Taken from International Labour Organisation (ILO) website

 

 

April—September 2007

Volume Q2/07

There has been some progress in dealing with trafficking in Malaysia. The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) organised two major forums on trafficking in April and October 2004. The events brought together many different agencies and NGOs to talk about the issue and begin to devise solutions.

Trafficking in Malaysia and the Law

There are various laws in place to deal with trafficking and soliciting. These are the Penal Code, Immigration Act 1959/1963, the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2001, Restricted Residence Act 1993, Prevention of Crime Act 1959 and the Child Act 2001. Although these laws accord some level of protection for victims and punishment for perpetrators, there are no specific laws put in place to deal with trafficking per se.

In trafficking, a woman’s rights are violated at different levels. She is forced into prostitution, forced to have unprotected sex, physically abused, not paid for services and punished by the law. SUHAKAM has called for the enactment of a comprehensive anti-trafficking law that can be used to more effectively protect victims at all the stages and to punish perpetrators.

In addition, SUHAKAM has recommended that those who seek services from prostitutes be penalised in order to discourage trafficking of women into the country. It has also recommended that the traffickers, their agents and owners, or employers of entertainment establishments harbouring trafficked women, be punished as well.

Even with these calls, the CEDAW Shadow report points out that it is the victims of trafficking and not the

traffickers themselves who are being arrested, charged and detained. Trafficked women are also being charged and deported for not possessing valid travel documents. Even when the traffickers are arrested and charged, the law often treats them leniently. In one case reported in a local daily, a bail of RM10,000 was allowed for two people charged with wrongfully confining two Chinese women with the intention of using them for vice, despite a recommendation of RM50,000 in bail.

Another confounding problem is that there is a lack of inter-agency coordination in handling the issue. The agencies involved are the police, Department of Immigration, Attorney-General’s Chambers and Welfare Department. They do not always work together to plan and carry out all of the steps involved in fighting trafficking, including identifying a location, performing the raid, identifying the victims, providing them with services, taking statements from the victims, investigating the criminal activity, prosecuting the perpetrators, and assisting the victims with return and repatriation.   

Conclusion

In the long run, WAO’s work in the area of women in migration must involve other human rights organisations both nationally and regionally. For a start, WAO has placed this issue on the agenda of a coalition of women's groups that we work with, namely the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG). In addition, the Malaysian Trade Union Congress recently approached WAO to explore joint advocacy initiatives. 

We would also want to work with regional and international organisations to lobby the countries that send and receive MDWs to fulfil their obligations in protecting and promoting the rights of these women.

Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO)

INROADS

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Trafficking (cont.)