NZ gets pass mark on exploitation
The US State Department has praised New Zealand’s work to eliminate trafficking but says penalties should be harsher. New Zealand retained its top score as a ‘‘tier one’’ country, for its efforts against human exploitation and trafficking, but its level of investigation and efforts to prosecute fell short – particularly in the area of child prostitution. The State Department provides an annual report card for countries in a bid to reduce the exploitation of migrants. In previous years, it has not been kind to New Zealand with criticisms over the level of forced labour and sex trafficking. Previous reports branded New Zealand a ‘‘destination country’’ for the vulnerable forced into unpaid work or sex slavery – this year’s continued with that description. ‘‘The government demonstrated serious and sustained efforts by obtaining two trafficking convictions; increasing training for law enforcement; developing a new written framework for victim services; and increasing efforts to prevent trafficking, including by enforcing new regulations to prevent employers who breach employment laws from recruiting migrant workers,’’ the report said. But the US criticised an apparent lack of teeth towards those committing the crimes. ‘‘Although the government meets the minimum standards, it did not provide sufficient resources to increase trafficking investigations and prosecutions, convict any offenders under the trafficking statute, or formally identify child sex trafficking victims, despite providing services to child victims in prostitution,’’ the report said. The State Department has recommended the Government amend the trafficking statute to ‘‘explicitly remove the possibility of a fine alone as a sentence for trafficking crimes and to define the sex trafficking of children as not requiring the use of deception or coercion’’. It also called for an increase in resources for antitrafficking law enforcement, increased efforts to identify victims through proactive screening of vulnerable populations – including women and children in prostitution, foreign workers, and illegal migrants – and to update the national action plan to address current trafficking trends. While New Zealand provided increased training for police and immigration officers, it should also provide trafficking training to judges and prosecutors, expand anti-trafficking awareness campaigns and ‘‘engage in efforts to reduce demand for forced labor, including in supply chains, and commercial sex’’. Immigration Minister Iain Lees-galloway said the report was welcome, and the Government would consider it. ‘‘New Zealand has again been granted tier 1 status, the highest possible status and one that we’ve maintained since the report was introduced in 2000. ‘‘This status acknowledges New Zealand’s efforts to prevent and combat human trafficking, and the report highlights several positive steps being taken by the Government,’’ he said. In its ‘‘trafficking profile’’, the State Department said New Zealand remained a ‘‘destination country’’ for men and women from the Pacific islands, China, India, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Latin America. ‘‘They are vulnerable to forced labour in New Zealand’s agricultural, dairy, construction, viticulture, food service, and hospitality sectors, and as domestic workers. Unregulated and unlicensed immigration brokers operating in New Zealand and source countries, particularly in India and the Philippines, assist victims of labor exploitation to obtain visas. ‘‘Some foreign workers are charged excessive recruitment fees and experience unjustified salary deductions, non- or underpayment of wages, excessively long working hours, movement restrictions, passport retention, and contract alteration.’’