[CTC] Senators probe political motivations for trafficking report

[Arthur Stamoulis]

POLITICO Pro Trade
Senators probe political motivations for trafficking report
By Nahal Toosi 

7/29/15 11:52 AM EDT
The top Republican and top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are raising questions about the integrity of the State Department’s annual report on human trafficking, pointing to the upgraded status of Cuba and Malaysia as cause for concern.

Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) have written a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry requesting a briefing on the latest report.

The report, which was released Monday, lifted both Cuba and Malaysia from Tier 3, considered the worst offenders, to the Tier 2 Watch List. It said both countries are making progress in battling sex trafficking and various forms of forced labor.

But the upgrade for Cuba comes as the Obama administration has renewed diplomatic ties and is pursuing more cooperation with the communist-led island nation. The upgrade for Malaysia, where mass graves of migrant workers have recently spurred alarm, also makes it legally easier to include the country in a massive Asia-Pacific trade pact.

That has led opponents of the trade pact and the opening to Cuba, groups that include both Republicans and Democrats, to question if the upgrades in the report were politically motivated.

In their letter, sent late Tuesday, Cardin and Corker said they viewed the annual Trafficking in Persons report as an “essential global tool for ensuring continued progress against human trafficking including its worst forms which amount to modern slavery,” and that “maintaining the integrity of the TIP report is essential to our success.”

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but officials have previously insisted political considerations were not a factor in ranking the countries in the report. The TIP rankings can have tangible effects on the countries named by leading to a reduction in certain forms of U.S. assistance for the poor performers.
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