Senators Criticize Reports of Malaysian Upgrade in State Human Trafficking Report
A group of Senators hit back on July 15 at reports that the State Department may upgrade Malaysia to Tier 2 in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report. State cited evidence of pervasive human trafficking in Malaysia in the 2014…
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report (here). “It is difficult to fathom how the State Department could justify upgrading Malaysia given that the country failed to address the problem in the year leading up to the June 1, 2015 statutory deadline for the TIP report’s publication,” said the letter (here), led by Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and signed by 18 additional lawmakers, mostly Democrats. Menendez spearheaded efforts to include language in Trade Promotion Authority to ban expedited consideration of free trade agreement implementation legislation with Tier 3 countries (see 1504270008). “Sadly, the report is already more than five weeks overdue; it is on pace to be the latest report ever released,” said the letter. “An unwarranted upgrade for Malaysia in the 2015 report, especially if based on actions undertaken after the closing of the 2015 reporting period, would weaken the credibility of our TIP ranking system.” Lawmakers planned to add language in Customs Reauthorization conference to supersede the TPA trafficking (see 1507070066). Reuters first reported several days ago on the expected upgrade (see 1507090050).