PC(USA) signs on the letter expressing concerns over "Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015"

INTERFAITH WORKING GROUP ON TRADE AND INVESTMENT

To: Conferees to H.R. 644, the “Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015”

CC: All Members of Congress

Dear Members of the Customs Conference Committee:

As faith-based organizations and religious bodies with a presence in the United States and in countries overseas, we write you today to express deep moral concerns related to H.R. 644, the “Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015” (also referred to as the Customs bill), particularly the version that passed in the House.

While we speak from unique traditions, we share the common values that uphold the human dignity and worth of all people, protect God’s creation, and lead us to serve vulnerable populations such as subsistence farmers, workers of all conditions, the elderly, and children.

Based on these shared values, we respectfully ask you to reject the amendments to the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) law that are contemplated in Section 912 of the House version of H.R. 644. Below are a few of our concerns:

· Human trafficking – The discovery of hidden graves of human trafficking victims in
Malaysia and the lack of action from the Malaysian government in addressing this issue is horrific. We should not give privileged access to the U.S. market to countries that condone trafficking and the violation of human dignity. The House version of H.R. 644 aims to weaken the “No Fast Track for Human Traffickers” amendment to TPA proposed by Senator Menendez that passed the House and Senate and was signed into law. We ask you to reject any change or addition to the Menendez amendment in order to ensure that trade agreements do not foster, promote, or condone the scourge of modern day slavery.
Furthermore, we understand that the State Department may “upgrade” Malaysia’s designation from a “Tier 3” to a “Tier 2” status in its annual human trafficking (TIP) report to be released next week. This “upgrade” would ignore the experiences of trafficking survivors and victims, the slow pace of convictions, and the recent discovery of the mass graves. This confounding decision undermines the integrity of the TIP report and sets a disturbing precedent for trade agreements with other “Tier 3” designated countries. We urge Members of Congress to pressure the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons office to resist this political pressure and keep Malaysia’s “Tier 3” designation in its upcoming report.

· Climate change – Pope Francis and faith leaders of other major religious traditions have called for moral action on climate change. The House Customs bill included an amendment to the TPA’s negotiating objectives that would undermine efforts to address global climate change. As the world negotiates a climate agreement to protect impoverished and vulnerable communities and ecosystems from climate change, the United States must demonstrate moral leadership.

We know that people in poverty, the elderly, and children both in the United States and in developing nations already feel the impacts of climate change such as water and food scarcity, super-storms and other extreme weather events that cause displacement and even death. We ask you to reject the climate change amendment in the House version of the bill.

· Immigration – Welcoming our immigrant sisters and brothers and promoting just and humane immigration reform is a key priority for our community. The House Customs bill includes an amendment to TPA’s negotiating objectives meant to restrict trade policies from allowing for better immigration policies. We ask you to reject the immigration amendment in the House version of the bill.

We encourage you to consider how these changes to the TPA law would affect the lives of the most impoverished communities and God’s earth as you work to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the Customs bill. We urge you to reject the amendments to TPA that are contemplated in Section 912 of the House version of the Customs bill and to preserve without alteration the Menendez amendment on “No Fast Track for Human Traffickers.”

Sincerely,

Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach
Conference of Major Superiors of Men
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Franciscan Action Network
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Holy Cross International Justice Office
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Medical Mission Sisters, Alliance for Justice
NETWORK, A Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas – Institute Justice Team
United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society

The Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment is a group committed to asserting a stronger presence of communities of faith in public policy discussions on trade and investment. 

Contact Chloe Schwabe (Chair) at 202-841-1780 or cschwabe@maryknoll.org

J. Herbert Nelson contributes statment on proposed upgrade of Malaysia’s trafficking status

Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment

For Immediate Release: July 10, 2015      

Contacts:

Stephanie Niedringhaus 202-347-9797, ext. 224 sniedringhaus@networklobby.org

Chloe Schwabe 202-832-1780 cschwabe@maryknoll.org

Religious groups oppose State Department’s proposed upgrade of Malaysia’s trafficking status

Groups fear final Customs bill could further weaken trafficking, other standards to protect vulnerable populations.

Fourteen religious organizations with a presence in the U.S. and in countries overseas today sent a letter to members of a conference committee in Congress to express deep moral concerns related to H.R. 644, the “Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015” (also referred to as the Customs bill), particularly the version that passed in the House. The chief concern was that the final bill could weaken strong anti-trafficking provision in the trade promotion authority bill signed into law June 29, 2015.

It has been reported that Malaysia, a country that the U.S. State Department’s Trafficking In Persons report had elevated to a “Tier 3” country for their lack of action to combat trafficking will be back to a “Tier 2” status this year. Malaysia is a party to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement that the Obama Administration hopes to complete by the end of 2015.

According to Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, “This can only be seen as a cynical political action meant to bolster Malaysia’s trade status with the U.S. at the expense of countless human trafficking victims. Coming so soon after the discovery in May of almost 150 graves in Malaysian camps of trafficking victims, the State Department’s reported decision cannot be justified on any level.”

Reverend J. Herbert Nelson, II, director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Office of Public Witness stated: “The United States' willingness to compromise on holding Malaysia accountable for its human rights abuses simply to secure the Trans-Pacific Partnership is yet another mark of a broken trading system. Actions such as this show an active disregard for those with the least power in our societies. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) does not support the TPP, nor does it support weakening our stance against human trafficking in any form. As a country, our diplomacy should be focused on improving the quality of life for all individuals around the world - without exception.”

“We are very concerned about the possible upgrading of Malaysia from the lowest tier of the U.S. State Department annual Trafficking in Persons list of worst human trafficking countries,” reported Ann Scholz, SSND, Associate Director for Social Mission, Leadership Conference of Women Religious. “It is problematic on many levels. It disregards the suffering and death of trafficked persons in Malaysia; sends a dangerous message to countries who continue to turn a blind eye to the exploitation of persons within their borders; and threatens the integrity of the TIP report and the commitment of the U.S. government to ending human trafficking.”

“In April 2014, Pope Francis condemned human trafficking as a crime against humanity, a scourge and an open wound in contemporary society. The TIP report has been an important tool to encourage governments to curb and one day end this terrible offense,” reported Gerry Lee, director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, “We urge the State Department to uphold high standards rather than to make exceptions for countries when convenient for economic gains for the few that will benefit from the TPP.”

The Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment is a group committed to asserting a stronger presence of communities of faith in public policy discussions on trade and investment.

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Uphold Protections for Migrant Children and Families!

Since October 2013, an estimated 63,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended at the U.S./Mexico border, the majority of whom are fleeing rampant violence and poverty in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. [i] This number has more than doubled since last year. We must leverage emergency resources both to care for children and provide them access to appropriate legal services. Prior to leaving for the August Recess, the House passed H.R. 5230, which would only minimally fund the care of children and take away the protections afforded these children under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPRA).

 Daily, children like these are apprehended by Border Patrol. Photo source: AP

Now that Congress is back in session, the Senate may vote on H.R. 5230. Weakening the protections of the TVPRA in exchange for new resources is a false choice, especially when many of these resources further militarize the border. Instead, we must uphold the law that grants migrant children access to social services and legal counsel.

Contact your Senators Today

Tell the Senate to support funding to care for unaccompanied children, while opposing H.R. 5230 and any other legislation that would weaken the protections for unaccompanied children provided by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPRA)

Background on the TVPRA:

The TVPRA, passed in 2000, provides certain protections to unaccompanied children arriving in the U.S. from noncontiguous countries. Under the TVPRA, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), rather than Homeland Security, has custody of the child.  HHS is required to place the child according to his or her best interests, which often means a family placement. A child is then screened for his or her claim to humanitarian protection in a safe setting by persons trained to interview children.

Under H.R. 5230, a child would remain in detention and immigration officers, not trained social workers, would question him or her about trauma and possible humanitarian claims. Moreover, this bill requires a child to have a deportation hearing within fourteen days, giving him or her no time to prepare a case or get access to attorney. If this bill becomes law, children will not be afforded meaningful hearings and they will be deported back to danger, exploitation and death. One youth was shot dead hours after being deported back to San Pedro Sula, Honduras . [ii]

We must oppose changes in the law that would weaken the protections given to unaccompanied children. In addition, we must support additional funding to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to deal with the humanitarian crisis at the border. Before leaving for August Recess, the House of Representatives voted on a supplemental funding bill that beefs up border security instead of supporting the agencies most in need of additional funding—the ones that are providing for the basic needs of children who are fleeing widespread violence in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

E-mail your Senators today to support funding for ORR.

God calls us as Christians to welcome the stranger and to love our neighbor. Central American families, our neighbors to the South, are showing up at our border, seeking refuge from great harm. We have yet to act to protect them.

The 217^th General Assembly of the PC(USA), in a renewal of our call to love our neighbor, stated, “We affirm the PC(USA)’s commitment to providing sanctuary to anyone in need of safe space, food or shelter.” Keeping the Trafficking Victims Protection Act intact and funding agencies that meet the needs of these children are important ways to do this.

Tell your Senators today that we must keep the protections of the TVPRA intact.

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[i] "Children at the Border" http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/15/us/questions-about-the-border-kids.html?_r=0

[ii] “In Honduras, U.S. Deportees Seek to Journey North Again, LA Times” : http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-honduras-deported-youths-20140816-story.html

  

Save the Dates for CPJ Day and EAD 2015

Advocacy Training Weekend: Save the Dates!

April 17, 2015 – PC(USA) Compassion, Peace and Justice Training Day

April 17-20, 2015 – Ecumenical Advocacy Days

Breaking the Chains:

Mass Incarceration & Systems of Exploitation

Come to Washington, DC, April 17-20, 2015, for the 13th Annual National Gathering of Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice titled, "Breaking the Chains:  Mass Incarceration and Systems of Exploitation."  

Join over 1,000 Christian advocates in building a movement to shake the foundations of systems of human exploitation (Acts 16:16-40), including a prison-industrial system that incarcerates millions of people in the U.S. and abroad.  A world that incarcerates so many and allows some to profit from the exploitation of slave, trafficked and forced labor remains far from the “beloved community” which we are all called to seek.

The U.S. makes up only five percent of the world's population yet holds nearly a quarter of the world's prisoners.  Still, “imprisonment” is a worldwide problem and takes various forms, as everywhere people around the world remain trapped in detention centers, prisons, factories and drug wars that bind and dehumanize individuals for political or economic profit. 

Lamentations asks, “When all the prisoners of the land are crushed under foot, when human rights are perverted in the presence of the Most High, when one’s case is subverted – does the Lord not see it?” (Lam. 3:34-36)  Do we?

As people of faith, we denounce the elements in our world that justify such systems of exploitation and mass incarceration.  At EAD, we will confess our personal and corporate failure to break the chains of poverty, racism, and greed institutionalized in our laws, economy, and social behaviors that collude to perpetuate such human exploitation and strip civil and human rights. 

As people of Hope, we are reminded that Jesus' radical message was one of liberation
for all and restoration of right relationships. Through prayer, worship, advocacy training,
networking and mobilization with other Christians, we will face the reality of mass incarceration and corporate exploitation, and call for national policies that bring liberation both to the prisoner and to a world in need of restoration – all culminating with EAD’s Congressional Lobby Day on Capitol Hill.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is proud to sponsor and collaborate in planning this conference that seeks to build a movement to shake the foundations of systems of exploitation (Acts 16). We further invite you to arrive early and attend “Compassion, Peace and Justice Training Day,” an opportunity for Presbyterians to gather, reflect, educate, network, fellowship, and be in prayer together. Together we can build a movement to Break the Chains!

Immigration and Trafficking bills to be Considered today

From the PC(USA) Office of Immigration Issues:

House and Senate Border and Immigration Bills to be Considered Today!

• Support adequate funding of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and keeping the protections afforded to children under the Trafficking Victims Protections Act (TVPRA).
• Oppose limiting the Administration’s power to extend deferred action from deportation to a wider group of migrants.

These bills will be considered today.

Please Call Today!  The Capitol Switchboard number is (202) 224-3121

Border (ORR funding and TVPRA)

The Senate and the House have proposed supplemental funding bills that would fund the response to the increase in arrivals of unaccompanied children from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

Both of these bills include requests that make it impossible for this denomination to endorse them but that does not keep us from having a voice on this issue.

The Senate bill, S. 2648 provides adequate funding to serve the children and fully replenishes the $94 million of refugee social services funding that was recently reprogrammed. Further, this bill leaves the TVPRA intact so that children may remain in the US to make any humanitarian claims they may have. Unfortunately, the amended version of this bill also funds Israel’s iron dome. It is General Assembly policy that the denomination only supports peaceful measures in the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

The House bill includes the ill-labeled "HUMANE" Act, which would eliminate vital protections given to unaccompanied children in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA). Changes to the TVPRA would mean that children would not have a meaningful opportunity to have their story heard, apply for asylum, or be cared for by child welfare personnel, and would be deported to life-threatening situations.

As our leaders have provided us with two bills - one that cannot be endorsed fully and another that should be opposed, we are endorsing neither.  Rather, we place our hope in things yet unseen and ask for an increase in ORR funding that is adequate to fund the refugee resettlement program AND provide care for unaccompanied children. We further oppose any changes to the protections given to children by the TVPRA.

Immigration Bill  (Proposal to limit deferred action)

The House is also planning a vote on a bill that is aimed to limit the President’s ability to expand deferred action from deportation to more individuals.

The PC(USA) opposes any measure that would limit this or any future administration from extending deferred action from deportation to a larger group of individuals.

Action Alert: Tell Congress to Strengthen Welfare Response to Trafficking

January is Human Trafficking and Sex Slavery Awareness Month. Participate today in raising Human Trafficking Awareness!

Tell Congress to support and pass H.R. 1732, Strengthening the Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act to improve the proper identification of and services to child trafficking victims.

About the bill:

This critical piece of federal legislation works to ensure that child victims of human trafficking are properly identified by state child welfare agencies and receive the comprehensive services they need to recover. H.R. 1732 amends the Social Security Act to require state foster care programs, which receive federal funds under the Social Security Act, to report on current and future efforts to address the human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children in their care. It also mandates data collection on the issue of human trafficking.

Additionally, the bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop and publish: (1) best practices for training child welfare employees and court employees on identifying all forms of child trafficking; (2) recommendations for how state welfare agencies can prevent human trafficking; and (3) licensing guidelines for residential facilities with regard to child trafficking victims.

Email your Representative today.

What does the PC(USA) say about trafficking?

The 218^th General Assembly (2008) directed the Office of Public Witness in Washington, DC, to

      a)     express concern for the escalation of trafficking within the U.S. and use the public witness channels available to them to raise issues with appropriate national and international representatives; and

      b)    partner with ecumenical and interfaith entities to build coalitions against trafficking and participate in activities such as the National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness (January 11) and the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN).

In November 2013, the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board approved a request presented by the Office of Public Witness to affiliate with the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATTEST) in an effort to expand the work and partnership of the denomination on issues related to Human Trafficking. ATTEST represents one of the largest coalition of Human Rights organizations working on issues related to the eradication of human (sex) and labor trafficking.

We thank one of our newest partners ATTEST for collaborating with us on this action alert.