Jamaica has received an improved rating from the United States in that country's annual report on Human Trafficking. Jamaica is now at Tier-2, up from Tier 2 Watchlist, a position the country held for more than a year.

Tier-2 comprises countries that are demonstrating commitment to address their problems but have not yet achieved international standards, while Tier 2 'Watch List' includes countries that show signs of falling backwards.

The United Nations has defined trafficking in persons as a modern day form of slavery and the United States estimates that close to one million people, mainly women and children are trafficked internationally each year. Human trafficking involves some amount of coercion, deception or exploitation of victims.

The report describes Jamaica as a source country for women and children trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour. According to the report, while the majority of victims are Jamaican women and girls, increasingly, boys are also trafficked. The report states that the victims are trafficked from rural to urban and tourist areas for sexual exploitation and that some children are subjected to conditions of forced labour as domestic servants.

Unlike previous years, with the exception of three areas, the Jamaican government received a favourable review from the US Department of State.

The United States praised the Jamaican Government for passing the Trafficking in Persons Act in February of this year. According to the US, the new law, which became effective on March 1, 2007, prescribes penalties of up to 10 years' imprisonment, which is "sufficiently stringent and commensurate with punishments prescribed for other grave crimes."

Trafficking prosecutions

The US State Department was also pleased that during the reporting period, the Jamaican government initiated six trafficking prosecutions under older laws, which are still ongoing. The report states that police also conducted high-profile raids on hotels and 37 suspected sites of sex trafficking and nine trafficking victims were found.

Jamaica also received high marks for its efforts to prevent incidents of human trafficking.

Rebecca Frerichs, Political Officer at the US Embassy in Kingston, said Jamaica's Tier-2 ranking is a confirmation of the country's progress in addressing the problem.

However, Ms. Frerichs issued a note of caution.

"Now is not the time for them to drop their guard and go back to the way they were. There needs to be a continued broad based commitment by the Jamaican government to continue to address the problem," she said.