Russia, China, Turkey among those cited in US trafficking report

Annual US State Department report says pandemic, climate change affected vulnerable, downgrades Malaysia to the lowest tier.

A US State Department report called out the governments of Myanmar, China and Russia for their patterns of trafficking and forced labour and saying in the Chinese province of Xinjiang “the government is the trafficker” citing “a mass detention and political indoctrination campaign against Uighurs, who are predominantly Muslim, and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups”, over the past four years. The State Department report on global human trafficking released on Thursday also added Turkey, a NATO ally, to the list of countries whose “armed forces, police, or other security forces” recruit or use child soldiers. The designation could mean sanctions on military aid or sales for those countries unless the US president issues a waiver.