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- [SIZE=+2]Singapore slams US report on
human trafficking, maid abuse [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=-1]Agence France Presse
August 30, 2004
SINGAPORE
[/SIZE][SIZE=+4]S[/SIZE]INGAPORE on Monday, Aug 30, strongly rejected a US government report alleging that an illicit trade in Asian prostitutes and the "involuntary servitude" of some foreign maids exists in the city-state. "While Singapore is not spared from vice activities, forced prostitution is very rare here," the <leo_highlight style="border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 150); background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 50%; -moz-background-size: auto auto; cursor: pointer; display: inline; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" id="leoHighlights_Underline_0" onclick="leoHighlightsHandleClick('leoHighlights_Underline_0')" onmouseover="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOver('leoHighlights_Underline_0')" onmouseout="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOut('leoHighlights_Underline_0')" leohighlights_keywords="ministry" leohighlights_url_top="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_1/tbh_highlightsTop.jsp?keywords%3Dministry%26domain%3Dwww.singapore-window.org" leohighlights_url_bottom="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_1/tbh_highlightsBottom.jsp?keywords%3Dministry%26domain%3Dwww.singapore-window.org" leohighlights_underline="true">Ministry</leo_highlight> of Home Affairs said.
"Thus, we question a number of assertions made in the report on Singapore, and would like the US government to share with us the basis for its assessment," it added in a statement.
It said not even the United States can claim to be completely free from the problem of human trafficking.
The US State Department said in June that Singapore had a "significant trafficking problem" and there were "likely more than 100 cases per year" of girls and women brought to the affluent island for sexual exploitation.
When the report first came out, Singapore said it was puzzled by its inclusion and promised a "detailed rebuttal". This was sent to the US embassy last week and released to the international media on Monday.
The US report said some women and girls from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and China who travel here voluntarily for prostitution or non-sexual work "are deceived or coerced into sexual servitude."
"A small minority of foreign domestic workers face seriously abusive labor conditions," it said, adding that "in a few such cases, these circumstances may amount to involuntary servitude."
Singapore was included in the US report's Tier 2 of countries "whose governments do not fully comply" with a US anti-trafficking law's minimum standards, but are "making significant efforts" to achieve compliance.
The US report accused Singapore, a key trading partner and ally, of having "no national action plan to address trafficking."
"This is untrue," the Singapore home <leo_highlight style="border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 150); background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent; cursor: pointer; display: inline; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" id="leoHighlights_Underline_1" onclick="leoHighlightsHandleClick('leoHighlights_Underline_1')" onmouseover="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOver('leoHighlights_Underline_1')" onmouseout="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOut('leoHighlights_Underline_1')" leohighlights_keywords="ministry" leohighlights_url_top="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_1/tbh_highlightsTop.jsp?keywords%3Dministry%26domain%3Dwww.singapore-window.org" leohighlights_url_bottom="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_1/tbh_highlightsBottom.jsp?keywords%3Dministry%26domain%3Dwww.singapore-window.org" leohighlights_underline="true">ministry</leo_highlight> said.
"Singapore's tough stance against illegal immigrants, whether they were trafficked or had entered Singapore of their own volition, and against those involved in human trafficking and human smuggling, is well known," it said.
It cited stringent checks at border crossings with Malaysia as well as intensive patrols by <leo_highlight style="border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 150); background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 50%; -moz-background-size: auto auto; cursor: pointer; display: inline; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" id="leoHighlights_Underline_2" onclick="leoHighlightsHandleClick('leoHighlights_Underline_2')" onmouseover="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOver('leoHighlights_Underline_2')" onmouseout="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOut('leoHighlights_Underline_2')" leohighlights_keywords="the%20police" leohighlights_url_top="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_1/tbh_highlightsTop.jsp?keywords%3Dthe%2520police%26domain%3Dwww.singapore-window.org" leohighlights_url_bottom="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_1/tbh_highlightsBottom.jsp?keywords%3Dthe%2520police%26domain%3Dwww.singapore-window.org" leohighlights_underline="true">the police</leo_highlight> coast guard in surrounding waters.
The government provides funds and training to local civic groups offering help to women and girls who are victims of trafficking and prostitution, the <leo_highlight style="border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 150); background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 50%; -moz-background-size: auto auto; cursor: pointer; display: inline; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" id="leoHighlights_Underline_3" onclick="leoHighlightsHandleClick('leoHighlights_Underline_3')" onmouseover="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOver('leoHighlights_Underline_3')" onmouseout="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOut('leoHighlights_Underline_3')" leohighlights_keywords="ministry" leohighlights_url_top="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_1/tbh_highlightsTop.jsp?keywords%3Dministry%26domain%3Dwww.singapore-window.org" leohighlights_url_bottom="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_1/tbh_highlightsBottom.jsp?keywords%3Dministry%26domain%3Dwww.singapore-window.org" leohighlights_underline="true">ministry</leo_highlight> said.
Singapore also questioned the inclusion of alleged cases of abuse against foreign maids in the report, saying such references were "perplexing because these are not cases of trafficking."
"Including them only muddles the issues and diminishes the credibility of the report," it added.
US embassy spokesman David Andresen told
AFP the mission had received Singapore's comments "and is now reviewing them carefully."
Singapore plans to raise the minimum age of 18 years and impose basic educational requirements for new foreign maids in order to help protect them from abuse and work risks, press reports said Monday.
Some 150,000 foreign women work here as domestics, mostly from Indonesia, the Philippines and South Asian countries.
Nearly 100 Indonesian maids have died since 1999 after falling from high-rise apartments, often while cleaning windows, and a number of employers have been jailed or fined for physical and sexual abuses against maids.
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