The Gambia has been upgraded to Tier 2 in the U.S. State Department’s 22nd annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report assessing anti-trafficking efforts of 188 governments.
The report launched in Washington, DC, on Tuesday upgraded The Gambia after assessing the country as not fully meeting the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons set forth in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000.
“Tier 2 consists of countries that are making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards but, failed to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking over the previous year,” the report said.
These include failing to provide evidence in “increased investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of trafficking crimes, increased assistance to victims, and decreasing complicity in trafficking by government officials, or where the estimated number of victims is very significant or significantly increasing and the country is not taking proportional concrete actions”.
Countries assessed as fully meeting the TVPA’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking are placed in Tier 1, while those assessed as not fully meeting the minimum standards and not making significant efforts to do so are ranked Tier 3,” the report said.
The report said that the TIP Report narrative contains prioritised recommendations for the Government of The Gambia to consider implementing over the coming year.
These recommendations constitute a suggested action plan that aims to provide the government with guidance on key efforts necessary to better meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons.
According to the statement the goal of this year’s TIP Report is to highlight and emphasise the importance of meaningful survivor engagement. This is specifically with experts with personal experience of human trafficking for whom sufficient time has passed since their victimization – and to share context, lessons learned, and guidance to governments, international organisations, civil society, private sector entities, and other stakeholders who wish to further their survivor engagement efforts.
“Human trafficking is a shared challenge. In the United States, human trafficking cases have been reported in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories,” the report said.