Sri Lanka retains Tier 2 ranking in US Trafficking in Persons Report

July 05, 2018 (LBO) – Sri Lanka retained its Tier 2 ranking in the US State Department Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report for the second consecutive year, according to the 2018 report released recently. The TIP report 2018 states that the Government of Sri Lanka demonstrated increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period and therefore, Sri Lanka has been retained in Tier 2. From 2013 to 2016, Sri Lanka was placed in the Tier 2 Watch List for 4 successive years and upgraded to Tier 2 in 2017 in view of the proactive measures taken by the relevant agencies of government to combat trafficking.

“Sri Lanka recognizes and acknowledges the magnitude of the problem of human trafficking worldwide, undermining universal values and posing a threat to national security by encouraging and enriching transnational criminal as well as terrorist networks,” the Foreign Ministry said. “Sri Lanka remains committed to working with the US and other bilateral partners as well as international organizations to combat this scourge locally and internationally.” The annual Trafficking in Persons Report is prepared as per the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 which has authorized to combat trafficking. The annual Report which assesses all countries is used by the US Government to engage foreign governments in dialogues to advance anti-trafficking reforms, combat trafficking and target resources on prevention, protection and prosecution programmes. Each country is placed onto one of three tiers based on the extent of the efforts by respective governments to comply with the “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking” found in section 108 of the TVPA.

Classification of countries in this annual report of the State Department affects US assistance for countries with governments of countries on Tier 3 is subject to certain restrictions on US assistance as well as assistance from multilateral development banks.