Ireland, Romania, and Belarus ranked worst in combating human rights trafficking

The Trafficking in Persons Report of 2021 revealed a daunting reality, ranking three European countries – Ireland, Romania, and Belarus – as the weakest states on the continent regarding their fights against human trafficking. The report is published annually by the US Department of State and analyses countries worldwide by looking into governments’ efforts to tackle the issue of human trafficking. In addition, the investigation compares each country’s current plans with their previous efforts and checks if the minimum standards established by the US Department of State on how to act and work towards reducing human trafficking are in place. As a result, Ireland occupies a spot in the Tier 2 Watch List for the second time consecutively.