Disposable People: Obama, the TPP, and the Betrayal of Human Rights

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/32179-disposable-people-obama-the-tpp-and-the-betrayal-of-human-rights

Indeed, after scolding critics and pooh-poohing concerns about human rights, it appears that the proponents of “the most progressive trade deal in history” aren’t so politically correct that they would stand in the way of slavery in the name of ideological purity if it might sink the TPP

As Reuters reported in a piece that will surely make Project Censored’s list of the most under-reported stories of 2015:
.

[An] examination, based on interviews with more than a dozen sources in Washington and foreign capitals, shows that the government office set up to independently grade global efforts to fight human trafficking was repeatedly overruled by senior American diplomats and pressured into inflating assessments of 14 strategically important countries in this year’s Trafficking in Persons report.

In all, analysts in the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons – or J/TIP, as it’s known within the U.S. government — disagreed with U.S. diplomatic bureaus on ratings for 17 countries, the sources said.

The analysts, who are specialists in assessing efforts to combat modern slavery – such as the illegal trade in humans for forced labor or prostitution – won only three of those disputes, the worst ratio in the 15-year history of the unit, according to the sources.

As a result, not only Malaysia, Cuba and China, but countries such as India, Uzbekistan and Mexico, wound up with better grades than the State Department’s human-rights experts wanted to give them, the sources said.

[pampango]

1. "That would have put China alongside the likes of Syria and North Korea, regarded by the

as among the world’s worst human right abusers."

The Malaysian upgrade, which was highly criticized by human rights groups, could smooth the way for an ambitious proposed U.S.-led free-trade deal with the Southeast Asian nation and 11 other countries.

Ending Communist-ruled Cuba’s 12 years on the report’s blacklist came as the two nations reopened embassies on each other’s soil following their historic détente over the past eight months.

And for China, the experts’ recommendation to downgrade it to the worst ranking, Tier 3, was overruled despite the report’s conclusion that Beijing did not undertake increased anti-trafficking efforts.

That would have put China alongside the likes of Syria and North Korea, regarded by the United Nations as among the world’s worst human right abusers.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/04/us-usa-humantrafficking-disputes-special-idUSKCN0Q821Y20150804

[eridani]

2. But there are good communists and bad communists

The good ones allow their workforces to be used as slave labor by multinationals; the bad ones don't.