Malaysia hopes to make it into the TPP coalition. It's track record on Forced Labor and its 'mistreatment' of Migrant Workers -- might preclude them from U.S. Trade Agreement. That is if Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) gets his say on the matter.
Malaysia finds graves of trafficking victims
by Eileen Ng and Todd Pitman, nwasianweekly.com; Associated Press -- 31 May 2015
[...]
The finding follows a similar discovery earlier this month by police in Thailand who unearthed dozens of bodies from shallow graves in abandoned camps on the Thai side of the border. The grim discoveries are shedding new light on the hidden network of jungle camps run by traffickers, who have for years held countless desperate people captive while extorting ransoms from their families.
Most of those who have fallen victim to the trafficking networks are refugees and impoverished migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh, part of a wave of people who have fled their homelands to reach countries like Malaysia, where they hope to find work or live free from persecution.
[...]
“These graves are believed to be a part of human trafficking activities involving migrants,” he said, adding that police have discovered 17 abandoned camps that they suspect were used by traffickers.
[...]
Malaysia Exhumes Mass Graves At Migrant Traffickers Camp
by Eileen NG, huffingtonpost.com; AP -- 05/26/2015
[...]
Malaysian police took journalists to one of 28 abandoned camps found after a regional crackdown was launched on human trafficking earlier this month.
The camp, reached after a 2-hour hike up a steep jungle path, appeared to have been abandoned a while ago, police said. A jungle prison remained that included at least two large wooden pens wrapped with barbed wire.
"These structures were believed to be used as human cages," said Mohammad Bahar. He said the camp may have held up to 300 people. It also contained a watch tower and a cooking area littered with dishes and pots. During the tour, authorities pointed out what looked like the skeletal remains of a jaw on the ground.
[...]
Amendment to anti-human trafficking law can improve Tier 3 ranking, says minister
by Elizabeth Zachariah, themalaysianinsider.com -- 10 June 2015
Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said in the Dewan Rakyat that Malaysia’s Tier 3 ranking had affected its chances in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).
"We are in Tier 3, which the lowest possible ranking. If we are in this position, it is hard for us in TPPA," he said in answer to a supplementary question from Jasin MP Datuk Wira Ahmad Hamzah (BN).
"If we improve on our condition, our position (in the ranking) will be better. So the government has proposed this bill and hopefully this will see our rankings improve."
The US State Department's 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report has issued a damning statement on the Malaysian government's poor efforts in fighting modern day slavery, noting that there was ample evidence of forced labour and sex trafficking in the country.
[...]
"Tier 3" is that like having a seat in the 'upper balcony' ... or rather the third stage of Dante's Hell ...?
Trafficking in Persons Report 2014
U.S. Department of State
[...]
"This year’s Trafficking in Persons Report offers a roadmap for the road ahead as we confront the scourge of trafficking." -- John F. Kerry, Secretary of State
[...]
The Tiers
Tier 1
Countries whose governments fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards.
Tier 2
Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.
Tier 2 Watch List
Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards AND:
a. The absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing;
b. There is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year; or
c. The determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional future steps over the next year.
Tier 3
Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.
[...]
Tier 3
Algeria
Central African Republic
Congo, Democratic Rep. Of
Cuba
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
The Gambia
Guinea-Bissau
Iran
Korea, North
Kuwait
Libya
Malaysia@
Mauritania
Papua New Guinea
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Thailand@
Uzbekistan
Venezuela@
Yemen
Zimbabwe
@ Auto downgrade from Tier 2 Watch List
How Obama’s trade deal could be changed to stop slavery
by Andrea Powell, msnbc.com -- June 11, 2015
[...]
Simplistically stated, we are now at a crossroads where we must decide what we value more -- the profits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership or ending slave labor. Some of the very industries that stand to benefit most from this trade deal are within those sectors that depend most upon the exploitation of Malaysians, including electronics, where an estimated 28% of the labor force is enslaved.
There should be no consideration higher than that of ending slavery.
[...]
Furthermore, Malaysia should not be upgraded to a higher tier ranking when just this year more than 100 mass graves of enslaved people were found in camps around the country. The mass graves are shocking, but the pervasive and multi-layered abuse of migrant workers coming into Malaysia runs much deeper. The United States should take this unique opportunity to pressure Malaysia to put an end to slavery, including hundreds of slave camps, and to effectively save the lives of thousands of vulnerable people.
Sen. Robert Menendez added a
Anti-Human trafficking Senate Rider to the Fast Track legislation when it was in the Senate. But recently he has had to make the case that the House (and the White House)
should not try to water it down:
“With those images fresh in our minds [mass graves], with new revelations of the scope of the trafficking problem in Malaysia and other countries coming every day, now is the time for our colleagues in the House to add their voice to a clear statement of bipartisan American values: no fast track for human traffickers,” Menendez wrote. “If House Leadership or the Obama administration wants to make substantive changes to the Menendez anti-trafficking provision they need to do it in the light of day and not in a backroom deal on unrelated legislation. Any effort to strip or change this provision, should be addressed in the fast-track trade promotion bill and open to debate.”
It’s up to the House to include the weaker language. Without it, the White House argues, the TPP could fall apart. House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is working to include the modified text -- which would allow Malaysia membership to the TPP if it crafts a plan to combat trafficking -- in a customs enforcement bill that will come to the floor after fast-track.
"Human trafficking is a real problem, and that’s why Chairman Ryan has an agreement with Senator [Ron] Wyden (D-Ore.) to adopt the modified Menendez amendment, as proposed by Senator Menendez," Ryan's spokesman Brendan Buck said in an email.
--
Menendez Urges House To Keep Malaysia Out Of Obama's Trade Deal
by Laura Barron-Lopez, huffingtonpost.com -- June 1, 1025
Well at least the Fast Track promoters Ryan and Wyden, are willing to admit that "Human trafficking is a real problem."
I suppose we should call that "progress" given how anxious they are to pass the Trade legislation and get it out the door, before more prying eyes find out what's in it.
Now if only their "modified text" (of the Menendez Amendment) can connect all those Mass Graves with the long-gone Malaysia Traffickers, who have managed to survive so far, to profit most brutally from their unscrutinized "Tier 3" status.
If you too think "Human trafficking is a 'real' problem" too, and that we need to "confront the scourge of trafficking" (as Kerry put it) -- while we have the chance ...
Then call/email your Rep, tell them to Stop Fast Track, and and to stop trying to cram-through this ill-conceived, shadowy TPP deal, without the light of day.