Reps. DeLauro, Ellison and Pocan Request Clarification on Malaysia’s Human Trafficking Status
WASHINGTON—Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) sent the following letter today to President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry requesting further clarification on Malaysia’s upgraded status in the Department of State’s 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report.
The beginning of the letter is below and the full .PDF is available here: Member Letter to President Obama and Sec. Kerry on Malaysia
Dear President Obama and Secretary Kerry:
We write to request clarification on the “significant efforts” that Malaysia has made to merit the upgrading of its status as a Tier III country to the Tier II Watch List in the Department of State’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report released on July 27, 2015.[i] We are concerned about the upgrade of Malaysia’s status to the Tier II Watch List. Further, the conclusion that “the government of Malaysia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking … [but] making significant efforts to do so” is inconsistent with findings from other reports. Media reports also suggest that Malaysia’s rankings may have improved because of other policy considerations.[ii]
We agree with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finding that the Secretary of State “should ensure that the report clearly documents the rationale and support for tier rankings.” Per GAO findings, it is possible that country narratives in the 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report) may be “incomplete” and exclude information on governments’ compliance with minimum standards and core criteria for the elimination of trafficking per the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). [iii] Thus, we write to request a response to the following questions:
What standard does the Department of State use to determine “significant efforts”?
How is Malaysia’s attempt to pass anti-trafficking legislation consistent with “significant efforts”?
How does a decrease in convictions for traffickers, a number that is already “disproportionately” low, consistent with “significant efforts”?
How does State Department weigh one core criteria against another to come up with a final status determination?
Can you confirm the reporting period for assessing Malaysia’s status in the 2015 TIP Report? Was it in fact April 1, 2014 through March 31, 2015?
Can you explain the discrepancies between the 2015 TIP Report which upgraded Malaysia’s status, a December 2014 Department of Labor report that found new instances of both child labor and forced labor in Malaysia, and a 2014 State Department-funded report that found rampant forced labor in the Malaysian electronics industry?
[i] The TIP report ranks the status of foreign countries’ efforts to eliminate severe forms of human trafficking, as defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). There are four possible designations: Tier 1 (best), Tier II, Tier II Watch List, and Tier 3 (worst), for efforts towards addressing human trafficking. Countries from Tier II and Tier II Watch List “do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.”
[ii] Szep, Jason and Matt Spetalnick. “Special Report: State Department watered down human trafficking report.” Reuters. August 3, 2015. https://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/03/us-usa-humantrafficking-disputes-special-idUSKCN0Q821Y20150803
[iii] GAO. Human Trafficking: Better Data, Strategy, and Reporting Needed to Enhance U.S. Antitrafficking Efforts Abroad, GAO-06-825, July 2006. Available: https://www.gao.gov/assets/260/250812.pdf
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