State Department upgrades Malaysia human trafficking status, allowing TPP participation
July 27, 2015 |03:28 PM
In its annual Trafficking in Persons Report, the State Department today upgraded Malaysia from Tier 3 to Tier 2 Watch status, which allows U.S. officials to continue negotiating with Malaysia on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.
In the law that granted President Barack Obama trade promotion authority, Congress included a provision that U.S. officials could not negotiate with countries that are listed as Tier 3 participants in human trafficking, the worst status level the State Department uses.
Malaysia was listed as a Tier 3 country until today.
Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich.
House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Sander Levin, D-Mich., a critic of both TPA and TPP who is in Hawaii this week to monitor the negotiations taking place there, said in a statement, “The administration’s upgrade of Malaysia in the human trafficking report — without evidence of significant changes on the ground — is extremely concerning.”
“The administration is negotiating a trade agreement that obligates countries to adhere to the International Labor Organization’s basic standards on worker rights, which bans forced labor,” said Levin, who has raised the issue along with Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Chris Smith, R-N.J.
“Malaysia’s human trafficking problem — which is a forced labor problem — puts it in direct violation of these provisions in the TPP agreement. Instead of paving the way for Malaysia’s participation in TPP, we should be working on actions that Malaysia should be taking to come into compliance with these standards. That is why we have insisted that our trading partners come into compliance with these standards before Congress votes. Reports and promises of progress are not enough — real changes must be made on the ground.”
Levin noted that “from 2010 to 2013, Malaysia was included on the Tier 2 Watch List, but was automatically downgraded to Tier 3 in the 2014 TIP Report because of the country’s consistent failure to make substantive progress in addressing its trafficking challenges, and also to comply with the minimum standards set out in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.”
“The 2014 TIP Report found Malaysia’s foreign workforce was particularly vulnerable to forced labor, and noted how institutional failures — such as a lack of enforcement of Malaysian laws to crack down on trafficking — have exacerbated these issues.”
Shane Larson, legislative director of the Communications Workers of America, said in a news release today, “A bad trade deal for the American people is made all the worse when its pursuit tramples on our country’s basic values and makes a mockery of the supposed independence of the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons report.”
“The facts are clear — Malaysia has a serious human trafficking problem that has not improved and the Obama administration is placing the completion of the TPP ahead of human trafficking concerns,” Larson said.
“Further, Malaysia’s upgraded ranking calls into question TPP backers’ claims about this trade deal upholding and advancing global improvements on human and labor rights and environmental standards. We simply should not be rewarding bad actor countries like Malaysia with inclusion in trade deals. For those who followed the fast track debate closely, it shouldn't be a surprise that backers of the TPP would resort to any means possible to finish this deal. But that we are not surprised shouldn’t diminish the audacious and troubling nature of today's announcement.”
In the profile of Malaysia which begins on page 234 of the report, the State Department said, “The government of Malaysia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.”
“In 2014, the government consulted with civil society stakeholders to draft and propose amendments strengthening the existing anti-trafficking law and addressing concerns raised in previous Trafficking in Persons Reports, including by allowing trafficking victims to move freely and work, and for NGOs to run the facilities,” the profile says.
“The amendments remained pending passage by Parliament at the end of the reporting period. The government adopted a pilot project to allow a limited number of victims to work outside government facilities. Authorities continued to provide assistance to foreign victims housed in government facilities for one to six months while under protection orders; these victims had limited freedom of movement and could not work outside the facilities.
“Malaysia more than doubled the number of trafficking investigations and substantially increased prosecutions, but the government convicted only three traffickers for forced labor and one for passport retention, a decrease from the nine traffickers it convicted in 2013. Malaysia also continued efforts in an expansive prevention campaign that raised awareness about trafficking.”
In the law that granted President Barack Obama trade promotion authority, Congress included a provision that U.S. officials could not negotiate with countries that are listed as Tier 3 participants in human trafficking, the worst status level the State Department uses.
Malaysia was listed as a Tier 3 country until today.
Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich.
House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Sander Levin, D-Mich., a critic of both TPA and TPP who is in Hawaii this week to monitor the negotiations taking place there, said in a statement, “The administration’s upgrade of Malaysia in the human trafficking report — without evidence of significant changes on the ground — is extremely concerning.”
“The administration is negotiating a trade agreement that obligates countries to adhere to the International Labor Organization’s basic standards on worker rights, which bans forced labor,” said Levin, who has raised the issue along with Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Chris Smith, R-N.J.
“Malaysia’s human trafficking problem — which is a forced labor problem — puts it in direct violation of these provisions in the TPP agreement. Instead of paving the way for Malaysia’s participation in TPP, we should be working on actions that Malaysia should be taking to come into compliance with these standards. That is why we have insisted that our trading partners come into compliance with these standards before Congress votes. Reports and promises of progress are not enough — real changes must be made on the ground.”
Levin noted that “from 2010 to 2013, Malaysia was included on the Tier 2 Watch List, but was automatically downgraded to Tier 3 in the 2014 TIP Report because of the country’s consistent failure to make substantive progress in addressing its trafficking challenges, and also to comply with the minimum standards set out in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.”
“The 2014 TIP Report found Malaysia’s foreign workforce was particularly vulnerable to forced labor, and noted how institutional failures — such as a lack of enforcement of Malaysian laws to crack down on trafficking — have exacerbated these issues.”
Shane Larson, legislative director of the Communications Workers of America, said in a news release today, “A bad trade deal for the American people is made all the worse when its pursuit tramples on our country’s basic values and makes a mockery of the supposed independence of the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons report.”
“The facts are clear — Malaysia has a serious human trafficking problem that has not improved and the Obama administration is placing the completion of the TPP ahead of human trafficking concerns,” Larson said.
“Further, Malaysia’s upgraded ranking calls into question TPP backers’ claims about this trade deal upholding and advancing global improvements on human and labor rights and environmental standards. We simply should not be rewarding bad actor countries like Malaysia with inclusion in trade deals. For those who followed the fast track debate closely, it shouldn't be a surprise that backers of the TPP would resort to any means possible to finish this deal. But that we are not surprised shouldn’t diminish the audacious and troubling nature of today's announcement.”
In the profile of Malaysia which begins on page 234 of the report, the State Department said, “The government of Malaysia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.”
“In 2014, the government consulted with civil society stakeholders to draft and propose amendments strengthening the existing anti-trafficking law and addressing concerns raised in previous Trafficking in Persons Reports, including by allowing trafficking victims to move freely and work, and for NGOs to run the facilities,” the profile says.
“The amendments remained pending passage by Parliament at the end of the reporting period. The government adopted a pilot project to allow a limited number of victims to work outside government facilities. Authorities continued to provide assistance to foreign victims housed in government facilities for one to six months while under protection orders; these victims had limited freedom of movement and could not work outside the facilities.
“Malaysia more than doubled the number of trafficking investigations and substantially increased prosecutions, but the government convicted only three traffickers for forced labor and one for passport retention, a decrease from the nine traffickers it convicted in 2013. Malaysia also continued efforts in an expansive prevention campaign that raised awareness about trafficking.”
