HUMAN TRAFFICKING

During the past decade, trafficking has become an issue of growing concern in the
Southeast Asia. The numbers are staggering as a research conducted by UNESCO in 2000
conservatively estimated that at least 200-225,000 women and children from the Southeast
Asia are trafficked annually, a figure representing nearly one-third of the global trafficking
trade. There were approximately 45-50,000 women and children being trafficked into the US
each year, 30,000 are believed to come from Southeast Asia. Most of the victims are
deceived or being sold against their will, eventually forced to indulge in the cruel slavery
chains. Can you imagine one day when your loved ones suddenly disappeared, being brought
to an unknown place, tortured and threatened by the traffickers who exert their powers over
those who are vulnerable? Therefore, today my speech is called “Human are Not for Sale”,
and I will further share the reasons of human trafficking to happen and several practical ways
to avoid such crime.

The root causes of trafficking are various and often differ from one country to another.
Among all of the factors, corruption has been seen as the key reason for why trafficking
continues and traffickers remain free. Corruption both facilitates the trafficking and feeds the
flow of people migrating to the countries, demolishing democracies, weakening a country’s
law and stalling a nation’s development. For instance, corruption allows the trafficking process
to remain from prosecution and assists the movements of the victims in the country and
across borders. When trafficking is discovered, corruption results in law and judicial
processes being disregarded. Finally, corruption helps criminals indirectly as human
trafficking often intersects with the global and regional associated crime rings such as drug
and weapon smuggling.

Yet, for trafficking to happen, there needs to be a supply of victims. The social
aspects, which are known as the pull-and-push factors are the driving forces for the crime to
circulate globally. The pull factors are the employment prospects, attractive living conditions
and demands for the unskilled work, whereas the push factors include the war and unstable
political condition and the poverty problem that opened up the new trafficking markets. The
pull-push forces have been magnified following the globalization and eventually turn human
into commodities. As most victims are at a low educational level, they may be afraid of the
abusive traffickers, as the same time, are suspicious to the officials.

It is essential to place the human rights protections at the core of any measures to
prevent human trafficking from happening. Therefore, the anti-trafficking organisations in
Malaysia should support the three-tiered strategy established by the UN Trafficking Protocol
to combat human trafficking which are the prevention of human trafficking; the prosecution of
traffickers and the protection of victims. The fight against human trafficking must be clearly
defined as a law enforcement priority. Adequate personal and financial resources must be
allocated for this purpose. Perhaps the division could promote the use of joint investigation
teams with a view to improving police cooperation in dealing with all forms of trafficking in
human beings. Apart from these criminal investigations, financial investigations must be
carried out to allow the seizing of all assets derived from this criminal activity and that the
perpetrators are deprived from them. The National Council for Anti-Trafficking in Malaysia
must involve all actors of human trafficking such government agencies, law enforcement,
NGOs, local social welfare organisations, local authorities, labour unions, labour inspections
and other labour related agencies.

As a citizen, we must not be ignorant towards this issue as it needs more than
criminalisation to combat human trafficking. Public education such as adding this issue in the
education system, organizing forum, talks and debate competition could raise the awareness
of the public on the enforcement and implementation of the laws. If you suspect someone you
know who is trafficked in Malaysia, please call 03-7960-3030 or visit the website of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more information.

Many experts argue that the law should not be black-and-white as the crime involves
many poor immigrants. It is important to let the victims know that the people who did this to
them will get the justice they deserved. Perhaps, when all concerned human trafficking actors
and a more aware civil society is able to work together in implementing our laws, we may be
able to put an end to this serious violation of human rights sooner rather than later.