US: Taliban facilitators of human trafficking in Afghanistan

According to the report, since seizing control of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, the Taliban have dramatically scaled back their attempts to safeguard trafficking victims, failed to identify any victims, and still actively support child trafficking.

The US State Department listed Afghanistan as one of the weakest nations in the fight against this scourge in its 2022 annual report on human trafficking.

According to this US State Department study, which was published on July 19, 2022, Afghanistan has struggled to combat human trafficking since the Taliban assumed power.

Afghanistan is listed as one of the Tier 3 nations in this report because it does not meet the requirements to combat human trafficking. “Afghanistan does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and, even considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity, is not making significant efforts to do so; therefore Afghanistan remained on Tier 3.” the report noted.

The Tier 3 nations fall short in implementing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). The US passed and ratified the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in October 2000. The world’s nations are obligated to take human trafficking seriously in light of this law.

According to the report, since seizing control of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, the Taliban have dramatically scaled back their attempts to safeguard trafficking victims, failed to identify any victims, and still actively support child trafficking.

“The Taliban severely decreased efforts to protect victims since the August 15 takeover and continued to directly facilitate child trafficking. The Taliban did not report identifying any trafficking victims after August 15. The pre-August 15 government did not report identifying any victims between April 1 and August 15, compared with 550 potential trafficking victims in the previous reporting period. “the report reads. “After August 15, the Taliban did not investigate, prosecute, or convict any traffickers, nor did it identify or protect any trafficking victims or make any efforts to prevent trafficking. The Taliban shut down shelters and protective services for victims of crime, including trafficking victims leaving vulnerable populations without support.”

According to the report, the Taliban have abused women’s rights and damaged the rights of minorities and vulnerable groups of society since taking control of Afghanistan. It is also claimed that because of these restrictions, the Taliban have on the one hand induced internal displacement and on the other, illicit migration, which has in turn given rise to human trafficking. “The Taliban continued to undermine the rights of women, minorities, and other vulnerable populations, increasing internal displacement and irregular migration, further exacerbating vulnerabilities to trafficking” the report added.

The Taliban have not yet commented on these issues.

 

The US State Department said in this report that the organization’s report from the previous year on the state of human trafficking in Afghanistan demonstrated that the previous Afghan government had also not done enough to combat this issue.

550 victims of human trafficking were reported by the previous republic government of Afghanistan in 2021, although none of these individuals were backed and supported by the Republic.

Regarding the human trafficking situation, the US State Department has made recommendations to the Taliban, including fighting Bacha Bazi and child abuse in their ranks.

As part of these recommendations, the Taliban government was urged to prohibit the illegitimate exploitation of children as well as to acknowledge and implement the already established and existing laws against human trafficking.

The Taliban has also been asked for looking into and prosecuting human trafficking offenders.

One of the other recommendations made for the Taliban in this report by the US State Department is the reopening of safe shelters for victims of such incidents.