Latvia Maintains its Ranking in U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report

Riga, June 20, 2012

U.S. Embassy Seal

Riga, June 20, 2012. – On June 19, 2012, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released the 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report. This year, Latvia is placed on Tier 2, which is the same ranking as last year.

The 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report asserts that the Government of Latvia is making significant efforts to comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, although it does not yet fully comply with these standards. It notes that the Government of Latvia improved its anti-trafficking efforts by developing criteria for the identification of labor trafficking victims, by improving the mechanisms to refer trafficking victims to state-funded care, and by strengthening efforts to address sham marriages. In 2012, the government increased funding for victim assistance despite government-wide budget cuts, designed improved procedures to repatriate victims of trafficking to Latvia, and investigated trafficking-related corruption cases. However, the Report states that despite these important efforts, more should be done to identify trafficking victims domestically and abroad and prosecute their traffickers.

The Report includes specific recommendations for the Government of Latvia to continue addressing the problem of human trafficking. These recommendations include increasing efforts to identify victims, particularly victims of labor trafficking and domestic victims, and increasing investigations and prosecutions of suspected domestic and labor trafficking offenses. The report notes that Latvia should continue implementation of the 2009-2013 National Anti-Trafficking Program.

The full text of the 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report is publicly available at http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/. To read the report in Latvian, please follow this link: http://latvian.riga.usembassy.gov/annual-reports.html.