The United States on Monday put Estonia on a human trafficking watchlist, alleging it failed in the last year to step up efforts to fight prostitution and forced labor.
In its 2011 annual Global Trafficking in Persons Report, the State Department also maintained Russia on the list for the eighth consecutive year for the same alleged failures.
"Estonia is a source, transit, and destination country for women subjected to forced prostitution, and for men and women subjected to conditions of forced labor," the State Department said.
Not only are Estonian women from the countryside forced into prostitution in the capital Tallinn, they also end up in the sex trafficking trade in Finland, the Netherlands, Britain, Germany and Italy, it said.
Both men and women from Estonia are also "subjected to conditions of forced labor" in Spain, Sweden, Norway, and Finland, according to the 2011 Global Trafficking in Persons Report.
"The government of Estonia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so," the report said.
"Despite these efforts, the government did not demonstrate evidence of increasing efforts over the previous reporting period," it added, placing Estonia on the Tier 2 watchlist.
http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls...http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls...