USA Backs Down From Classifying Algeria In Human Trafficking Blacklist

USA backs down its decision to include Algeria in its list of black countries that are accused of abusing human trafficking worldwide and failing to respect the standards of the victims’ protection law after last year’s blacklist of 27 countries that showed that it is not making efforts to eradicate the phenomenon.

Algeria stepped up in its classification of the annual report on human trafficking, which is prepared by America, and ranks in the second category instead of the third category, which it occupied last year.

The 2017 report of the U.S.State Department on Trafficking in Persons, published on Tuesday, that “the government recorded important achievements during this period, as Algeria’s ranking improved by moving to the watch list of type 2”.

It includes a number of Arab countries, such as Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Sudan, Mauritania, Tunisia, Syria, Libya and Yemen, and spoke about some of Algeria’s achievements in this area, which include the investigation and prosecution of 16 persons who are involved in human trafficking, and identified 65 potential victims.

The raking includes 4 categories, Classes 1 an 2,  and a watch list of types 2 and 3 based on “efforts by public authorities to combat human trafficking rather than relying on the expansion of the phenomenon in the country”.

However, category 1, which is the highest category, does not mean that trafficking in persons neither exist in the concerned countries, nor it apply sufficient measures to combat this phenomenon, but confirms that the authorities recorded trafficking in persons and that they made efforts to resolve the problem in compliance with the United States Code of Conduct on the Protection of Victims of Trafficking, which was ratified in 2000.

US report noted that the offenses of sexual exploitation of children and forced labor were considered “isolated cases” in Algeria, although the country remained a “transit and destination country” for illegal immigration.

“Algeria granted the identified victims temporary accommodation at the transit center and medical assistance and basic services despite their status as illegal immigrants. The government showed its political will to address this problem by issuing, in September, a presidential decree to establish a joint ministerial committee that is charged with coordinating, combating, providing a budget and a mandate for activities that are related to the prevention of human trafficking, combating it and providing it with a budget for this purpose”.

“Algerian authorities made significant efforts to prosecute the migrants, recalling the provisions of the Algerian Penal Code, which provides for severe penalties against the criminals”.

The document highlights the efforts of the General Directorate of National Security, which mobilized six police teams to combat trafficking in human beings, and 50 other teams that are specialized in combating crimes against kids.

For its part, the Interior Ministry will launch a training program for its employees, that is  based on the fight against trafficking in human beings and its prevention, and Algeria will have an “effective system” to collect data on the implementation of the anti-trafficking mechanism.

Previously, Algeria has officially opposed its classification in Category 3 among countries that do not fully respect human trafficking standards and do not make efforts to achieve this goal, considering this assessment as being “far from a rigorous assessment of the situation”.

The report also angered Algeria and representatives of official human rights organizations, and the former head of the Advisory Committee for the Defense and Protection of Human Rights Farouk Ksentini said that the latest US State Department report on trafficking in human beings was “false and misleading”.

Foreign Ministry confirmed that the report, which “underestimated the efforts that are made by Algeria in preventing human trafficking, is indeed unfair to the clear and effective position of the Algerian state regarding this problem”.

It is not the first time through which the US State Department’s report on trafficking in human beings classified Algeria in the third category, which according to the report’s authors includes countries that do not fully respect the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking, and recognized in its report that was released on Tuesday that Algeria is making great efforts to combat human trafficking, which was not recognized in the report that was issued in 2016, when Algeria was classified with Sudan, Syria, Djibouti, Comoros, Mauritania, Iran, South Sudan, Russia, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Burma, Burundi, Central African Republic, Haiti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, North Korea, Marshall Islands, Suriname and Papua New Guinea in category III, where governments are not fully committed to the minimum standards that are set forth in the Law on the Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking and that are making no significant efforts in this direction.