Cuba and Malaysia Taken Off 'Bad Actors' Trafficking List for Political Reasons

Press Release

"For political reasons alone, President Obama has done a grave disservice to victims of human trafficking in Cuba and Malaysia by upgrading the human trafficking tier rankings in those countries in the annual Trafficking in Persons report," said Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), author of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), which mandates the annual world-wide trafficking assessment and ranking report.

Smith also noted that the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) office--50+ expert analysts--still does painstaking, yeoman's work in combating human trafficking worldwide and gathering the needed information but said in this case the compelling facts got "whitewashed" in the higher echelons of the Obama Administration.

"This report, the 15th annual report since I first wrote our nation's anti-trafficking bill, is not only six weeks late," Smith said "but it has careened off into a new direction where the facts regarding each government's actions in the fight against human trafficking are given almost no weight when put up against the President's political agenda.

"In April, I chaired my 17th hearing that focused solely on trafficking and there was no indication in the expert testimony provided that either Malaysia or Cuba had done anything to warrant an upgrade, or to suggest that victims of trafficking are in a better situation in either country than they were last year. What has changed?" Smith asked.

"It seems quite clear that Malaysia's role in the TPP and Cuba's unchecked march to normalized relations have captured the Obama Administration's ability to properly access the worst of the worst when it comes to fighting to protect trafficking victims and punish the thugs who mastermind this modern day slavery.

"It is no coincidence that earlier this year the Obama Administration also removed Cuba from the national list of state sponsors of terrorism. One-by-one this Administration is overriding human rights and national security policies for another agenda," he said.

Smith noted that the rankings provided to both China and Vietnam fit better into the Administration's agenda than fit into the careful standards of the report.

"China--which should be a Tier 3 country but gets an "Obama-pass' to Tier 2 Watch list--has the distinction of not only neglecting to fight human trafficking, but of compounding the suffering of victims and aiding traffickers through short-sighted government policies," Smith said.

"In 2014, China continued to profit from detaining individuals for reform through forced labor; China continued to forcibly repatriate trafficked North Korean refugees, knowing they will be imprisoned or killed; and China's birth limitation policy continued to result in a gender gap leaving millions of men without wives and creating a vacuum for trafficked women and girls from surrounding nations."

Turning to Vietnam Smith said "We know the Vietnamese government directly profits from human trafficking, we know prisoners are used in forced labor, and we know that women are trafficked to China as brides and prostitutes. In the religious freedom context we saw Vietnam respond with action when they were held to account and knew that trade would be impacted.

"Tragically, today's human trafficking ranking was a lost opportunity to inspire real change and assistance for the victims of human trafficking in Vietnam," Smith said.

Smith also noted that Burma received yet another waiver.

"Burma gets an undeserved waiver for the fourth straight year," Smith said. "The State Department keeps saying Burma "has a written plan,' but that plan isn't implemented. There is more proof this year that government and military officials are complicit in the trafficking of the ethnic minority Rohingya. Their precarious situation continues to be one of the world's saddest and most tragic stories. Government-supported discrimination and violence pushes Rohingya to leave, and local officials and others profit from their plight, which this year includes discoveries of death camps in Thailand and Malaysia. We also know there are thousands of cases of forced labor in Burma's ethnic states, including the conflict zones in the Kachin and Shan states, as well as northern Rakhine State."

"If you want proof these decisions were politicized just look at the numbers," Smith said. "China convicted 35 traffickers, Malaysia 3, and Thailand 151--but only Thailand is Tier 3. What message does that send? When we engage in trafficking cronyism--giving a free pass to new friends and partners for reasons unrelated to the suffering of trafficking victims--U.S. credibility is harmed, U.S. leadership is undermined, and the trafficking victims are left helpless and alone."

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