hroughout the Sahel who
sometimes destabilize southern Algerian towns; dormant disputes
include Libyan claims of about 32,000 sq km still reflected on its
maps of southeastern Algeria and the FLN's assertions of a claim to
Chirac Pastures in southeastern Morocco

Refugees and internally displaced persons:

refugees (country of origin): 90,000 (Western Saharan Sahrawi,
mostly living in Algerian-sponsored camps in the southwestern
Algerian town of Tindouf)
IDPs: undetermined (civil war during 1990s) (2007)

Trafficking in persons:

current situation: Algeria is a transit country for men and women
trafficked from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe for the purposes of
commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude; Algerian
children are trafficked internally for the purpose of domestic
servitude or street vending
tier rating: Tier 3 - Algeria did not report any serious law
enforcement actions to punish traffickers who force women into
commercial sexual exploitation or men into involuntary servitude in
2007; the government again reported no investigations of trafficking
of children for domestic servitude or improvements in protection
services available to victims of trafficking; Algeria still lacks
victim protection services, and its failure to distinguish between
trafficking and illegal migration may result in the punishment of
victims of trafficking (2008)

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

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@American Samoa

Introduction
American Samoa

Background:

Settled as early as 1000 B.C., Samoa was "discovered" by European
explorers in the 18th century. International rivalries in the latter
half of the 19th century were settled by an 1899 treaty in which
Germany and the US divided the Samoan archipelago. The US formally
occupied its portion - a smaller group of eastern islands with the
excellent harbor of Pago Pago - the following year.

Geography
American Samoa

Location:

Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about half way
between Hawaii and New Zealand

Geographic coordinates:

14 20 S, 170 00 W

Map references:

Oceania

Area:

total: 199 sq km
land: 199 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: includes Rose Island and Swains Island

Area - comparative:

slightly larger than Washington, DC

Land boundaries:

0 km

Coastline:

116 km

Maritime cla