The Malaysian Insight

A TOTAL of 2,320 victims of human trafficking were rescued by the police from 2019 to 2022, Bukit Aman’s anti-trafficking top cop said.

Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants principal assistant director Fadil Marsus the number of cases was successfully reduced due to effective prevention and enforcement measures throughout the country during the period.

He added that the implementation of the movement-control order, which was enforced following the Covid-19 epidemic, also affected smuggling activities.

“However, the rescue operation is still ongoing based on information received as well as our own intelligence.

“As a result, a total of 2,320 victims, the majority of whom are from the services and manufacturing sectors, were rescued in the past four years.

“During the same period, a total of 851 employers or individuals who masterminded human trafficking were arrested, namely 361 in 2019, 243 in 2020, 228 last year, and another 19 until January 31 this year,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

According to Fadil, when the police tightened controls at all borders to prevent foreign entries who may cause new Covid-19 clusters, it also stopped human trafficking activities.

“Of the thousands of victims rescued, the majority of the victims were Indonesians followed by Vietnamese, Thais, Chinese and other neighbouring countries.

“The majority of the rescued victims were adults aged 18 and above,” he said.

All the victims were rescued in accordance with the provisions of section 44 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 (Act 670), while all the suspects were investigated and detained under clause 3 of the same act.

Fadil believed that through more frequent operations and stricter inspections, human trafficking can be curbed.

Malaysia has shown its commitment in combating human trafficking by collabourating with the United States and the United Kingdom through the National Action Plan on Forced Labour framework, which was launched last year.

Last week, Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan was reported to have said that he would meet with US Ambassador Brian D. McFeeters and UK High Commissioner Charles Hay following the cooperation offer extended by the two countries to share their experiences on dealing with forced labour and human trafficking.

“The issue of human trafficking, which also includes the aspect of forced labour, is a big challenge faced by the country, especially the Human Resources Ministry in protecting the rights of workers and ensuring compliance with labour legislation.

“Malaysia has laws to address the crime of human trafficking, including the issue of forced labour, so the MOHR is committed to ensuring this issue is addressed systematically with the proposed amendments to the Labour Act 1955 in March by including provisions related to forced labour,” the minister had said.

The government’s efforts in combating human trafficking are vital to improve Malaysia’s position in the Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP).

Last year, the US State Department downgraded Malaysia to level three, which is the lowest in TIP.

Malaysia returned to level three for the first time since 2014 along with other countries on the list that could be subjected to sanctions by the US of foreign aid funding.

According to the report, countries in level one have full compliance and level two is significant efforts to comply with the Protection of Victims of Trafficking in Persons Act 2000 (TVPA) while level three are countries that make no effort to comply with TVPA minimum standards.

Based on the US State Department report, Malaysia has not implemented appropriate measures to tackle the crime of human trafficking, even after taking into account the impact of Covid-19 on the country’s anti-trafficking capacity.

“Despite the lack of significant measures, the Malaysian government has taken several measures to address human trafficking. They have brought several individuals to court, using standard operating procedure for the victim identification process.

“In addition, Malaysia has also provided protection services to victims of trafficking, and released the results of a study they funded, on the alleged use of forced labour and children in the oil palm sector,” according to the report.

However, the US State Department said the Malaysian government continued to combine the issue of human trafficking and the crime of smuggling migrants into one.

In addition, it said Malaysia did not fully address allegations by some quarters on forced labour, including the rubber and oil palm processing industries, which Malaysia controls almost 33% of the global market.

Based on the report, Malaysia is placed in line with countries such as Afghanistan, Burma, China, Russia, North Korea, South Sudan, Syria, and Guinea-Bissau.

It was also reported earlier that the US Department of Customs and Border Protection imposed import restrictions on several Malaysian companies for allegedly using forced labour, including FGV Holdings Bhd, Sime Darby Plantation Bhd and Supermax Corporation Bhd. – February 15, 2022.