Sudan regrets being listed as human trafficking country

Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs regrets the decision by the United States to keep the country within its list of countries it considers reluctant to combat human trafficking.

The US State Department has again included the name of the Sudan in its ‘Tier 3’, the list of countries the US accuses of being reluctant to combat human trafficking within its borders, on 30 September.

On Thursday the ministry said that it hoped the US would commend “the huge efforts exerted by the government of Sudan”, and said that testimonies of international organisations and countries dealing with the issue pointed this out.

‘Standards not met’

Under the law called the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (2000), the United States does not provide non-humanitarian, non-trade-related foreign assistance to any country that fails to comply with minimum standards for eliminating trafficking and is not making efforts to do so.

A report by the US Department of State in 2016 read that: ‘Sudan is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and, to a lesser extent, sex trafficking. […] The Government of Sudan does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so.’

Meanwhile the Sudanese ministry, in its press statement, referred to the establishment of a national commission to combat the phenomenon, “not to mention the huge efforts exerted and the country commitment to international laws and charters issued on this question”.

The ministry called on the US and the international community to provide Sudan with the technical and technological assistance needed for effectively combating human traffickers, as well as to assist local communities that are hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees in Sudan.

“Sudan is looking forward to more assistance in the domain of training and would cooperate with the countries of the region and the international and regional partners in combating the human trafficking.”

North Darfur

The state of North Darfur has declared its commitment to continue its activities against human trafficking and illegal immigration, by tightly controlling the state borders with neighbouring countries.

The acting state governor, Mohamed Braima, asked a delegation headed by the military affairs adviser in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), General Carriet Loits, to appeal to the international community to support the government's efforts in combating the criminal phenomenon.

In return, the UN military delegation said that their visit to Darfur will help determine the security and humanitarian situation in the state, as well as to assess the performance of the African Union-UN Mission in Darfur (Unamid) after the new mandate has been put in place.

The three-day visit will see the international military delegation meeting with Sudanese military and security institutions, as well as meeting the Unamid administration and visiting one of the camps for displaced people in North Darfur.