MFA Spokesperson's Comments in response to US TIP Report (28 June 2011)

In response to media enquiries on the US Department of State's "Trafficking in Persons Report 2011" released on 27 June 2011 which upgraded Singapore's ranking to Tier Two this year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson said:

"We note the change to Singapore's Tier Ranking. Trafficking in Persons is an abhorrent international crime which the Singapore Government responds to robustly. But we are dismayed to find the US TIP Report riddled with inaccuracies in the section on Singapore. Such a casual approach to the facts is troubling. We will highlight two inaccuracies by way of illustration. There are numerous others.

The Report has a major issue with forced labour on fishing vessels that "originated in Singapore". While we have heard very troubling reports of trafficking aboard fishing vessels, flying the flags of other countries, this is the first such claim that such vessels originated in Singapore. This is untrue and unverified. The Singapore Government would not tolerate forced labour on Singapore flagged ships. The United States should thoroughly investigate the "reports" before faulting us for not pursuing our "phantom" ships.

There is also the astonishing observation that "no known victims" of trafficking were afforded the opportunity to avail themselves of medical and other services at shelters in the past year. We are deeply puzzled with this statement. We had provided the US just last month with detailed information about a variety of services that trafficking victims had utilised in the past year, including medical, counselling and translation. While we can acknowledge that much remains to be done in our fight against trafficking, we are disappointed that the United States chose to blatantly dismiss the facts and suggest that we are not doing our share.

The report also seems to assume that the domestic processes of all countries reviewed are the same as that of the United States. We note that the United States has again unabashedly awarded itself a Tier 1 Ranking. Yet, the New York Times had observed, in a 23 April 2011 report, that teenage girls coerced into prostitution in the US are treated not as trafficking victims but as miscreants who are arrested and prosecuted, instead of protected. This, for example, is directly opposite to Singapore's approach to commercial sex workers of any age in Singapore who are all prima facie considered TIP victims. As is well known, the United States also suffers from serious problems with illegal immigrants, many of whom are trafficked by well-organised criminal gangs which seem to be able to operate with impunity. On any objective criteria, the United States has a more serious TIP problem compared with Singapore.

Perhaps this incongruity could be explained by the fact that the Report does not apply a consistent, transparent, and measurable standard for all countries. As Senator James Webb said before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on 24 May 2011 "there are some inconsistencies in the way that [the US is] carrying out an otherwise well-intentioned policy. The classic example of that was that we've given Nigeria a 1 in our TIP Reports and we've given Japan a 2, and Singapore a 2W [in 2010]. We need to fix the law so that we are measuring the right sorts of things as we put these policies forward because it is causing a great deal of resentment among people who are otherwise our close friends." "

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE
28 JUNE 2011