women who go overseas each year to work as domestic
servants or "cultural performers" are subjected to conditions of
involuntary servitude and commercial sexual exploitation; to a
minimal extent, Indonesia is a destination for women from East Asia,
Europe, and South America who are trafficked for sexual
exploitation; there is extensive trafficking within Indonesia from
rural to urban metropolitan areas particularly for sexual
exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Indonesia is placed on the Tier 2
Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts
to combat trafficking

Illicit drugs:
illicit producer of cannabis largely for domestic use; producer of
methamphetamine and ecstasy

This page was last updated on 8 February, 2007

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@Iran

Introduction Iran

Background:
Known as Persia until 1935, Iran became an Islamic republic in 1979
after the ruling monarchy was overthrown and the shah was forced
into exile. Conservative clerical forces established a theocratic
system of government with ultimate political authority nominally
vested in a learned religious scholar. Iranian-US relations have
been strained since a group of Iranian students seized the US
Embassy in Tehran on 4 November 1979 and held it until 20 January
1981. During 1980-88, Iran fought a bloody, indecisive war with Iraq
that eventually expanded into the Persian Gulf and led to clashes
between US Navy and Iranian military forces between 1987-1988. Iran
has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism for its activities
in Lebanon and elsewhere in the world and remains subject to US
economic sanctions and export controls because of its continued
involvement. Following the elections of a reformist president and
Majlis in the late 1990s, attempts to foster political reform in
response to popular dissatisfaction floundered as conservative
politicians prevented reform measures from being enacted, increased
repressive measures, and made electoral gains against reformers.
Parliamentary elections in 2004 and the August 2005 inauguration of
a conservative stalwart as president, completed the reconsolidation
of conservative power in Iran's government.

Geography Iran

Location:
Middle East, bordering the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, and th