act’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards." Islamic countries on this list are Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Croatia, Mauritius, Nigeria, and Lebanon.


Tier 1 is defined as "TIER 1: Countries whose governments fully comply with the Act’s minimum standards. [detailed on p. 288]" In other words, countries that have laws against slavery and vigorously enforce them. Countries on this list are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Columbia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Morocco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom. Since this is a report on other countires, we did not put ourselves on a list, but would fit on Tier 1.

To those who hold the position that all cultures and countries are equal, would you be just as comfortable raising your children in a Tier 3 country as in a Tier 1?