The United States’ state department Trafficking in Persons report for 2017 upgrading Maldives to Tier 2 shows its recognition of the country’s efforts to combat human trafficking, the Foreign Ministry has said.

While Maldives was placed in the Tier 2 watch list in 2016 and 2015, which had prompted the parliament’s passing of Anti-Trafficking Act, the State Department had Maldives in Tier 2 – which implies that the number of victims in the country have not been increasing.

“The Minister, in making remarks in response to the outcome of the TIP 2017 report, further noted that the decision by the authors of the 2017 Report to upgrade the Maldives shows strong recognition and acceptance of the Maldives’s strengthened efforts to combat trafficking in persons by adopting necessary legislation, and implementing key initiatives introduced by President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s government“ a statement from the ministry said.

The statement further said that the government had investigated 11 trafficking cases and 10 cases of forced labour and a single sex trafficking case. Four of these cases had been investigated, in comparison to the reported ‘zero’ highlighted by the State Department in its previous reports for the past three years.

The minsitry's statement had commended the work of the Immigration Department and the Economic Ministry in combating human traffiking in the country. A tier 2 upgrade implies that the Maldives has taken active action to fight the number of trafficking cases occured in the country - keeping the frequency stagnated - and it is indicative of the fact that Maldives has taken formative action to combat the issue.