Angry about ‘s recent upgrade by the from the lowest tier on its list of worst human trafficking centers, about 40 of human rights activists held a demonstration outside the of in City on Tuesday.
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Meanwhile, last week, a representative of the US Embassy in Kingston, Rebecca Molinoff, told The Gleaner/Power 106 News Centre that the State Department takes the concerns raised seriously.
“The Secretary noted the steps Malaysia has taken to address its human trafficking but also urged the government of Malaysia to continue taking steps to improve law enforcement and victim protection programmes”, a senior State Department official said.
An investigation by Reuters recently found that the State Department’s annual human trafficking report had been massively politicized to raise the grades of at least 14 countries, including Malaysia, Cuba, China, India, Uzbekistan and Mexico.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who chairs the panel, said he has a number of “serious concerns” about the human trafficking report.
Lawmakers will question Sarah Sewall, who oversees the anti-trafficking office as undersecretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights.
Another Republican presidential hopeful, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, tweeted that Obama and the State Department “should be ashamed of their purely political manipulation of Cuba’s human trafficking issues”.
The president and his administration have set a unsafe precedent that could lead countries to believe that they can negotiate their way out of being named and shamed for their human trafficking abuses, instead of actually adopting reforms and tackling the problem.
Amy Sobel, vice president of Human Rights First’s anti-trafficking campaign, said Reuters’ findings pointed to broader political interference, which risked “eroding the effectiveness” of the report and undermining global efforts. “As is always the case, final decisions are reached only after rigorous analysis and discussion between the TIP office, relevant regional bureaus and senior State Department leaders”, Kirby said. The analysts, who are specialists in assessing efforts to combat modern slavery, won only three of those disputes, the worst ratio in the 15-year history of the unit.
While politics have traditionally played a role in the trafficking report, Reuters said that “the number of rejected recommendations suggests a degree of intervention not previously known by diplomats”. And for China, the experts’ recommendation to downgrade it to the worst ranking, Tier 3, was overruled despite the report’s conclusion that Beijing did not undertake increased anti-trafficking efforts.
The Malaysian upgrade could smooth the way for an ambitious proposed US-led free-trade deal with the Southeast Asian nation and 11 other countries.
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The United States is involved in negotiations with 12 Pacific Rim countries on a sweeping trade accord that includes Malaysia.
