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Modern day slavery in Malaysia |
| Posted by Diocese of Penang (pgdiocese) on May 18 2012 |
10 October 2010
PENANG: Modern day slavery exists in the form of persons being trafficked for bonded labour and sexual exploitation – the two most common forms of trafficking. This was what 61 participants from the church and NGOs learned from Greg D’Alesandro from the US Embassy during his presentation at the Anti-Trafficking In Person Workshop held on 18 Sept. at the Bayview Georgetown Hotel. Among the participants were the Counsels General from Thailand and Nepal, members from the Catholic church in Penang and civil society members.
The workshop was organized by Tenaganita in partnership with JUMP (Jaringan Utara Migrasi dan Pelarian), of which the Diocese’s Penang Office for Human Development (POHD) is an active member. The workshop got off to a start with James Lockhead from JUMP making the introduction. He said that refugees are very vulnerable to become victims to trafficking; therefore the workshop aims to inform and educate people, especially those working with migrants and refugees, on the latest progress made in our country in its fight against this menace.
He also hoped that after the workshop, the participants might be able to see how they could work together to solve this issue. Greg D’Alesandro, the first speaker of the workshop said, “Human trafficking is basically divided into two forms — for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour, which is modern day slavery.” He then explained that there is a distinct difference between human smuggling and human trafficking.
Not many people are aware of this and think both are the same. Simply, trafficking of people is a human rights abuse, whereas smuggling is a violation of immigration laws. Trafficking victims are forced and the perpetrator gains from the victims, whereas human smuggling involves both parties as willing partners. Beside giving a presentation of the different forms of trafficking, he also gave a presentation of international perspective on the trafficking of persons. He mentioned that 80 per cent of international trafficked victims are women and children.
A staggering number of about 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders each year, not including the estimate of 2 to 4 millions that are trafficked within countries. He gave an outline on how the US is combating trafficking of persons, by using the three R approach when they focus on the victims — rescue, rehabilitate and reintegrate. Malaysia had been placed on ‘Tier 2 to Watch’ list under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) for not fully complying with the TVPA minimum standards. The tier ranking, Greg informed, is based on the three P’s — persecution, protection and prevention.
The next speaker was En Mohd Dusuki Bin Mokhtar, Deputy Public Prosecutor from the Malaysian Attorney General’s Chambers, who spoke on the enforcement perspective and the prosecution process. He explained that Parliament had passed the Anti-Trafficking In Persons Act (ATIP 2007) in 2007 which only came into force on Feb 28, 2008. “The act provides for the protection and support of trafficked persons,” said Dusuki, “the offense of trafficking in persons and the establishment of the Council for Anti- Trafficking In Persons.”
“The enforcement agencies right now are the Royal Malaysia Police, Immigration Department, Royal Malaysia Custom and Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency. However, we are now working on amending the Act to include the Labour Department as an enforcement agency,” continue Duzuki. This is due to the fact that forced labour cases have been increasing in numbers. To step up investigations on forced labour cases, the Labour Department has to come in as one of the enforcement officers. Dusuki also explained the role of the enforcement officers. He also raised some challenges.
There is a difficulty in establishing whether a victim is genuine as the victim may be a tourist or a student. Sometimes victims wish to return home as soon as possible, which makes it difficult to expedite investigation. “The lack of awareness on both parties – the public and the enforcement agencies — is also a challenge,” said Dusuki. “Generally, the public is not fully aware of the trafficking in persons issues and the enforcement agencies lack the skills and expertise to handle cases.”
Duzuki later gave a detailed rundown of the laws affecting the Anti- Trafficking In Persons Act 2007 and the prosecution process. This was followed by Grace Vu from Tenaganita giving a presentation on the local activities of CAMSA – the Coalition to Abolish Modern-Day Slavery in Asia. James wound up the workshop with the hope that more NGOs will work together to fight trafficking in persons. He hoped that the participants had gained much knowledge to be shared among others so as to make people more aware of this problem that affect the dignity and rights of human persons. — By Lucia Lai
Last changed: May 18 2012 at 11:50 PM
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