FOR the second consecutive year, Malaysia will remain in Tier 3 of the United States’ Trafficking in Persons Report 2022, having failed to meet the minimum standards in its effort to eliminate human trafficking.

Malaysia is in the company of 21 other countries including Afghanistan, China, Syria, South Sudan and Venezuela.

The US State Department said in the report that Putrajaya has taken some steps, such as amending the anti-trafficking law and the Employment Act to include a wider definition of forced labour to address trafficking, but it was not enough.

“The government of Malaysia does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so,” the report said.

“The government continued to conflate human trafficking and migrant smuggling crimes, which impeded law enforcement and victim identification efforts.

“Anti-trafficking investigations declined, and the government did not prosecute or convict government officials allegedly complicit in trafficking crimes.”

Malaysia had also not done enough to address allegations of human trafficking in the rubber and palm oil sectors, the report said.

The US has banned products from the world’s largest glove maker, Top Glove, as well as plantation giants FGV Holdings Bhd and Sime Darby Bhd due to allegations of forced labour and other abuses. FGV is partially owned by the government.

“With the government owning 33% of the third-largest palm oil company in the world, its failure to address trafficking in these sectors allowed for abusive employers to sometimes operate with impunity. 

“The government identified fewer victims, and it did not systematically implement standard operating procedure (SOP) countrywide to proactively identify victims during law enforcement raids or among vulnerable populations with whom authorities came in contact.

“Because of inconsistent identification efforts, authorities continued to inappropriately penalise trafficking victims for immigration and ‘prostitution’ violations. 

“Poor inter-agency coordination and overall inadequate victim protection services, which discouraged foreign victims from remaining in Malaysia to participate in criminal proceedings, continued to hinder successful anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts.”

Malaysia was placed in Tier 3 last year. From 2018 to 2020, it was on the Tier 2 Watch List, while in 2017, it was ranked Tier 2.

Governments of countries on Tier 3 may be subject to certain restrictions on foreign assistance, whereby the US president may determine, among others, not to provide US government non-humanitarian, non-trade related foreign assistance.

To remedy its current status, the report recommended Malaysia increase efforts in identifying victims of human trafficking in the rubber and palm oil sectors.

“Train relevant officials, including police, labour inspectors, and immigration officials, on SOP for victim identification that include information on trafficking indicators.”

It also recommended that Malaysia increase its efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict more trafficking cases, including complicit officials and make the results of such investigations public for the purpose of deterrence.

There is also a need to expand labour protections, increase law enforcement capacity, enforce law prohibiting employers from retaining employees passports, informing migrant workers of their rights and legal remedies available to them.

The report also suggested that Putrajaya expand cooperation with civil society groups, reduce prosecution delays and increase efforts to identify trafficking victims of China workers on the Chinese government-affiliated infrastructure projects. – July 20, 2022.