US lawmakers condemn Dominican sugar industry

Washington.- The Chairman of the Ways and Means Commerce Subcommittee, Earl Blumenauer, Democrat from Oregon, and Congressman Dan Kildee, Democrat from Michigan and deputy leader of the House Democratic Caucus and co-chair of the House Sugar Caucus, issued yesterday a statement on his recent visit to the Dominican Congress, and his consideration of complaints related to forced labor in the Dominican sugar industry by the US congressmen:
“More than ten years ago, a labor complaint under the Free Trade Agreement between the Dominican Republic and Central America (Cafta-DR) requested the United States government to investigate allegations of forced labor in the Dominican sugar industry.
Earlier this month, we met with workers and officials in the Dominican Republic to better understand this vexing issue that has been around for decades.
Significant progress has been made in addressing child labor and reducing human trafficking.”