Human Trafficking In Malaysia 612k6d

HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN MALAYSIA

Contents Summary…………………………………………………………………………………… ii ……………………….. 1. Introduction 0

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2. Car A 0

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Design features

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Materials selection

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Fuel efficiency

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3. Car B 0

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Design features

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Materials selection

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Fuel efficiency

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4. Comparison of designs 0

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5. Conclusions 0

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6. References 0

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Appendices: Appendix 1 Design diagrams Appendix 2 Contribution of each group member

1.0 Executive Summary

2.0 Introduction Malaysia 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 to describe a form of modern-day slavery whereby victims are forced or otherwise coerced into labor or sex 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 Malaysia and the Global, the impact on economy as well as some recommendations to minimize the happenings in Malaysia.

3.0 Literature Review Define Human Trafficking The UN defines trafficking as follows:

“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 (GRAMEGNA, 2003 ). Types of human trafficking Human trafficking can be categorized 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. Causes of human trafficking in Malaysia The nature of human trafficking varies from region to region. Most commonly it involves trafficking in women and children for sexual exploitation. Men, women and children can also be trafficked for a diverse range of other purposes, including forced labour in many illegal industries (SC, 2014). In Malaysia, Malaysians from rural and indigenous communities tend to be more vulnerable to trafficking (Anon., 2001-2006). So, why does human trafficking occur? There are a number of factors that contributed to human trafficking in Malaysia. The main factor that encourages trafficking in Malaysia is its job opportunity and economic stability. There are female housemaid from Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Mongolia and China forced into prostitution even though they were actually given false promises before coming to Malaysia that they would be offered legal jobs here (Mohd Na’eim Ajis, 2010). Poverty is one of the major 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 job even migrate overseas to seek for work without investigating in more detail what will their job be. This is because their ultimate purpose of finding job is to earn as much money as possible in a short period of time in order to survive. Furthermore, 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. In addition to poverty, lack of access to education and knowledge on human trafficking issue is also another factor. Although in Malaysia, many government and nongovernmental bodies often stressed on the issue of human trafficking by giving campaigns, but we tend to be ignorant on the seriousness on this issue. Without the awareness on the issue, we do not know how to protect ourselves and eventually fall in the trap of human traffickers.

Methodologies in human trafficking In order to combat human trafficking, the essential question 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. At 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 human trafficking. Fraud is where the traffickers often lure people into believing that there are employments with higher wages and better working conditions elsewhere. People who are facing financial difficulties or seeking for employment will easily take such bait. Unbeknownst 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. An example will be where the traffickers promised the individual that there will be a well-paid job in a factory where in actual fact the individual will find himself being manipulated into becoming a forced labour (Edmons , 2011). In addition to that, the traffickers may also approach families that are not well-off 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. However, the victims may not realize that regardless of how much they work, the amount that they owed will not decrease as the traffickers may have charged them interest and may also imposed penalties or fines for failing to reach the daily working quotas. Hence, they will always be bound by the debt (Suhana Saad, 2014) In order to retain control and to ensure the victims to succumb to their will, the traffickers may use force or physical violence. Physical violence will include rape, physical abuse or beatings, istrating 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 or

may 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. Although 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. Recent updates The United States State Department in their Trafficking In Persons report (TIP) will rank the countries based upon the level of compliance with the minimum standard required in Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA). Level One refers to full compliance with the TVPA whilst level two is if significant efforts have been made to comply with the minimum standard. Lastly, stage three is where the country has not make any effort to ensure compliance with the minimum standard required. In 2013, the US State Department placed Malaysia at level three alongside with North Korea, Syria and Zimbabwe for failure to improve its flawed victim protection regime. However in 2015 Trafficking in Persons report, the US State Department has upgraded Malaysia to Tier 2 Watch List. This decision has subjected to several criticisms and out lashes by some US lawmakers and human rights advocates who opined that Malaysia shouldn’t be upgraded to Tier 2 and should remained in Level 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 John Kirby, the State Department’s spokesman (U.S. Department of State, 2015). Statistics on human trafficking Research done shown that an approximate number of 20.9 million people were exploited worldwide (Anon., 2012), involving in forced labour, i.e. sexual exploitations, forced labour or services and etc (WUILING, n.d.). Out of the 20.9 million people, 90% of them (approx. 18.7 million) were exploited in the private economy. A detail breakdown of the 20.9 million labourers is shown in the chart below:

Chart 1. Detail breakdown of labour exploitation worldwide (Anon., 2012) As shown above, 10% (2.2 million) of the labourers were forced by the state (public economy), whereas the remaining 90% were exploited by the private economy in the form of sex (prostitution) and labour. Another research of forced labour done by the International Labour Organisation is that by gender and age.

Chart 2. Breakdown of labour exploitation by gender worldwide (Anon., 2012)

Chart 3. Breakdown of labour exploitation by age group worldwide (Anon., 2012) Generally, women and girls represent a larger portion than men and boys. 55% (11.4 million) of the victims were females compared to males of 45% (9.5 million). On the other hand, children (under the age of 18) were less involved in human trafficking compared to adults (aged 18 and above) in the research done, which is 26% (5.5 million) against 74% (15.4 million) (Anon., 2012).

Chart 4. Breakdown of forced labour by region (Anon., 2012)

Based on Chart 4, Asia-Pacific region contributed most to the total number of forced labour, which is 56% (11.7 million), followed by Africa of 18% (3.7 million). The next 3 regions had numbers quite close to one another, which is Latin America and the Carribean of 9% (1.8 million), Central and Southeastern-Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States of 7% (1.6 million), and Developed Economies and European Union of 7% (1.5 million). Lastly, Middle East contributed the least to the total number of forced labour by 3% (0.6 million victims) (Anon., 2012). The main reason that the Asia-Pacific region had the most victims was due to the fact the region consisted of countries with huge populations for example China and India. Malaysia, being in the Tier 2 Watch List category in the 2015 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, also had a serious issue with human trafficking. A substantial portion of the victims are amongst the approximated two million documented and more than two million undocumented foreign labourers currently working in Malaysia (Anon., 2015). As of 1997, these "alien workers" totaled up to 1.2 million, amounting to an estimation of 6% of the population and around 8.5% of Malaysia's labour force during that time. Out of 1.2million, 500,000 to 700,000 are illegal labourers (Kassim, 1997). Statistics had shown that there were an approximated presence of 614,848 nonMalaysians trafficked into the boundaries of East and West Malaysia, notwithstanding that there were more than 500,000 illegal labourers trafficked into Malaysia in 2000 (Ahmad Shah Pakeer Mohamed, 2011). However, it is not the main disadvantage of having illegal labourers in Malaysia (Hamzah Abdul-Rahmana, 2012). The primary drawback is that Malaysians would be overly dependent on the 'alien workers' especially in the critical sectors stated by the Deputy Human Resource Minister of Malaysia (Anon., 2015) caused by their willingness to be employed with lower wages rather than higher salary or wages that a local worker would demand. Although this too would prompt higher unemployment rate of Malaysians, 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 trafficking The entry of illegal immigrant via the human trafficking activity causes less demand for local work labour in the market (Ahmad Shah Pakeer Mohamed, 2011, p. 174). 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 minimize 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 (Elizabeth M. Wheaton, 2010). This because if this continues to happen, it will affect the political and economic aspect as the unemployment rate in Malaysia will increase significantly. As a result of the increase in the unemployment rate, Malaysia’s income per capita will not meet the high income threshold which will then causes Malaysia to remain as an upper middle income nation, instead of becoming a high income nation by year 2020, under the Economic Transformation Program. Smuggling activity is a threat to the Malaysian 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 (Ahmad Shah Pakeer Mohamed, 2011, p. 175). Human trafficking is an illegal activity operated by some illegal and uned organizations 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 to provide a better public facilities and in maintaining the popular tourism areas. In addition, the economy of Malaysia 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 Malaysia’s economy is not expanding. Conclusion and recommendation The Malaysia Government can revise the current human trafficking act. Among them are Section 12, Section 13, Section 14, Section 15 and Section 15A (Suhana Saad, 2014), by implementing a stricter punishment on person who is found guilty in conducting human trafficking activities. For 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 Malaysia will reduce as people will be more reluctant in conducting such crimes as the punishments imposed are heavy. Next, currently there are five non-governmental organizations (NGO) namely the National Council of Women's Organizations (NCWO), Council of Child Welfare, Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM) and the Coalition to Abolish Modern-Day Slavery in Asia (CAMSA) being appointed to the Council for Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (MAPO) to eradicate the human trafficking in Malaysia. These organizations have contributed their ideas and expertise as well as participate in organizing public awareness campaigns (Suhana Saad, 2014). In order to enhance the effectiveness of the campaigns, the government can set up a fund for the MAPO to help them in organizing better campaigns. The awareness campaigns can be held during the weekends and public holidays in places that are frequently 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 Ministry of Malaysia can include human trafficking as part of the Moral subject 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 organize a trip to the awareness campaign held by the NGOs so the students can learn more about the human trafficking apart from what is being taught in classes. As they learn about human trafficking and the negative impacts in their young age, it will eventually prevent them from ing and involving themselves in such activities in the future. Nowadays, technology is part of everyday life and the Internet is a very strong platform of sharing information. Conveying a message through Internet will be one of the fastest way to spread it globally as Internet is a world without boundaries. The Malaysia Government can create s in the Facebook, Twitter and Youtube to gather people all over the world to combat the human trafficking as this is not only an issue in Malaysia, but globally. Authorized personnel is to 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 just some sort of humanities issue but is a vile and heinous crime, it is the scourge of the mankind, and a gross abuse of human rights (bad3maggie, 2011). 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 minimized 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 of moral and financial from either the government or nongovernment organizations can be obtained. (2890 words)

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