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http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0204-14.htm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 4, 2004
6:11 PM
CONTACT: Human Rights Watch
Newsroom: 212-290-4700

U.S.: Budget Proposal Shortchanges Labor Rights


NEW YORK - February 4 - The Bush administration's budget proposal slashed funding for programs designed to promote workers' human rights in developing countries, Human Rights Watch said today.

U.S. President George W. Bush's proposed budget would endanger labor rights monitoring and enforcement, programs to eliminate child labor, worker education projects and workplace HIV/AIDS initiatives around the world.

The budget would also undercut the Bush administration's promise to promote workers' rights under the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The Bush administration has stated that its "strategy on worker rights" in CAFTA would "establish a cooperative program to improve labor laws and enforcement and build the capacity of Central American nations to monitor and enforce labor rights."

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, however, the budget for fiscal year 2005 proposes only $18 million for international labor rights programs, an 82 percent drop from the $99.5 million Congress appropriated for the current fiscal year.

"The Bush administration tries to talk a good game on protecting workers' human rights," said Carol Pier, labor rights and trade researcher for Human Rights Watch. "But the paltry sum it seeks for international labor rights programs tells a different story."

CAFTA, whose text was made public on January 28, was recently negotiated among the United States, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. It has yet to come to a vote in the countries' legislative branches.

If CAFTA passes, full funding of its "strategy on worker rights" would depend largely on the U.S. Congress's willingness to transfer money from elsewhere in the 2005 budget. The recently awarded U.S. grant of $6.75 million to strengthen Central America's labor systems, or roughly $1.7 million a year for four years, hardly offsets the labor rights aid that Central American countries could lose under the proposed budget.

This is not the first time the Bush administration's budget proposals have shown a lack of commitment to strengthening workers' rights around the world. Last year, for example, its proposed 2004 budget sought only $12 million for the Department of Labor's international technical assistance programs. Congress, however, ultimately appropriated an additional $87.5 million. Nevertheless, the total $99.5 million reflected a 26 percent decrease from the 2003 budget. Moreover, it included a dramatic 93 percent decrease-from $37 million to $2.5 million-for bilateral and multilateral activities designed to help resource- strapped nations improve respect for a range of workers' human rights.

"The administration's budget proposal is just one more example of its willingness to shortchange workers' rights in its free trade strategy," said Pier. "Congress should reject such a cynical and shortsighted approach."

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