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U.S. takes new swipe at North Korea, Myanmar,
Cuba
WASHINGTON, 10 (AFP) - The United States took
a new swipe at perennial foes North Korea, Myanmar
and Cuba, saddling them with a fresh tier of sanctions
-- to punish what it said was a lack of effort
in combating the modern day slave trade.
The three states, which rarely escape the US
doghouse, fell foul of a US survey on human trafficking,
and the largely symbolic measures will bar them
from any US military, educational or cultural
aid.
But Bush gave a pass to Liberia and Sudan, which
also failed to meet the standards set by US law
but were deemed worthy of special treatment, the
White House said.
A further 10 states rebuked in the State Department's
2003 Trafficking in Persons report issued in June
escaped sanctions after taking what the White
House said was "quick action" to address
US concerns.
The "continuing failure" of Myanmar,
Cuba and North Korea to deal responsibly with
human trafficking gave Bush no option but to sanction
them, said White House press spokesman Scott McClellan
in a statement.
North Korea, locked in a nuclear crisis with
Washington, dismissed the State Department's June
report, which it branded a "despicable charade."
"'Flesh traffic' is something that can occur
only in the American society where the fin-de-siecle
tendency based on the money-is-everything principle
and the jungle law prevails," a foreign ministry
spokesman said in Pyongyang in June.
Myanmar, which exchanges frequent verbal fire
with Washington, has also rejected the charges,
and on Monday announced that it had uncovered
223 cases of human trafficking this year.
Scores of youths from Myanmar, particularly girls,
are routinely swept into the sex trade, lured
to neighbouring countries like Thailand.
Cuban President Fidel Castro also angrily rejected
the State Department report, castigating it in
June as "despicable, rude, cynical and repugnant."
Liberia and Sudan escaped sanctions, as punishing
them was not viewed in the US national interest,
according to the White House.
Washington is currently waiting to see if Sudan's
government and southern rebels can reach a peace
deal to end a brutal civil war, and recently sent
troops to aid a west African bid to stabilise
conflict-torn Liberia.
Up to 900,000 people a year are moved across
international borders in the global human trafficking
trade, into forced labor, sexual exploitation,
and other forms of modern day slavery, according
to US figures.
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