US to downgrade Burma in annual human trafficking report

Newly arrived migrants gather at Kuala Langsa Port in Langsa, Aceh province, Indonesia last year. Pic: AP.

28th June 2016 

THE U.S. will downgrade Burma (Myanmar) to the category reserved for the world’s worst perpetrators of human trafficking in the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, which will be released this Thursday.

According to Reuters, the U.S. Department of State made the decision to move Burma to the “Tier 3” category in a bid to get the country’s newly-installed government to take action against the indoctrination of child soldiers and forced labor.

The report divides countries into three categories: Tier 1 for countries that fully comply with the minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA); Tier 2 for countries that do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards; and Tier 3 for countries that do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.

 

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#Myanmar gov't official tells @VOAnews it would be a mistake for#Burma to be relegated to lowest Tier 3 in upcoming @StateDept#TIP report.

2:43 AM - 28 Jun 2016

 

There is also the additional category, the “Tier 2 Watch List”, which monitors countries that do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are either making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards, or are sliding back to worse standards.

In the 2015 TIP report, Burma was on the “Tier 2 Watch List”, but will now join the ranks of other “Tier 3” countries, such as North Korea, Syria, and Iran.

SEE ALSO: Burma: Military chief denies existence of ‘Rohingya’ term

The move was confirmed by a U.S. official in Washington and a Bangkok-based official from an international organization, who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity.

Getting a “Tier 3” rating would not bode well for Burma’s budding economy, as countries in the category are subject to sanctions, such as the withholding of assistance or funding from other countries, or international financial institutions such as the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund.

There was a heated debate among committee members over Burma’s demotion to “Tier 3”, as some wanted to reward Burma for its political reforms, while human rights experts argued that the government was still not doing enough to curb human trafficking.

The controversy surrounding Burma’s ethnic Rohingya, the majority of whom are Muslim, likely played a major role in the decision.

SEE ALSO: Burma: US envoy says Muslim minority has a right to call themselves ‘Rohingya’

Since coming to power, de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her government have come under fire from the international community due to their failure to resolve issues involving the persecuted minority, thousands of whom have fled to neighboring countries and are currently stuck in refugee detention camps.

The Burmese government’s refusal to grant citizenship to an estimated 800,000 Rohingya “significantly increased this population’s vulnerability to trafficking”, concluded last year’s TIP report.

“The chronic, chronic abuse of the Rohingya has not been dealt with at all,” said a U.S. congressional aide regarding the issue.

Last month, the newly-appointed U.S. envoy to Burma, Scot Marciel, insisted that the persecuted Muslim minority in the country had the right call themselves ‘Rohingya’, despite the administration’s call to avoid using the term.