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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia joined the global community in pledging its commitment to end forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly in New York. Malaysia accords this with the highest priority in accordance with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said yesterday during the High-Level Leaders Event chaired by United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May. Themed “A Call to Action to End Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking”, Anifah said the country has sufficient laws to deal with the matter such as the Penal Code and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007. He also revealed prosecutions and convictions have increased substantially since 2015 adding that victims have also been given the freedom to…

Washington:  Nineteen US senators, including Democrats and Republicans, sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday expressing 'grave concern' that Malaysia may be upgraded in this year's US list of human trafficking offenders. 'A premature upgrade of Malaysia would undermine the integrity of the TIP (Trafficking in Persons) report process and compromise our international efforts to fight human trafficking,' they said in the letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. The letter said this year's report is already more than five weeks overdue, which could make it the latest ever released. Reuters reported last week that the U.S. State Department plans to reverse last year's downgrade of Malaysia in its annual TIP report, which could smooth the way for a major U.S.-led free-trade deal with…

Kuala Lumpur:  Mass graves and suspected human-trafficking detention camps have been discovered by Malaysian police in towns and villages bordering Thailand, the country's home minister said on Sunday. Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said officials are determining whether the graves were of human-trafficking victims, but did not say how many dead bodies were discovered. "This is still under investigation," he told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Kuala Lumpur. According to media reports, the mass graves were believed to contain the bodies of hundreds of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh. Police discovered 30 large graves containing the remains of hundreds of people in two places in the northern state of Perlis, which borders Thailand, the Utusan Malaysia newspaper reported. The Star newspaper reported on its website that nearly…

PETALING JAYA: They are sold a dream – of a ticket to study and work in a foreign country, but after spending their family’s entire savings, they are caught in the harsh reality of being trafficked and trapped in a constant cycle of exploitation and extortion. Thousands of young Bangladeshis have been trafficked to Malaysia through obscure private colleges and their unscrupulous “agents”. Some pay over RM20,000, equivalent to three years’ wages in Bangladesh, for the agents to secure student visas and admission into these bogus colleges. But that’s just the beginning of the exploitation. Click on the video below to watch R.AGE's undercover investigation. When they arrive in Malaysia, the victims realise the colleges don’t offer any real classes, they can’t work under student visas, and there are often…