U.S. lawmakers
have called on the Obama administration to punish those countries who do too
little to fight human trafficking, including Thailand and Malaysia, and say
that Myanmar should not receive a waiver to avoid possible sanctions over its
record. Referring to reports on the exploitation of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim
minority in the country as well as Thailand and Malaysia, U.S. Representative
Chris Smith said authorities have done too little to help. Myanmar sees
Rohingya as illegal immigrants and denies them citizenship, which has resulted
in them “leaving Burma by the thousands to escape religious persecution.” "According to reports put
out by Reuters, Thai authorities are selling Rohingya to human traffickers,
where they are held in 'tropical gulags' until relatives pay ransom,"
Smith said, adding that those who do not pay are sold into sex slavery or hard
labor, and a significant number die from abuse or disease. In the U.S.
Trafficking in Persons report, countries are ranked in tiers. “Tier 1”
countries are those who meet anti-trafficking standards, “Tier 2” do not but
are making a significant effort to do so while “Tier 3” countries do not meet
the standards and fail at making significant efforts to do so. Countries ranked
in “Tier 3” are open to sanction by the U.S government. A U.S. law also
includes a watch list, wherein countries on Tier 2 for two years are downgraded
to Tier 3 unless they receive presidential wavers, which are available for an
additional two years. China, Russia and Uzbekistan ran out of waivers and were
bumped down to Tier 3 in the 2013 report released last June. A number of
others, including Malaysia and Thailand, will run out this year.
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