After one false start it is now official:
Swaziland has lost its preferential trading status with the United States.
US President Barack Obama announced
on Thursday (26 June 2014) that the kingdom would lose its benefits under
the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
He said this was because Swaziland was
not ‘making continual progress’ in enacting civil,
political and workers’ rights.
Swaziland is not a democracy and is
ruled by King Mswati III, who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.
In a statement, a White
House spokesperson said, ‘The decision to withdraw
Swaziland’s AGOA eligibility comes after years of engaging with the Government
of the Kingdom of Swaziland on concerns about its implementation of the AGOA
eligibility criteria related to worker rights.’
The statement said after an ‘extensive review’ the
US, ‘concluded that Swaziland had not demonstrated progress on the protection
of internationally recognized worker rights. In particular, Swaziland has
failed to make continual progress in protecting freedom of association and the
right to organize. Of particular concern is Swaziland’s use of security forces
and arbitrary arrests to stifle peaceful demonstrations, and the lack of legal
recognition for labor and employer federations.
US Trade Representative
Michael Froman, said, ‘The withdrawal of AGOA benefits is not a decision
that is taken lightly.
‘We have made our concerns very clear to Swaziland
over the last several years and we engaged extensively on concrete steps that
Swaziland could take to address the concerns. We hope to continue our
engagement with the Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland on steps it can take
so that worker and civil society groups can freely associate and assemble and
AGOA eligibility can be restored.’
AGOA is a US preferential trade programme that
provides duty-free access to the $3 trillion US market for thousands of
products from eligible sub-Saharan African countries.
Media in Swaziland have predicted that as many as
20,000 jobs in the kingdom’s textile industry could be lost as a result of the
withdrawal of AGOA benefits that comes into force on 1 January 2015. The
textile industry in Swaziland is dominated by Taiwanese companies which were
drawn to the kingdom by the availability of cheap labour and the AGOA
agreement.
In May 2014 Media reported
that Swaziland had lost its AGOA status, quoting US Ambassador
to Swaziland, Malika James as a source. She later
denied making a statement.
See also
SWAZI HUMAN
RIGHTS RECORD KILLS AGOA
CONFUSION OVER KINGDOM’S AGOA STATUS
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