Trafficking in persons: current situation: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Bhutan and Bhutanese abroad; some traffickers posing as recruiters use the lure of well-paying jobs overseas to exploit Bhutanese citizens for forced labor; some Bhutanese working in hospitality, retail, and service industries in the Gulf states and India, Thailand, and the UK reported trafficking indicators, including illegal recruitment fees, wage deductions, restricted movement, passport retention, and non-payment of wages; Bhutanese women and girls working as domestics, caregivers, and entertainers are subject to sex and labor trafficking domestically; Bhutanese and Indian women may be forced to work in hotels, massage parlors, and nightclubs, while male Indian workers face unauthorized deductions and non-payment of wages in the construction and hydropower sectors
tier rating:
Tier 2 Watch List — Bhutan does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; among its accomplishments, Bhutan convicted one trafficker, appealed the dismissal of trafficking charges in a second case, finalized and disseminated standard operating procedures for victim identification and referral, and initiated an investigation into reports of labor exploitation; the government also continued to work with an international organization on anti-trafficking training and public awareness events; however, Bhutanese courts continued to dismiss and refile on lesser charges human trafficking cases due to inconsistencies between Bhutanese law and the international definition of trafficking; additionally, authorities did not identify any trafficking victims during the reporting period and did not provide protective services to Bhutanese victims of forced labor abroad (2020)
Definition: Trafficking in persons is modern-day slavery, involving victims who are forced, defrauded, or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation. The International Labor Organization (ILO), the UN agency charged with addressing labor standards, employment, and social protection issues, estimated in 2011 that 20.9 million people worldwide were victims of forced labor, bonded labor, forced child labor, sexual servitude, and involuntary servitude. Human trafficking is a multi-dimensional threat, depriving people of their human rights and freedoms, risking global health, promoting social breakdown, inhibiting development by depriving countries of their human capital, and helping fuel the growth of organized crime. In 2000, the US Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), reauthorized in 2003 and 2005, which provides tools for the US to combat trafficking in persons, both domestically and abroad. One of the law's key components is the creation of the US Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which assesses the government response (i.e., the current situation) in some 150 countries with a significant number of victims trafficked across their borders who are recruited, harbored, transported, provided, or obtained for forced labor or sexual exploitation. Countries in the annual report are rated in three tiers, based on government efforts to combat trafficking. The countries identified in this entry are those listed in the 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report as 'Tier 2 Watch List' or 'Tier 3' based on the following tier rating definitions:
Tier 2 Watch List countries do not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but are making significant efforts to do so, and meet one of the following criteria:
1. they display high or significantly increasing number of victims,
2. they have failed to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons, or,
3. they have committed to take action over the next year.
Tier 3 countries neither satisfy the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking nor demonstrate a significant effort to do so. Countries in this tier are subject to potential non-humanitarian and non-trade sanctions.
Source: CIA World Factbook - This page was last updated on Saturday, September 18, 2021
