In its annual report on human trafficking, the U.S. Department of State lists 17 countries, including Iran, which have not met the minimum standards for combating human trafficking. In addition, the regime has made no major effort to reach those standards, has consistently failed to address the issue of human trafficking in Iran, and therefore ranks third.
In the report, which surveyed 188 countries, Iran is mentioned among other countries such as China, Myanmar, Venezuela, North Korea, South Sudan, Venezuela, and Afghanistan.
Child soldiers are among the human trafficking cases mentioned in this report. The report says Iran is forcing child soldiers to join militant groups in Syria and Yemen.
Tehran identifies its militia groups such as Fatemiyoun Brigade in Syria, among them children, as forces defending the shrine.
Fatemiyoun Brigade is an Afghan Shia militia funded, trained, and equipped by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) since 2014 to fight in Syria and follows the command of Iranian officers.
The report also says that Iran continues the same pattern of previous years in violation of the rights of victims of sex trafficking and has made no effort to reduce the demand for illegal sex services, child spouses, or child sexual abuse.
In this report, the U.S. Department of State categorizes countries at three levels based on measures and how to deal with human trafficking, transparency, and compliance with standards.
The countries present at the first level are countries that fully comply with the standards. The “second level” is a set of countries that do not meet all the requirements, but whose governments are working to improve conditions.
The third level of the list includes countries whose behavior is inconsistent with minimum standards for combating human trafficking and who do not take any action to improve the situation.
Human trafficking has affected 25 million people worldwide, most of them women and children and despite the COVID-19 pandemic, human trafficking still continues.
Source: The Independent
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