In a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on August 6, Senators from both parties accused the Obama Administration of putting its Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) goals ahead of Malaysia’s modern-day slavery; however, this was just half of the equation. A coalition of national and international organizations in Asia has charged both Vietnam and Malaysia with “Modern Day Slavery” -- Vietnam for its “blood cashews” and Malaysia for its oil palm industry; both are engaged in state-sponsored human-trafficking and indentured servitude. However, they are being rewarded by the US State Department that pretends these countries have “demonstrated sufficient progress on human rights” despite the fact that both have repeatedly “come under fire for paltry efforts” to reduce human rights abuses.
In the blood cashew industry, political prisoners are forced to work seven hours a day for $3 a month, for as long as seven years -- often resulting in serious injuries and even blindness -- to produce cashews to export to the US and other countries, an industry that brings Vietnam $1.5 Billion (US) per year.
The State Department conducts foreign policy by supporting the Administration’s flavor of the month, and removes the names of favored countries from sanction lists based on their assurances, without hard evidence of “significant progress.” This brings to mind the idiom, “A leopard doesn’t change its spots.” The abusers simply change their actions from overt to covert while preventing outsiders from access to areas and...
Read More HERE
In a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on August 6, Senators from both parties accused the Obama Administration of putting its Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) goals ahead of Malaysia’s modern-day slavery; however, this was just half of the equation. A coalition of national and international organizations in Asia has charged both Vietnam and Malaysia with “Modern Day Slavery” -- Vietnam for its “blood cashews” and Malaysia for its oil palm industry; both are engaged in state-sponsored human-trafficking and indentured servitude. However, they are being rewarded by the US State Department that pretends these countries have “demonstrated sufficient progress on human rights” despite the fact that both have repeatedly “come under fire for paltry efforts” to reduce human rights abuses.In the blood cashew industry, political prisoners are forced to work seven hours a day for $3 a month, for as long as seven years -- often resulting in serious injuries and even blindness -- to produce cashews to export to the US and other countries, an industry that brings Vietnam $1.5 Billion (US) per year.
The State Department conducts foreign policy by supporting the Administration’s flavor of the month, and removes the names of favored countries from sanction lists based on their assurances, without hard evidence of “significant progress.” This brings to mind the idiom, “A leopard doesn’t change its spots.” The abusers simply change their actions from overt to covert while preventing outsiders from access to areas and...
Read More HERE
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ReplyDeleteThat linked article doesn't even include the way the Thai abduct men as slaves on fishing boats. It's as bad as the "blood cashews" if not worse. There are stories of slaves jumping overboard, swimming long distances to shore, going to the police and being turned back over to the slaveholders. The stories are awful.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm being misled, but I'm not buying anything from that area again - at least not that I can identify.