The
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report is the main reference for countries around
the world, particularly the United Nation state members, in determining their success in combatting human trafficking
issues. The objective of the report is to fulfil three principal goals, namely
to protect the trafficking victim, to prevent the crime, and to bring the
perpetrator to justice. This report was initiated by the U.S. Department of
State in 2001 as one of the efforts to monitor and increase worldwide efforts
regarding the issues. As a destination and transit country for human
trafficking, the U.S. Department of State has become the self-appointed country
monitoring the human trafficking progress of (187) state governments since
2004. The first report for human trafficking that was published in 2001 stated
that the related countries will be examined and placed either in Tier 1, Tier
2, or Tier 3 depending on their status. In order to be placed in the Tier 1
level, the government must fully comply with the minimum standards outlined in
Section 108 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. If the government
does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking, but has put significant efforts to comply with the standards, it
is then placed in Tier 2. The failure for compliance by any governments would
place it in Tier 3. Nevertheless, few issues are detected on the effectiveness
of the TIP Report in the assessment of a country’s achievement in combatting
the crime. The issues raised include (i) the monitoring body which is led by
the U.S. Department of State; (ii) the 3P paradigm outlined by the Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and
Children which is heeded by the U.S. Department of State; and (iii) the
assessment stipulated in the TIP Report which focuses too heavily on the
protection of victims. To that end, this article studies the effectiveness of
the TIP Report in assessing the countries involved, particularly Malaysia.
Combining content analysis and semi-structured interview, this article argues
that a lot of improvement must be done on the report’s transparency in
assessing the countries and thus, proving its effectiveness in combatting the
human trafficking issues.
Journal Section | Articles |
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Authors | |
Publication Date | April 30, 2017 |
Submission Date | May 11, 2017 |
Published in Issue | Year 2017 |
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