HT Before Amendments

7/25/2019 HT Before Amendments

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/ht-before-amendments 1/11

1.0 Executive Summary

This report briefs the readers on human trafficking phenomenon currently

happening worldwide. In the first part of the report it contains the definition by !nited

"ation types causes and methodologies of human trafficking used by the traffickers.

#esides that a few statistics on human trafficking is also found in the report be it

by gender age or region. Impact on the economy arising from human trafficking

activities are also included as part of the report.

In overall it can be concluded that $alaysian %overnment should reinforce and

tighten $alaysian laws relating to human trafficking. &ith the ' international "%(s

playing their role in helping $alaysia eradicate this phenomenon $alaysia should be

able to reduce the fre)uency of human trafficking. Education and campaigns are also

ways for mitigating this phenomenon.



*.0 Introduction

$alaysia is said to be a popular destination amongst migrant workers for

economic reasons i.e to seek employment opportunities or as a transit country. That is

why these vulnerable and powerless group of minorities is often targeted to becoming

victims of sexual and labour trafficking. The term +human trafficking, is thereby used todescribe a type of human slavery whereby victims are forced into labor or sex industries

both within the country and international borders.

The purpose of this report is to discuss the causes of human trafficking both

locally and internationally the brief operations of the activities comparing the statistics

of human trafficking in $alaysia and globally the impact on economy as well as some

recommendations to minimi-e the happenings in $alaysia.



.0 /iterature eview

efine 2uman Trafficking

The !" defines trafficking as follows3

+Trafficking in persons, shall mean the recruitment transportation transfer harboring or

receipt of persons by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion of

abduction of fraud of deception of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability

or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person

having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation 4%5$E%"5

*00 6.

Types of human trafficking

2uman trafficking can be categori-ed into forced labour sexual exploitation

organ removal forced marriage and illicit adoption which involves the illegal selling and

buying of children or baby between parents and buyers.

7auses of human trafficking in $alaysia

The nature of human trafficking varies from region to region 4S7 *0186. 2uman

trafficking includes both sex trafficking and labor trafficking which are both commonly

known and the crime can affect men and women as well as children. In $alaysia

$alaysians from rural and indigenous communities tend to be more vulnerable to

trafficking 45non. *0019*00:6.

So why does human trafficking occur; There are various factors that contributed

to human trafficking in $alaysia. The main factor that encourages trafficking in $alaysia

is because $alaysia has wide range of lower class <ob opportunity and economic

stability of the country itself. $alaysians have to admit that in $alaysia there are lots of

female housemaid originated from countries which are much lower ranking compared to

$alaysia such as from Indonesia 7ambodia =hilippines and many more who are

forced into prostitution. These minorities are susceptible to human trafficking because

they were actually given false promises before coming to $alaysia that they would be

offered legal <obs 4$ohd "a>eim 5<is *0106.

=overty is one of the ma<or factor which has increased women and children

vulnerability to human traffickers. The poor usually suffer in complex financial

constraints and this makes them willing to place themselves in any kind of <ob even

migrate overseas to seek for work without investigating in more detail what will their <ob

be. This is because their ultimate purpose of finding <ob is to earn as much money as

possible in a short period of time in order to survive. ?urthermore they also tend to be

ignorance about their rights and the importance of understanding how to protect and

defend themselves from deceived as they are not taught to be one.

http://www.traffickingresourcecenter.org/type-trafficking/sex-trafficking

http://www.traffickingresourcecenter.org/type-trafficking/labor-trafficking

http://www.traffickingresourcecenter.org/type-trafficking/labor-trafficking

http://www.traffickingresourcecenter.org/type-trafficking/sex-trafficking



In addition to poverty lack of access to education and knowledge on human

trafficking issue is also another factor. 5lthough in $alaysia many government and non9

governmental bodies often stressed on the issue of human trafficking by giving

campaigns but we tend to be ignorant on the seriousness on this issue. &ithout the

awareness on the issue we do not know how to protect ourselves and eventually fall in

the trap of human traffickers.

$ethodologies in human trafficking

In order to combat human trafficking the essential )uestion that has to be asked

will be how victims are trafficked. The process of human trafficking can be broken down

into three phases namely recruitment transportation and transfer and receipt of person.

The first stage will be recruitment of people. 5t this stage the traffickers will not

only recruit the victims but they will also gain control over the victims. The traffickers will

employ three means namely fraud force and coercion. These means work together and

have been ingrained to form part of the legal definition as to what amounted to humantrafficking.

?raud is where the traffickers often lure people into believing that there are

employments with higher wages and better working conditions elsewhere. =eople who

are facing financial difficulties or seeking for employment will easily take such bait.

!nbeknownst to them upon reaching the destination the working condition may not be

as well as promised or the scope of employment is totally different from what has been

promised. 5n example will be where the traffickers promised the individual that there will

be a well9paid <ob in a factory where in actual fact the individual will find himself being

manipulated into becoming a forced labour 4Edmons *0116.

In addition to that the traffickers may also approach families that are not well9off

and offer to send their children to another loving family who will ensure the children will

have a better living environment and better education.

Traffickers may also defraud the individuals through a practice known as debt

bondage. These traffickers may charge the victims fees for food shelter transportation

and other contingent fees in exchange for their service. Some may have to pay it off via

prostitution or forced labour. 2owever the victims may not reali-e that regardless of

how much they work the amount that they owed will not decrease as the traffickers mayhave charged them interest and may also imposed penalties or fines for failing to reach

the daily working )uotas. 2ence they will always be bound by the debt 4Suhana Saad

*0186

In order to retain control and to ensure the victims to succumb to their will the

traffickers may use force or physical violence. =hysical violence will include rape



physical abuse or beatings administrating drug and depriving the victim from food and

sleep. The traffickers will use this method to condition the victims into believing that their

lives will be endangered if they try to escape.

Some traffickers may resort to coercion which is a powerful tool to keep the

victims from disobeying them. Traffickers may threaten to use violence on the victims ormay even threaten them using the livelihood of their family. This will keep the victims in

line and they will not escape. They may also hold the victims> travel documents in order

to prevent the victims from escaping.

The second stage will be transportation and transfer of the victims to the said

destination. 5lthough the word @trafficking> may have implied that the victims are to be

transported across the borders or country but in actual fact it may not be that case as

the victims need not be taken elsewhere in order for it to amount to human trafficking.

The last stage will be receipt of such person in exchange for monetary value or other

considerations.

ecent updates

The !nited States State epartment in their Trafficking In =ersons report 4TI=6

will rank the countries based upon the level of compliance with the minimum standard

re)uired in Trafficking Aictims =rotection 5ct of *000 4TA=56. /evel (ne refers to full

compliance with the TA=5 whilst level two is if significant efforts have been made to

comply with the minimum standard. /astly stage three is where the country has not

make any effort to ensure compliance with the minimum standard re)uired.

In *01 the !S State epartment placed $alaysia at level three alongside with"orth Borea Syria and Cimbabwe for failure to improve its flawed victim protection

regime.

2owever in *01' Trafficking in =ersons report the !S State epartment has

upgraded $alaysia to Tier * &atch /ist. This decision has sub<ected to several

criticisms and out lashes by some !S lawmakers and human rights advocates who

opined that $alaysia shouldn>t be upgraded to Tier * and should remained in /evel

three for its slow progress in convicting the traffickers and alleged that the reason for

upgrading is for trade reasons but such arguments have been watered down by Dohn

Birby the State epartment>s spokesman 4!.S. epartment of State *01'6.

Statistics on human trafficking

esearch done shown that an approximate number of *0. million people were

exploited worldwide 45non. *01*6 involving in forced labour i.e. sexual exploitations

forced labour or services and etc 4&!I/I"% n.d.6. (ut of the *0. million people 0F



of them 4approx. 1G.H million6 were exploited in the private economy. 5 detail breakdown

of the *0. million labourers is shown in the chart below3

7hart 1. etail breakdown of labour exploitation worldwide 45non. *01*6

5s shown above 10F 4*.* million6 of the labourers were forced by the state

4public economy6 whereas the remaining 0F were exploited by the private economy in

the form of sex 4prostitution6 and labour. 5nother research of forced labour done by the

International /abour (rganisation is that by gender and age.

7hart *. #reakdown of labour exploitation by gender worldwide 45non. *01*6



7hart . #reakdown of labour exploitation by age group worldwide 45non. *01*6

%enerally women and girls represent a larger portion than men and boys. ''F

411.8 million6 of the victims were females compared to males of 8'F 4.' million6. (n

the other hand children 4under the age of 1G6 were less involved in human trafficking

compared to adults 4aged 1G and above6 in the research done which is *:F 4'.'

million6 against H8F 41'.8 million6 45non. *01*6.

7hart 8. #reakdown of forced labour by region 45non. *01*6



#ased on 7hart 8 5sia9=acific region contributed most to the total number of

forced labour which is ':F 411.H million6 followed by 5frica of 1GF 4.H million6. The

next regions had numbers )uite close to one another which is /atin 5merica and the

7arribean of F 41.G million6 7entral and Southeastern9Europe and the

7ommonwealth of Independent States of HF 41.: million6 and eveloped Economies

and European !nion of HF 41.' million6. /astly $iddle East contributed the least to thetotal number of forced labour by F 40.: million victims6 45non. *01*6.

The main reason that the 5sia9=acific region had the most victims was due to the

fact the region consisted of countries with huge populations for example 7hina and

India.

$alaysia being in the Tier * &atch /ist category in the *01' Trafficking in

=ersons 4TI=6 eport also had a serious issue with human trafficking. 5 substantial

portion of the victims are amongst the approximated two million documented and more

than two million undocumented foreign labourers currently working in $alaysia 45non.*01'6.

5s of 1H these alien workers totaled up to 1.* million amounting to an

estimation of :F of the population and around G.'F of $alaysiaJs labour force during

that time. (ut of 1.*million '00000 to H00000 are illegal labourers 4Bassim 1H6.

Statistics had shown that there were an approximated presence of :18G8G non9

$alaysians trafficked into the boundaries of East and &est $alaysia notwithstanding

that there were more than '00000 illegal labourers trafficked into $alaysia in *000

45hmad Shah =akeer $ohamed *0116.

2owever it is not the main disadvantage of having illegal labourers in $alaysia

42am-ah 5bdul9ahmana *01*6. The primary drawback is that $alaysians would be

overly dependent on the Jalien workersJ especially in the critical sectors stated by the

eputy 2uman esource $inister of $alaysia 45non. *01'6 caused by their willingness

to be employed with lower wages rather than higher salary or wages that a local worker

would demand. 5lthough this too would prompt higher unemployment rate of

$alaysians but some companies might still use foreign workers in order to reduce

labour cost to the company so as to be more competitive in their business.

Impacting the market for human traffickingThe entry of illegal immigrant via the human trafficking activity causes less

demand for local work labour in the market 45hmad Shah =akeer $ohamed *011 p.

1H86. Since they are the illegal immigrants it is obvious that the employers will not have

to provide them the statutory employee>s welfare benefits and they are willing to work

with a lower wage rate as compared to the local workers. This can then minimi-e the

cost of the employer. Therefore by reducing the demand for trafficked humans means



decreasing benefits to employers of employing trafficked labour. If information is used to

educate consumers about the horrors trafficked individuals face consumer boycotts of

certain products and services can be used to decrease benefits to employers 4Eli-abeth

$. &heaton *0106. This because if this continues to happen it will affect the political

and economic aspect as the unemployment rate in $alaysia will increase significantly.

5s a result of the increase in the unemployment rate $alaysia>s income per capita willnot meet the high income threshold which will then causes $alaysia to remain as an

upper middle income nation instead of becoming a high income nation by year *0*0

under the Economic Transformation =rogram.

Smuggling activity is a threat to the $alaysian economy because the government

lost millions of ringgit from the total collection of tax which can be of good use for the

development of the country 45hmad Shah =akeer $ohamed *011 p. 1H'6. 2uman

trafficking is an illegal activity operated by some illegal and unregistered organi-ations

which will not pay income taxes to the government irrespective of how much they

actually and thereby without the sufficient fund the government will not be able toprovide a better public facilities and in maintaining the popular tourism areas. In

addition the economy of $alaysia will not expand as government has insufficient cash

to be spent in order to boost the economy. If human trafficking activities is continuing

foreign investors may withdraw their investments for better investment opportunities as

the $alaysia>s economy is not expanding.

7onclusion

In conclusion the human trafficking issues is not <ust some sort of humanities

issue but is a vile and heinous crime it is the scourge of the mankind and a grossabuse of human rights 4badmaggie *0116. The volume of trafficking activities taking

place in the country is so widespread and we should never ignore them. Therefore this

issue will only be minimi-ed if the public have the knowledge about the seriousness of it

becoming so that they can be more aware as well as the emphasis and direct

assistance whether in terms of moral and financial from either the government or non9

government organi-ations can be obtained.

ecommendation

The $alaysian %overnment can revise the current human trafficking act. 5mong

them are Section 1* Section 1 Section 18 Section 1' and Section 1'5 4Suhana

Saad *0186 by implementing a stricter punishment on person who is found guilty in

conducting human trafficking activities. ?or example the amount of fine payable can be

increased while the period of imprisonment can be lengthen. This would definitely help

to create a greater fear among the people. Indirectly the rate of human trafficking

activities in $alaysia will reduce as people will be more reluctant in conducting such

crimes as the punishments imposed are heavy.



"ext currently there are five non9governmental organi-ations 4"%(6 namely the

"ational 7ouncil of &omenJs (rgani-ations 4"7&(6 7ouncil of 7hild &elfare Institute

of $alaysian and International Studies 4IB$5S6 2uman ights 7ommission

4S!25B5$6 and the 7oalition to 5bolish $odern9ay Slavery in 5sia 475$S56 being

appointed to the 7ouncil for 5nti9Trafficking in =ersons and 5nti9Smuggling of $igrants4$5=(6 to eradicate the human trafficking in $alaysia. These organi-ations have

contributed their ideas and expertise as well as participate in organi-ing public

awareness campaigns 4Suhana Saad *0186. In order to enhance the effectiveness of

the campaigns the government can set up a fund for the $5=( to help them in

organi-ing better campaigns. The awareness campaigns can be held during the

weekends and public holidays in places that are fre)uently visit by the public to increase

the participation by the people. The public plays an important role in eradicating human

trafficking because without the involvement of them in such illegal activities it will not be

possible for the human trafficking syndicates to promote their activities.

In addition education plays an important role in determining one>s future. The

Education $inistry of $alaysia can include human trafficking as part of the $oral

sub<ect syllabus in order to allow the younger generation to be exposed to the critical

issues faced by the country. The schools are also encouraged to organi-e a trip to the

awareness campaign held by the "%(s so the students can learn more about the

human trafficking apart from what is being taught in classes. 5s they learn about human

trafficking and the negative impacts in their young age it will eventually prevent them

from supporting and involving themselves in such activities in the future.

"owadays technology is part of everyday life and the Internet is a very strongplatform of sharing information. 7onveying a message through Internet will be one of

the fastest way to spread it globally as Internet is a world without boundaries. The

$alaysia %overnment can create accounts in the ?acebook Twitter and Koutube to

gather people all over the world to combat the human trafficking as this is not only an

issue in $alaysia but globally. 5uthori-ed personnel is to upload relevant news videos

and reports related to human trafficking which then allow the people to discuss about it

in the page created and can share it with their friends who does not have an access to

it which in the end created the public awareness of human trafficking.

In conclusion the human trafficking issues is not <ust some sort of humanitiesissue but is a vile and heinous crime it is the scourge of the mankind and a gross

abuse of human rights 4badmaggie *0116. The volume of trafficking activities taking

place in the country is so widespread and we should never ignore them. Therefore this

issue will only be minimi-ed if the public have the knowledge about the seriousness of it

becoming so that they can be more aware as well as the emphasis and direct

assistance whether in terms of moral and financial from either the government or non9

government organi-ations can be obtained.



Documents

HT Before Amendments