Methodology

 

Human Trafficking

CATEGORY: Safety and Rule of Law
Sub-category: Personal Safety
Indicator name: Human Trafficking
Data provider: US State Department
Data source:Coded by The Mo Ibrahim Foundation using the Trafficking in Persons Report (TPR)
Publication years used in the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG): 2002-2009
Website: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/

Definition of the indicator:

An expert assessment of governmental efforts to combat human trafficking within a country, based on compliance with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking as set out in the US Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (2000). This indicator does not consider the size or scale of trafficking in a country but only government activities to counter it. Countries are placed in Tiers ranging from full compliance with the Act to non compliance with no efforts towards change.

For details of the methodology, please see:

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/123357.pdf

Technical notes:

  • This indicator was coded by The Mo Ibrahim Foundation, based on The Trafficking in Persons Report (TPR). Our coding gave a score of 0 (zero) to Tier 1 countries; a score of 60 to Tier 2 countries; a score of 80 to Tier 2 Watch List countries; and a score of 100 to Tier 3 countries
  • This scoring was based on the following logic:
    • Tier 1 =score 0 = best score and full compliance
    • Tier 3 =score 100 = worst score and non compliance
    • Scoring Tier 2 and Tier 2 Watch List was determined by the belief that the ‘distance’ from being Tier 2 and a Tier 2 Watch List country was equal, and as Tier 2 Watch List was close to Tier 3, a ‘distance’ of 20 was deemed reasonable. Hence, Tier 2 Watch List was scored 80 and Tier 2 was scored 60. Those ‘distances’ seem reasonable given that only Tier 1 is ‘good’ and the other tiers are degrees of ‘bad’, with Tier 3 being the worst.
  • Once such scores were allocated to countries in line with TPR’s Tier placements, the IIAG score was calculated by normalizing the data scores using the Min-Max method, to a scale of 0-100. Those scores were then subtracted from 100, so that 100 meant best performance and zero meant worst performance, in line with the scheme for the IIAG.
  • The publication year of ‘The Trafficking in Persons Report’ reflects performance from April in the previous year to March of that same year. The latest available data are for April 2008 to March 2009. As the majority of the TPR falls in the previous year it was coded as such. Therefore the latest available data from the 2009 report correspond to 2007/08 in the IIAG.
  • The US ‘Office to Monitor & Combat Trafficking in Persons’ introduced the Tier 2 Watch List in their 2004 report. Therefore IIAG scores for 2000/01 and 2001/02 do not include coding for the Tier 2 Watch List.
  • In the IIAG year 2002/03 Sierra Leone was coded as in the Tier 2 Watch List. This was because in September 2004 Sierra Leone was changed from Tier 3 to the Tier 2 Watch List by a determination by the US President, George W. Bush.
  • Some countries have not been scored by the TPR owing to a lack of information or because, despite suspicions of trafficking, there is not enough reliable information or evidence to corroborate suspicions. These have been deemed ‘special cases’.  These include: Algeria (2002); Botswana (2001, 2007); Djibouti (2004); Egypt (2002); Lesotho (2005-2007), Liberia (2003-2005); Libya (2003); Mauritania (2002); Namibia (2007); Somalia (2001-2008); Swaziland (2005-2007); and Tunisia (2002, 2004, 2006-2007)

Index Indicators

Index Sources