ERBIL, Kurdistan Region –The US Department of State claims Iran, among others, is at the top of the human trafficking list based on their 4-Tier system and a report released Tuesday, a claim rejected by Iran’s foreign ministry.
Iran had previously agreed to improve cooperation with regional countries to combat trafficking, according to the report, but it failed in sharing its anti-trafficking efforts. Public information from the media, international organizations and NGOs indicated that the Iranian government did not take significant steps to address its extensive trafficking violations.
Information in the TIP report stated that the Iranian government provided financial support to militias fighting in Iraq which recruited and used child soldiers. Additionally, there were continued allegations that Iranian officials coerced Afghan men into combat roles within Syria.
The TIP report indicated that Iran made few efforts to protect trafficking victims; rather they “continued to punish victims for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to human trafficking, such as adultery, prostitution and illegal immigration.”
The report alleges that over the past five years, the country has been a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. Organized groups reportedly subject Iranian women, boys and girls to sex trafficking within Iran, Afghanistan, the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR), Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Europe.
Iranian girls between the ages of 13 and 17 are the most vulnerable to sex trafficking and targeted by traffickers for sale abroad. Younger girls may be forced into domestic service until their traffickers consider them old enough for sex labor.
There are also a high number of street children in Iran who are vulnerable to trafficking. Organized groups often kidnap or purchase Iranian and migrant children, especially Afghan refugee children, to work as beggars. Some of these children are as young as three-years-old, as referred to in the report.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Bahram Qasemi, dismissed the US allegations on the state run IRNA news agency on Thursday as baseless, saying, “the US government is lacking necessary authority and legitimacy to release such reports on other countries.”
Qasemi said that Iran implements one of the most advanced constitutions in support of human dignity and laws have been enacted to fight human trafficking of all types. “Such reports are lopsided, tendentious and based on political and double-standard are presented merely to taint Iran’s image,” he said.
The TIP Report is the U.S. Government’s primary diplomatic tool to engage foreign governments on human trafficking. It is also the world’s most comprehensive resource of governmental anti-human trafficking efforts.
"Human trafficking is one of the most tragic human rights issues of our time. It splinters families, distorts global markets, undermines the rule of law, and spurs other transnational criminal activity. It threatens public safety and national security. But worst of all, the crime robs human beings of their freedom and their dignity. That's why we must pursue an end to the scourge of human trafficking,” stated Rex Tillerson, US Secretary of State.
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