US human trafficking report ‘spiteful’, ‘political’: Iran

Iran has roundly rejected accusations leveled against the country in the US State Department’s most recent report on human trafficking, calling it an effort to distract public opinion from Washington’s role in the phenomenon.  

“We reject this spiteful, biased, and political report that, using unreliable sources and information, has made groundless and unrealistic accusations of human trafficking against some countries, including the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Monday.

“Through such measures, the US government is trying to distract the world’s public opinion from its meddlesome and destabilizing policies which have seriously prepared the ground for the creation and expansion of organized criminal networks of human traffickers across the world, especially in Western Asia and Africa,” he added.

Qassemi touched on growing international concerns over human trafficking, particularly the exploitation of women and children, and dismissed Washington’s ranking of the countries based on organized crimes.

“Unilateral moves, including ranking countries over the issue of organized crime including human trafficking, and releasing one-sided and spiteful reports against independent states not only contravene international conventions but also undermine international cooperation and efforts on fighting these crimes,” he said.

“Hence, the US government should be held accountable for its unilateral moves,” Qassemi added.

The US State Department report released on June 28 singled out Belarus, Iran, Russia, and Turkmenistan as among the worst offenders of human trafficking and forced labor.

The report evaluated 187 countries and territories and ranked them into four tiers, with tier 1 countries being the best and those in tier 3 the worst.

Iran was among 22 countries ranked as tier 3 along with Myanmar, China, North Korea, Syria, and Venezuela.

“The Government of Iran does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; therefore Iran remained on Tier 3,” the report claimed.

The report gave a half-hearted credit to Iran’s efforts, saying its government “took some steps to address trafficking, including steps to ratify the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC).”