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US Human Trafficking Charges Questionable

US Human Trafficking Charges Questionable
US Human Trafficking Charges Questionable

A lawmaker condemned a recent order by US President Donald Trump that Iran be included in a US blacklist of countries with an alleged poor record in curbing human trafficking.

In a recent talk with ICANA, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh also blamed the ineffective US policies for rampant human smuggling worldwide.

"Including Iran in the list of countries accused of failing to fight human trafficking is a highly questionable move because Iran has been at the forefront of the campaign against all kinds of smuggling, including human trafficking," he said.

"Today's crises like drug smuggling, human trafficking and growing hacking activities are the outcome of Americans' unstable policies. They have obliterated the security-sovereignty boundaries, paving the way for human and drug traffickers."

The White House said on Sept. 30 it had ordered that Iran, Venezuela and four African nations be added to a US list of countries accused of failing to crack down on human trafficking, which further isolates them from the United States. The White House said it also was increasing restrictions on North Korea, Eritrea, Russia and Syria, which already were on the list, by constraining them from engaging in educational or cultural exchange programs with the United States.

In addition, Trump's administration instructed the US executive directors at the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral development banks to vote against extending loans or other funds to North Korea, Russia and Iran for the fiscal 2018.

  Breach of IMF Charter

Falahatpisheh said Trump's instructions run counter to the principles of IMF charter.

"The US lobbying with the IMF to pressure Iran is a violation of the global organization's statutes," he said.

Under a 2000 US law called the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the United States does not provide non-humanitarian, non-trade foreign assistance to any country that fails to comply with minimum standards for eliminating trafficking and is not making efforts to do so.

The White House said in a notice that Iran, Venezuela, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, South Sudan and Sudan had been added to the list of countries subject to these restrictions for the new fiscal year.

The move came days after Trump included Venezuela and Iran on a list of eight countries targeted for travel restrictions to the United States.

The restrictions on Venezuela focused on government officials who are blamed by the Trump administration for the country's slide into economic disarray. The travel ban on Iranians was broader.

 

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