The U.S. State Department on Monday put Brazil and South Africa on a human trafficking watch list, citing what it said were failures of both countries to demonstrate progress on the issue, amid heightened tensions between their governments and the Trump administration, APA reports citing Reuters.
The annual Trafficking in Persons report assesses efforts to tackle forced labor, sex trafficking and other forms of modern-day slavery around the world. It was published on Monday, nearly three months after it was due to be delivered to Congress, after most of the staff in the office that prepares it were laid off.
Brazil and South Africa were moved to the report’s “Tier 2 Watch List," meaning they must demonstrate greater efforts on the issue or face possible U.S. sanctions.
For both South Africa and Brazil, the report noted significant efforts on human trafficking, but said those efforts were not sufficient.
On South Africa, the report said: "Significant efforts included launching the country’s first sub-provincial task team and convicting more traffickers. However, the government identified fewer victims, investigated fewer cases, and initiated fewer prosecutions."
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