Malaysia is a top destination for human trafficking within and beyond the South East Asia region. Human trafficking of immigrants is a significant problem although there are no official statistics on this crime in Malaysia.
The underground activity of trafficking in Malaysia involves crime syndicates, employment agencies and government officials.There were reports that Malaysian officials are involved in extorting money from migrants and trafficking.
Refugee migrants are transported from detention centers to the Malaysia-Thailand border where officials demanded money from them or they will be turn over to traffickers in southern Thailand. The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee is currently probing this issue.
Victims of trafficking are mostly women, children and refugees from neighboring countries. Based on the 2008 Human Rights Report released by the US State Department, these victims are trafficked into Malaysia for sexual exploitation and forced labor.
The report describes the problem as serious as Malaysia is also a transit point of human trafficking in the world. The report ranked Malaysia as tier 2 in watch list because of significant increase in victims and failure to provide efforts to combat trafficking.
Most victims of trafficking are rescued by foreign embassies, as the government provides no legal alternatives for victims. Trafficking victims are not identified in specific as most illegal immigrants are deported and imprisoned.
At the current moment, there is no legislative means against human trafficking in Malaysia. The government has been using other laws that include immigration act, restricted resident act and child act to prosecute traffickers.
The Anti Trafficking in Person Act was tabled in parliament two years ago in effort to protect victims and extend human trafficking offence. However, there is still room for further improvements in curbing this problem.
Tags: human rights, human trafficking, malaysia
While I was editing a documentary for a friend, I heard many first hand account from the victims. The atrocities of this civil servants can never be told. Imagine, they pick you up because you are an illegal immigrant then they deport you (so to say) to Southern Thailand straight into the hands of the traffickers, who will ask for money for them to be sent back to Malaysia where the authorities readily waiting to arrest them again.