2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

M A L I
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establish a government-run shelter for foreign trafficking
victims that the Ministry for Women, Family
and Community Development announced publicly
in December 2004 and again in August 2006.
Without procedures for the identification of victims,
the government continued to treat some trafficking
victims as illegal immigrants, and arrest, incarcerate,
and deport them. As a regional economic leader
approaching developed nation status, Malaysia has
the resources and government infrastructure to do
far more in addressing the issue of trafficking in
persons. Malaysia’s House of Representatives passed
the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act on May 10,
2007, which, if enacted, gives Malaysia a significant
potential tool with which to effect anti-trafficking
reforms. The government needs to show a serious
increase in efforts to punish trafficking crimes and
to identify and protect trafficking victims over the
coming year.
A 2006 Memorandum of Understanding between
the Governments of Indonesia and Malaysia
regarding the employment of Indonesian women as
domestic servants in Malaysia authorizes Malaysian
employers to confiscate and hold the passport of
the domestic employee throughout the term of
employment; this practice has been recognized by
many in the international anti-trafficking community
as facilitating the involuntary servitude of
domestic workers.
Prosecution
The Malaysian government showed no improvement
in efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking
cases in 2006. Malaysian law does not prohibit all
forms of trafficking. Malaysia criminally prohibits
some forms of sex trafficking through its Penal Code,
Section 372 and the Constitution prohibits slavery
and forced labor. The government does not criminalize
debt-bondage nor current labor practices that
promote involuntary servitude conditions. Penalties
for sex trafficking are commensurate with those for
rape. In 2006, the government did not identify any
judicial cases against traffickers, but did prosecute
35 persons for procuring minors for the purpose of
prostitution. Malaysia, particularly in accordance
with the above-mentioned MOU with Indonesia
signed in 2006, does not prosecute employers who
confiscate passports of migrant workers and who
confine them to the workplace. Confiscation of
passports, though technically in violation of the
Passports Act, is the government’s prescribed method
of controlling contract laborers. There were no prosecutions
of employers who refuse to pay employees
and hold their wages in “escrow” until completion
of a contract. Immigration and local police authorities
overlook or actively ignore trafficking situations
involving prostitution. In 2006, there were no
government officials implicated, arrested, or tried for
involvement in trafficking of persons.
Protection
The Malaysian government provided minimal assistance
to victims of trafficking and does not provide
shelter or protective services to victims. The police
responded to requests by foreign embassies to rescue
their nationals who were trapped in prostitution. In
these cases, police turned over the victims to their
respective embassies. Malaysia encourages victims to
assist in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking,
though as noted above, there were no identified
prosecutions of traffickers last year. The government
does not make a systematic effort to identify trafficking
victims among vulnerable migrant groups,
such as girls and women detained for involvement
in prostitution or the thousands of undocumented
migrant workers rounded up by governmentcommissioned
volunteer security forces in mid-2006.
Despite Malaysia’s relative wealth, foreign donors
provide greater funding for the protection of girls
and women victimized in Malaysia than does the
Government of Malaysia. The government provides
no legal alternatives to the removal of victims to
countries where they face hardship or retribution.
Victims detained by immigration authorities,
including children, are routinely processed as illegal
migrants and held in prisons or illegal migrant
detention facilities prior to deportation. Victims
identified by the police are usually released into the
custody of a home country consular official and
sent to a shelter operated by an embassy, if such
exists. The Indonesian Government houses approximately
1,100 women and children at its embassy
and consular shelters in Malaysia each year, with no
assistance from the Malaysian government; the large
majority are believed to be victims of trafficking.
Prevention
The Malaysian government rarely sponsored
any anti-trafficking information or education
campaigns during 2006. The Ministry of Women,
Family, and Community Development sponsored
a conference for police, immigration, and community
development professions to build awareness
of trafficking and victim identification. The Royal
Malaysian Police co-sponsored a one-day workshop
with an NGO and the Malaysia Crime Prevention
Foundation to develop a national strategy on
combating trafficking. The government has not ratified
the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.
MALI (Tier 2)
Mali is a source, transit and destination country for
children and women trafficked for the purposes of
forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation.
Victims are trafficked from rural to urban areas
within Mali and between Mali and other West
African countries, most notably Burkina Faso, Cote
d’Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal, and Mauritania. Women
and girls are trafficked primarily for domestic