Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
"We can’t react to something that does
not take into account of what we have done," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid
Albar was quoted as saying by the online version of the Star newspaper.
<P>He
said Kuala Lumpur had taken adequate steps to protect migrant workers.</P><P>"No
single country can act as investigator, prosecutor and judge against another,"
he said. But he added Malaysia, a U.S. ally and home to more than one million
foreign workers, would not lodge a formal protest with Washington.</P><P>In its
annual report on human trafficking published on Tuesday, the U.S. State Department
added Malaysia to its list of 16 countries subjected to possible sanctions, including
the loss of U.S. aid and U.S. support for World Bank and International Monetary
Fund loans.</P><P>Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Algeria and Equatorial Guinea
were also added to the bottom — Tier 3 — ranking of countries that failed to
meet minimum U.S. standards on combating human trafficking or of making significant
efforts to improve their record.</P><P>The others in this category were Cuba,
Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.</P><P>Under
U.S. law, these countries have 90 days to improve their records or face sanctions.
The Bush administration can choose not to impose sanctions if it wishes.</P><P>Rights
groups say such U.S. blacklists sometimes appear politically motivated. Friendly
countries with major trafficking problems such as India were not placed in the
worst category, where U.S. antagonists like Syria, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela
routinely appear.</P><P><I>Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSKLR8093420070613</I>
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