THE UNITED STATES remains the recognized leader in global anti-trafficking efforts. Since its proclaimed aim is to eradicate all forms of sexual and labour trafficking, its record at home and abroad must inevitably be central to any assessment of American behaviour and achievement. Few doubt that the US government's aspirations are laudable, yet its successes remain somewhat hard to discern behind the driving rhetoric. In part, this follows from the nature of the beast. The situation remains immensely difficult to evaluate in any coherent manner, since sexual and labour trafficking is, by definition, illegal, invisible, profitable and the result of substantial physical, psychological and emotional pressures from which many victims find it hard or even impossible to escape without considerable external assistance and protection. What little that can be said with any confidence is that we are dealing with vast criminalities, common, at least in outline, to all societies across all continents, but with enormous differences within nation states and in individual cases. Trafficking is a global phenomenon and globalization has facilitated migratory pressures that in turn have given sexual and labour traffickers their opportunities and made it relatively easy for many to prosper, secrete away their gains and remain largely hidden without any great fear of landing in the dock.

Nation states, even when either encouraged or prodded by Washington to take action, have found it an uphill battle; those countries who have earned Tier 1 ranking by the State Department are still a decided and perhaps decreasing minority. Japan in 2018, for example, was cautiously defined only as a member of the relatively small club that Tully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking’. Yet it should be noted that it is unlikely that Tokyo would have ever reached its new Tier 1 position, if it had not been for prolonged pressure from the United States.