Last
Friday, the U.S State Department downgraded Malaysia, together with Thailand
and Venezuela to the lowest “Tier 3” status in its Trafficking in Persons (TIP)
Reports, as the world’s worst centers of human trafficking. This came after the
State Department found that the Malaysian government has shown no significant
effort to comply with the minimum standards for elimination of trafficking.
Such a downgrade
is a shame to us as we are dumped into the same category with some of the
world’s most lawless, dysfunctional and repressive regimes such as Iran, Syria,
Zimbabwe and North Korea. The downgrade may also open up the country to possible U.S
sanctions.
On
Monday, The Foreign Affairs Ministry has issued a statement to urge the U.S
State Department to reconsider its assessment, arguing that the information
used to prepare the report was flawed, inaccurate and did not reflect the steps
taken by Malaysian trafficking to combat human-trafficking.
In
its statement, The Foreign Affairs Ministry has listed down some of the efforts
done by the Malaysian government in combatting human-trafficking, including a
new policy, which came into effect on March 1, 2014, allowing the victims of
labour trafficking to work and reside in Malaysia; the launching of the standard
operating procedure (SOP) for enforcement agencies in November 2013; and a new
pilot project finalized in March 2014 to establish a shelter home with NGO for
the victims of human-trafficking.
Nevertheless,
we believe that such efforts are too little, too late. We would like to
remind Putrajaya that Malaysia had been on Tier 2 “watchlist” for 4 years and
were given waivers for 2 consecutive years before the downgrade!
Therefore,
moving forward, instead of denying the report, the government must heed on the
comments and recommendations in the TIP report. One
of the plausible efforts that we would like to highlight to the government is
on its cooperation with the NGO, responding from this section of the TIP
report:
“NGOs—with no financial support from the government—provided the
majority of victim rehabilitation and counseling services. At times, the
government granted NGOs access to victims in government facilities; however, it
prevented some victim assistance organizations from accessing shelters to
provide services.”
At
such, we hope that the government can increase the funding to anti
human-trafficking NGOs who have proven track records. In addition, the
government should also leverage on the expertise and experiences of the NGOs in
government facilities. Instead of relying fully on its own personnel in its
facilities, the government should consider work more closely with the NGOs who
already have experiences in these works.
All in all, we
hope that the government will put greater urgency in anti human trafficking
efforts. The government must have a systematic and strategic plan with
clear timeline to improve our status to at least “Tier 2” in next year U.S
State Department TIP report. This can serve as a key performance indicator to
measure the country’s effectiveness in anti human trafficking.
Lastly, we would
like to stress the most important aspect of combatting human trafficking is not
about the rating in the TIP report, it is about human’s life and dignity. The
victims of human trafficking may come from foreign lands but they shall not be
mistreated and robed of basic needs and dignity on our land.
Malaysia must
stand up and be a responsible member of the international community.
Yeo Bee Yin
