Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Human trafficking and ideology

The State Department's 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report is a disturbing read.  Beyond the horrific details, however, I was amused to see how ideology colors the Latin America entries.  Many countries are portrayed as not combating human trafficking enough, but making strides in that regard.  But it comes as no surprise that the countries viewed as neither combating nor making strides are the U.S. government usual suspects: Cuba, Ecuador, and Venezuela (though this time around Bolivia gets a pass).

It doesn't really matter what any particular State Department report is about.  They could issue one focused on the number of clowns per capita, or which countries have the best beaches: Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela will be found to be noncompliant.

3 comments:

Adam Isacson 9:25 AM  

I agree. I plotted this report out on a map of the region and the result was pretty striking.

Greg Weeks 3:20 PM  

Cool--visually it is even more obvious.

Justin Delacour 8:43 PM  

But it comes as no surprise that the countries viewed as neither combating nor making strides are the U.S. government usual suspects: Cuba, Ecuador, and Venezuela (though this time around Bolivia gets a pass).

Indeed, not surprising. These sorts of patterns aren't sufficiently studied, which is a shame (but not particularly surprising either).

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