KUALA LUMPUR (July 5): The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) has urged the Malaysian government to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) following Malaysia's downgrade to tier three in the US' 2021 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, which claimed that Malaysia did not adequately address allegations of human trafficking against the country.

In a statement today, SUHAKAM said it is very concerned about the TIP report which alleged that Malaysia failed to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking and that the country has not been making significant efforts to ensure compliance with such standards.

"The TIP Report highlighted that the government continues to conflate human trafficking and migrant smuggling crimes and did not adequately address the allegations of human trafficking. 

"In view of the gravity of the tier three status, SUHAKAM urges the government to establish an RCI pursuant to the TIP Report and focus its attention on implementation of the recommendations.

"For long-term measures to be successful, the government is encouraged to have discussions with the relevant stakeholders including NGOs (non-governmental organisations),” SUHAKAM said.

On Friday (July 2), news reports, quoting the US State Department, claimed that Malaysia's predominant human trafficking crime is forced labour and that the US had downgraded Malaysia to the worst tier in its annual report on human trafficking.

It was reported that in a teleconference with reporters, acting director of the State Department's trafficking office Kari Johnstone said the overwhelming majority of trafficking victims in Malaysia are migrant workers, of which there are an estimated two million who are documented and a greater number who are undocumented.

"The sectors primarily where we see the greatest forced labour — which is the predominant form of the crime within Malaysia — include oil palm and agriculture plantations, in construction sites, in the electronics, garment and rubber product industries,” Johnstone was quoted by Reuters as claiming.

It was reported that Malaysia’s downgrade to tier three in the TIP Report followed complaints by rights groups and US authorities over alleged exploitation of migrant workers in plantations and factories.

Today SUHAKAM, in its statement, urged the Malaysian government to increase law enforcement to investigate and prosecute human trafficking cases by improving inter-agency coordination to ensure successful efforts to prosecute the offenders. 

"The relevant government agencies need to increase their level of seriousness to manage forced labour issues especially those alleged in the plantation and rubber manufacturing sectors. 

"Corrupt officials involved in this dark economy must be made criminally accountable as they are conduits that have permitted this corruption-fuelled system to thrive,” SUHAKAM said.