Press Releases
Dingell Statement on Malaysia Upgrade in Annual Trafficking Report
Washington, DC,
July 27, 2015
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) released the following statement today after Malaysia was upgraded from the Tier 3 to the Tier 2 Watch List in the U.S. Department of State’s 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report. “It is deeply concerning that the Administration has upgraded Malaysia’s status in today’s Trafficking in Persons Report, despite Malaysia’s continuing record of human rights abuses. In recent months, we have seen shocking reports of migrants forced to live in barbed wire cages and the discovery of 139 graves of suspected human trafficking victims in the Malaysian jungles. “Politics – such as trade negotiations – have no place in this critical assessment of human trafficking practices across the globe. It is unconscionable to turn a blind eye to Malaysia’s human rights abuses in order to further a trade agenda that fails to live up to our country’s values.” |