Singapore placed in Tier 2 of United States annual Trafficking In Persons report
Published on Jun 20, 2014 10:17 PM
For the fourth year running, Singapore has been placed in Tier 2 of the four-tier annual Trafficking In Persons (Tip) report, released by the United States Department of State on Friday night, Singapore time. -- PHOTO: WWW.STATE.GOV
By Walter Sim
SINGAPORE - For the fourth year running, Singapore has been placed in Tier 2 of the four-tier annual Trafficking In Persons (Tip) report, released by the United States Department of State on Friday night, Singapore time.
In their rankings, Tier 2 countries are said to have not fully complied with minimum international standards of protecting migrant workers from forced labour, or other forms of trafficking in persons.
The US report writes that Singapore is a "destination country" for men, women and girls from at least nine different countries, some of whom migrated willingly for work but are later subjected to the sex trade or forced labour as they were unable to pay off hefty debts to recruitment agencies, the report said. Complaints of passport confiscation, restrictions of movement, the illegal withholding of salary and threats of forced repatriation without pay amount to signs of potential trafficking, the report added.
It added that Cambodian and Filipino men are subjected to "forced labour on fishing vessels that stop at the ports of Singapore", with some of them banned from disembarking for years and had to endure "severe abuse".
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