Washington, Jun 28 (IANS): The US government has downgraded Bangladesh in the 'trafficking in persons' report for not taking firm steps to deal with the threat, a media report said.

The report released by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday said that Dhaka does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, bdnews24 reported.

Although Bangladesh demonstrated some efforts during adopting the 2012 Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act (PSHTA) in January 2017 but "the government's investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of trafficking crimes and the number of victims identified by the government... decreased," the report added.

Bangladesh "remained without a formal mechanism to refer trafficking victims to protective services..." and "did not provide rehabilitation services designed for trafficking victims' specific needs...," the report added.

"NGOs reported victims were frequently re-trafficked due to insufficient care," it added.

"Therefore, Bangladesh was downgraded to Tier 2 Watch List," the US government said.

However, Bangladesh had been on the Tier-2 list for the last five consecutive years, reports Dhaka Tribune.

Around 45 nations, including Pakistan, Serbia, and Saudi Arabia are in the Tier 2 Watch list.

The countries in the Tier 2 Watch list do not fully comply with the TVPA's (Trafficking Victims Protection Act) minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards, the daily said.

As per the report, China, Russia and Iran are among the worst offenders.