The US has removed Bahrain from a blacklist of countries trafficking in people, but kept on Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Fiji, Moldova and Papua New Guinea were added to the list contained in the annual report which analysed efforts in 170 countries to combat trafficking for forced labour, prostitution, military service and other purposes.

Also remaining on the 'Tier 3' blacklist are Sudan, Syria, Algeria, Iran, Myanmar, and Cuba, according to the State Department's 'Trafficking in Persons Report' for 2008.

Bahrain and Malaysia as well as Venezuela, Uzbekistan and Equatorial Guinea were all elevated from the blacklist last year to the 'Tier 2' watch list this year.

In introducing the report, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said human trafficking 'deprives people of their human rights and dignity' and 'bankrolls the growth of organized crime and it undermines the rule of law'.

The 14 countries on the blacklist could face sanctions, including the withholding by the US of non-humanitarian, non-trade related foreign aid.

Countries that receive no such assistance would be subject to withholding of funding for government officials to participate in educational and cultural exchange programmes.-TradeArabia News Service