U.S. Govt. Honors Judge Wennah as “TIP Hero” -As Liberia Improves Human Trafficking Record

MONROVIA –The U.S. State Department on Wednesday, July 20, 2022 released the 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report), where Criminal Court “E” Resident Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit in Bong County, Liberia was announced as one of the 2022 TIP Report Heroes.

According to a July 20 press release from the Embassy of the United States of America near Monrovia, the TIP Report is the U.S. government’s principal diplomatic and diagnostic tool to guide relations with foreign governments on human trafficking. It is also the world’s most comprehensive resource of governmental anti-trafficking efforts and reflects the U.S. government’s commitment to global leadership on this key human rights, law enforcement, and national security issue.

As required by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the TIP Report assesses government efforts around the world to combat human trafficking and highlights strategies to address this crime and protect the victims. This year’s report, the 22nd installment, includes narratives for 188 countries and territories, including the United States.

During the ceremony, Secretary Blinken announced Liberia’s own Judge Cornelius Flomo Wennah,

Residential Judge of Criminal Court “E”, Ninth Judicial Circuit, Bong County as one of the 2022 TIP Report Heroes. The TIP Report Heroes are individuals from around the world whose tireless efforts have made a lasting impact on the fight against human trafficking.

Liberia has been elevated to Tier Two, up from Tier Two Watch List last year.

The report divides nations into tiers based on their compliance with standards outlined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000.

Tier 1 includes countries whose governments fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, while Tier 2 includes countries whose governments do not fully comply with all of TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.

Tier 2 watchlist comprises countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards and:

The absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing; or there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year; or the determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional future steps over the next year.

Tier 3 comprises countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.

There are also a few special cases (Special Tier) such as Yemen, where the civil conflict and humanitarian crisis make gaining information difficult; and Sint Maarten, where the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma has made reporting difficult.

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