Belarus may face new US sanctions for using forced labor

The United States decreased the ranking of Belarus in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report.

The report covers 188 countries and analyzes their efforts against different forms of human trafficking and exploitation, Radio Svaboda reports.

Belarus's ranking was downgraded from Tier 2 to Tier 3 because official Minsk does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in 2014.

The report says the government of Belarus “continued the practice of subbotniks, which requires employees of the government, state enterprises, and many private businesses to work on occasional Saturdays and donate their earnings to finance government projects.” “State employers and authorities intimidated and fined some workers who refused to participate,” according to the report.

The downgrading of Belarus's ranking is also explained with the fact that official Minsk “did not demonstrate efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex or forced labor”.

Tier 3 ranking can lead to sanctions, in particular, to the withdrawal of nonhumanitarian, non-trade-related foreign assistance and cutting off the funding for government employees’ participation in educational and cultural exchange programs.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a letter published with the report on July 27 that “trafficking in persons is an insult to human dignity and an assault on freedom”. “Whether we are talking about the sale of women and children by terrorists in the Middle East, the sex trafficking of girls lured from their homes in Central Europe, the exploitation of farm workers in North America, or the enslavement of fishermen in Southeast Asia, the victims of this crime each have a name,” Kerry said. “And they each have been robbed of their most basic human rights.”

US President Barack Obama has 90 days after the publication of the report to take decisions on Tier 3 countries.