[CTC] AFL-CIO, NETWORK, Rep. Levin & others on Malaysia trafficking

Thu Jul 9 15:36:55 PDT 2015

Four items below...

http://www.networklobby.org/news-media/press-release-MalaysiaHumanTrafficking <http://www.networklobby.org/news-media/press-release-MalaysiaHumanTrafficking>

Press Release: NETWORK Responds to Reports that State Dept. Will Upgrade Malaysia’s Status in Human Trafficking Report

Washington DC: NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, today issued the following statement regarding reports that Malaysia will move from “Tier 3” to “Tier 2”:

We are shocked by reports that the U.S. State Department plans to upgrade Malaysia’s status to the “Tier 2 Watch List” on human trafficking. If true, this is nothing more than a crass, political ploy to circumvent U.S. legislative requirements that Tier 3 countries be barred from “fast track” trade deals. According to Sister Simone Campbell, NETWORK’s Executive Director, “This can only be seen as a cynical political action meant to bolster Malaysia’s trade status with the U.S. at the expense of countless human trafficking victims. Coming so soon after the discovery in May of almost 150 graves in Malaysian camps of trafficking victims, the State Department’s reported decision cannot be justified on any level.”

NETWORK has long warned that giving countries with poor human rights records preferred trade status with the U.S. will only undermine the work of those seeking to make this a more humane world. Trafficking human beings as if they were economic products is a horrific crime. Governments and our church have rightfully condemned the enslavement of these victims. Abolishment of human trafficking should be a high priority for all.

If the State Department does, in fact, upgrade Malaysia’s human trafficking status for trade purposes, it will undermine the work of human rights activists around the world.

We call on the administration to make sure this doesn’t happen. Malaysia must be held accountable for the human rights abuses within its borders.

As Pope Francis has said, human trafficking “constitutes a grave violation of the human rights of those victimized and is an offense against their dignity, as well as a defeat for the worldwide community. People of good will, whether or not they profess religious beliefs, must not allow these women, men and children to be treated as objects, to be deceived, raped, often sold and resold for various purposes, and in the end either killed or left devastated in mind and body, only to be finally thrown away or abandoned. It is shameful.” The U.S. government should listen and act accordingly.
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http://democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/press-release/rep-levin-statement-reports-change-malaysia-human-trafficking-ranking <http://democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/press-release/rep-levin-statement-reports-change-malaysia-human-trafficking-ranking>
Rep. Levin Statement on Reports of Change in Malaysia Human Trafficking Ranking
WASHINGTON – Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today issued the following statement following a report by Reuters <http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/09/us-usa-malaysia-trafficking-exclusive-idUSKCN0PJ00F20150709> that the U.S. Trafficking in Persons report will upgrade Malaysia to Tier 2 from Tier 3:

“Reports of a change in Malaysia’s human trafficking ranking are deeply disturbing. I will thoroughly review the rationale in the report when it is released. It is crucial that consideration of Malaysia’s record on human trafficking reflect the realities on the ground and not a glossing over of those realities to assist Malaysia’s participation in TPP. It is essential that expanded trade be based on standards and their implementation, not their evasion or erosion. As reflected in last year’s Trafficking in Persons report, there are several million migrant workers in Malaysia. Large numbers of them ‘are exploited and subjected to practices indicative of forced labor,’ such as workers on agricultural plantations, at construction sites, in textile factories, and in homes as domestic workers, according to the report.

“The Administration must focus its efforts on getting Malaysia to fully comply with international labor standards, because the human trafficking problem includes a forced labor problem, which is prohibited by the labor chapter envisioned for TPP. That’s why it is so important that we get TPP right, ensuring that Malaysia and other countries like Mexico and Vietnam correct their immense and deeply troubling worker rights deficiencies before Congress votes.”

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For Immediate Release July 9, 2015                                                    Contact: Josh Goldstein 202-637-5018

AFL-CIO Condemns State Department Upgrade of Malaysia on
Trafficking List
Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in response to reports indicating the United States is prepared to upgrade the Malaysian government in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report:

We are outraged by this clearly political decision, which undermines the integrity of the TIP Report and signals that the U.S. is willing to turn a blind eye to modern slavery and grave human and labor rights abuses in order to advance its trade agenda.  

The situation in Malaysia has not improved: forced labor, human trafficking, and exploitation remain pervasive. If Malaysia is rewarded with greater market access under the Trans-Pacific Partnership without having to first undertake fundamental reforms, there will be little incentive for Malaysia to end this brutality. Unfortunately, the administration appears to be resolute in forging a flawed trade agreement with countries that currently violate fundamental labor and human rights while continuing a global race to the bottom in wages and working conditions.

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Statement online http://www.aflcio.org/Press-Room/Press-Releases/AFL-CIO-Condemns-State-Department-Upgrade-of-Malaysia-on-Trafficking-List <http://www.aflcio.org/Press-Room/Press-Releases/AFL-CIO-Condemns-State-Department-Upgrade-of-Malaysia-on-Trafficking-List>

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/09/uk-usa-malaysia-trafficking-idUKKCN0PJ2PJ20150709 <http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/09/uk-usa-malaysia-trafficking-idUKKCN0PJ2PJ20150709>

Rights groups urge U.S. to reconsider Malaysia human-trafficking rating

Reuters
By Jason Szep
July 9, 2015

Human rights groups and some U.S. lawmakers urged the U.S. government on Thursday to reconsider plans to upgrade Malaysia from the lowest tier on its list of worst human trafficking hubs, citing a lack of evidence that Malaysia had made advances against trafficking.

The comments come a day after Reuters revealed that the U.S. State Department plans to reverse last year’s downgrade of Malaysia in its annual "Trafficking in Persons" (TIP) report, a move that could smooth the way for a major U.S.-led free-trade deal with the Southeast Asian nation and 11 other countries.

Last year, the United States downgraded Malaysia to Tier 3, alongside North Korea, Syria and Zimbabwe, citing "limited efforts to improve its flawed victim protection regime" and other problems.

It was unclear why the State Department decided on the upgrade. Last year's report said Malaysia needed to amend its anti-trafficking law and regulations, do more to protect trafficking victims, better identify victims and strengthen policies and laws with more prosecution and convictions in trafficking cases, among other recommendations.

“Without clear evidence that Malaysia has improved its anti-trafficking efforts during the past year, news that the State Department would choose to upgrade Malaysia’s TIP report ranking seems out of step with the administration’s commitment to lead in ending modern day slavery,” said Amy Sobel, a vice president at Human Rights First, an advocacy group.

Melysa Sperber, director of the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking, a coalition of 14 U.S.-based human rights organizations, said a Malaysian upgrade would lack credibility, would undermine the State Department’s anti-trafficking reports and would be “purely political.”

The upgrade to so-called "Tier 2 Watch List" status, which sources with knowledge of the decision told Reuters the administration had approved, removes a potential barrier to President Barack Obama's signature global trade deal.

A provision in a related trade bill passed by Congress last month barred from fast-tracked trade deals Malaysia and other countries that earn the worst U.S. human trafficking ranking in the eyes of the U.S. State Department.

The upgrade follows international scrutiny and outcry over Malaysian efforts to combat human trafficking after the discovery this year of scores of graves in people-smuggling camps near its northern border with Thailand.

The discovery took place after the March cut-off for the U.S. report, which is expected to be released next week.

Malaysia's Deputy Home (Interior) Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar has said it was unclear whether those killed were illegal migrants.

MALAYSIA WELCOMES UPGRADE

Some U.S. lawmakers and human-rights advocates had expected Malaysia to remain on Tier 3 this year given its slow pace of convictions in human-trafficking cases and pervasive trafficking in industries such as electronics and palm oil.

“Malaysia has forced labour in agriculture, construction, electronics, textiles and domestic service in homes, and was rightly given a Tier 3 ranking last year — a move we and other groups in the trafficking world supported,” Sperber said.

State Department spokesman John Kirby told a news conference that the report had not yet been finalised and that each country's rating is based on pragmatic assessments and is “something we take very, very seriously.”

Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi said "we deserve the positive consideration by the State Department of America.”

"Since beginning of 2014, we have been doing our best to satisfy and fulfil our obligations," he said.

In May, just as Obama's drive to win "fast-track" trade negotiating authority for his trade deal entered its most sensitive stage in the U.S. Congress, Malaysian police announced the discovery of 139 graves in jungle camps used by suspected smugglers and traffickers of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.

Malaysia hopes to be a signatory to Obama's legacy-defining Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would link a dozen countries, cover 40 percent of the world economy and form a central element of his strategic shift towards Asia.

On June 29, Obama signed into law legislation giving him "fast-track" power to push ahead on the deal.

“Our legitimacy and moral authority on the issue of human trafficking is being undermined in an effort to smooth the path for the TPP," Democratic Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro said in a statement.

"We should not sacrifice our ethical principles for a corporatist agenda."

Lawmakers are working on a compromise that would let Malaysia and other countries appearing on a U.S. black-list for human trafficking participate in fast-tracked trade deals if the administration verified that they have taken concrete steps to address the most important issues identified in the annual trafficking report.

The State Department would have needed to show that Malaysia had neither fully complied with minimum anti-trafficking standards nor made significant efforts to do so to justify keeping Malaysia on Tier 3, which can lead to penalties such as the withholding of some assistance.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division, said he "would be shocked if Malaysia were upgraded."

"They have done very little to improve the protection from abuse that migrant workers face. They have done precious little, frankly, to merit an upgrade," he said.

(Additional reporting by Trinna Leong in Kuala Lumpur and Bill Trott in Washington. Editing by Stuart Grudgings.)

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