PERHAPS the government can’t deny the fact that we have been in the Tier 3 ranking for two consecutive years. According to the US Trafficking in Person (TIPs) Report 2022, based on the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), Malaysia has been ranking low for some time.  

A Tier 3 basically means “the government does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so”.

Human trafficking is defined under article 3(a) of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Person, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTIP Protocol):

“…the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.” 

The government did take steps to address the issues by amending the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Acts 2007, (Atipsom) in 2010, 2015 and again recently in December 2021.

In addition to that, in 2021, the human resources minister tabled the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2021, to amend the Employment Act 1955. The amendment will take effect as of September 1, 2022, as announced by the minister.  

Having said that, the amendment that was brought to the table was in line with the standards and practices required by the Trans-Practice Partnership Agreement, the Malaysia-United States Labour Consistency Plan and the International Labour Organization.

The key changes that are worth noticing, is the need of prior approval from the director-general of labour to hire foreign employees. The approval is subject to conditions as listed, and failure to adhere will cost employers to be fined not exceeding RM100,000 or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both. This surely is an interesting development of the law.  

As mentioned by Jason Loh, in his article, there is certainly a lack of political will and officials are slow to ensure that the intended outcomes and provisions come to pass.

The identification of victims of human trafficking should be done through the lens of positive obligation for protective operational measures to be taken.

Nevertheless, even though there have been amendments in our legal framework, there is still room for improvement since there is no holistic coverage to it. As such, the Malaysian government will need to consider some of the recommendations in the TIPs Report (2022), since the regulatory framework that we have is still shallow.

To curb this, it becomes the responsibility of all, including the government, companies and as well as employers, implement good labour practices.

So again, are we going to be honest and take accountability for what is happening in the country in order for change to take place? – August 3, 2022.

* Matilda George reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.