Anti-human trafficking work done behind the scenes, says NGO

Stop Human Trafficking Association (SHUT) says the lockdown has caused some delays in proper policy implementation. FMTNews HumanTrafficking MigrantWorkers

Stop Human Trafficking Association (SHUT) says the lockdown has caused some delays in proper policy implementation.

-July 10, 2021 10:30 AMThough most cases involve non-Malaysians, human trafficking among Malaysians may be under-reported due to fear of reprisals, according to an NGO.PETALING JAYA: The government and stakeholders are working strategically to curb human trafficking behind the scenes, albeit with some challenges due to the recurring lockdowns, claims an NGO in the field.

Stop Human Trafficking Association (SHUT) president Dini Dalilah Wan Nordin, in response to Malaysia getting downgraded to a Tier-3 country in the US state department’s human trafficking report, said there has been much improvement in collaboration between stakeholders and agencies.

Speaking on the cases SHUT handles in particular, she said during the current lockdown, the NGO still received reports of cleaners and domestic workers being forced to work despite their permits being revoked or expired.“Domestic workers can’t renew their permits during this time, therefore employers will send them back to the agent. That’s when agents manipulate them, for profit.” headtopics.com

Most cases involve non-Malaysians, but she argued that human trafficking among Malaysians may be under-reported due to fear of reprisals.Malaysians must first understand the definition of human trafficking to assist reporting it to NGOs and the authorities.

The Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Council (Mapo) task force is also actively working with NGOs to improve the situation despite the pandemic, she said.Meanwhile, Tenaganita said their hotline received an average of 47 calls every month, from September 2020 to May 2021, compared with about 25 to 30 per month before the pandemic.

The calls resulted in about 153 cases being managed by the NGO over the same time frame.Tenaganita executive director Glorene Das told FMT that many domestic workers were forced into “trafficked” situations throughout the movement control order (MCO), whereby some had been forced to work without wages or overtime pay.

“Basically, the common violations include no rest day, no written contract signed, unlawful deduction of wages, non-renewal of work permit, unpaid wages, and long hours of work without pay. These are only the top reasons.”She added that stay-at-home domestic workers were also denied leave or adequate rest, and freedom of movement (going outside of the house) or communication with outsiders. headtopics.com

Even though these were rampant issues even before the pandemic, she said the lockdowns had worsened the problem because families were now stuck at home, with some facing economic difficulties, increasing their workload and possible salary deductions.“Now, the neighbours and surrounding communities are also home because of the lockdowns, so they are able to report more abuses.”

Meanwhile, speaking on Mapo and the US downgrade, she echoed Dini from SHUT, saying the secretariat had included stakeholders in many consultations.“To be fair to them, the secretariat has been helpful despite having limited resources and personnel.”She said some of the main issues, aside from limited resources, include different interpretations of what constitutes human trafficking among the different stakeholders and agencies under Mapo.

“If you ask immigration enforcement officers, they tend to look at human trafficking through a national security framework.“Police, meanwhile, will look at it through a crime framework. That’s where the problem lies. All of us have to come together to create a more victim-centered framework for anti-human trafficking efforts.”

Malaysia was downgraded to Tier 3 in the US state department’s annual human trafficking report released a week ago, with the reason being it does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. headtopics.com

The report states that Malaysia, which was placed on the Tier 2 Watchlist in last year’s report, failed to improve on its anti-trafficking capacity.

The report states that Malaysia, which was placed on the Tier 2 Watchlist in last year’s report, failed to improve on its anti-trafficking capacity.

10 July 2019
Aina Aiman
Main Source:
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/07/10/anti-human-trafficking-work-done-behind-the-scenes-says-ngo/?utm_source=headtopics&utm_medium=news&utm_campaign=2021-07-10