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ALGIERS, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Algerian Minister of Justice refuted on Sunday the U.S. allegations in its "far from the reality" report on Algeria's human trafficking issue.
The minister, Tayeb Louh, insisted that human trafficking scourge "doesn't exist in Algeria," and the country presents annual reports to the United Nations in all fields, including human trafficking issue.
He added that provisions from Algeria's Penal Code severely punish those found guilty of human trafficking, and security services opened, so far, only two probes related to human trafficking, both have been dealt by justice.
Earlier this month, a U.S. report ranked Algeria in "TIER 3" as a "transit and, to a lesser extent, destination and source country for women subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking and, to a lesser extent, men subjected to forced labor."
The report described Algeria as a destination for both undocumented migration and human trafficking, during which some criminal networks , referring to illegal migrants from Sub Saharan African countries, like Niger and Chad.
At the request of Niger government, Algeria repatriated thousands of migrants to their country of origin, but thousands of others managed to reach the North African nation for better living conditions. Enditem
