The Obama administration is reportedly poised to upgrade the ranking it gives Malaysia on its efforts to stamp out human trafficking. The move is being criticized as an affront to global human rights that could help move forward a pending controversial trade deal.
The State Department gives the ranking in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, a tool the Department states “reflects the U.S. Government’s commitment to global leadership on this key human rights and law enforcement issue.” In 2014 it gave (pdf) Malaysia the lowest ranking, a Tier 3, and stated: “The Government of Malaysia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.”
Other countries the State Department designated as Tier 3 in its last report include Libya, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea. But unnamed government sources told the Associated Press and Reuters that the forthcoming 2015 TIP Report would upgrade Malaysia to a Tier 2.
APÂ reports that the change “is sure to ameliorate diplomatic relations as the Obama administration negotiates the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which includes Malaysia.”
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has faced opposition from a wide range of organizations who’ve charged that it allows corporate power to trump the environment, workers, and public health.
The reported ranking change has sparked the ire of Senator Bob Menendez (N.J.). As The Hill reports, the Democrat “specifically got a provision into a trade bill that would prohibit the United States from entering into trade agreements that are fast-tracked through Congress with Tier 3 countries, which Malaysia currently is.”
He issued a statement to media Wednesday saying, “If [the upgrade is] true, this manipulation of Malaysia’s ranking in the State Department’s 2015 TIP report would be a perversion of the trafficking list and undermine both the integrity of this important report as well as the very difficult task of confronting states about human trafficking.”
“The deplorable human trafficking crisis in Malaysia merits a global cry for action and justice—not an attempt to sweep them under the rug for political expediency,” Menendez continued.