laced from Golan Heights during 1967
Arab-Israeli War) (2006)

Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Syria is a destination country for women from
South and Southeast Asia and Africa for domestic servitude and from
Eastern Europe and Iraq for sexual exploitation; women are recruited
for work in Syria as domestic servants, but some face conditions of
exploitation and involuntary servitude including long hours,
non-payment of wages, withholding of passports and other
restrictions on movement, and physical and sexual abuse; Eastern
European women recruited for work in Syria as cabaret dancers are
not permitted to leave their work premises without permission and
have their passports withheld; some displaced Iraqi women and
children are reportedly forced into sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 3 - Syria does not fully comply with the minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making
significant efforts to do so

Illicit drugs:
a transit point for opiates and hashish bound for regional and
Western markets; weak anti-money-laundering controls and bank
privatization may leave it vulnerable to money-laundering

This page was last updated on 8 February, 2007

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@Taiwan

Introduction Taiwan

Background:
In 1895, military defeat forced China to cede Taiwan to Japan.
Taiwan reverted to Chinese control after World War II. Following the
Communist victory on the mainland in 1949, 2 million Nationalists
fled to Taiwan and established a government using the 1946
constitution drawn up for all of China. Over the next five decades,
the ruling authorities gradually democratized and incorporated the
local population within the governing structure. In 2000, Taiwan
underwent its first peaceful transfer of power from the Nationalist
to the Democratic Progressive Party. Throughout this period, the
island prospered and became one of East Asia's economic "Tigers."
The dominant political issues continue to be the relationship
between Taiwan and China - specifically the question of eventual
unification - as well as domestic political and economic reform.

Geography Taiwan

Location:
Eastern Asia, islands bordering the East China Sea, Philippine Sea,
South China Sea, and Taiwan Strait, north of the Philippines, off
the southeastern coast of China

Geo