Human trafficking: M’sia confident of attaining Tier One — Ahmad Zahid

MALAYSIA is positive of attaining the Tier One by complying fully with the minimum standards to curb human trafficking crimes, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

According to the United States annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report released by the United States State Department on June 27, Malaysia has upgraded to Tier Two as a country that did not fully meet the minimum standards of the United States Human Trafficking Victims Protection Act 2000 but made vital efforts to bring itself to compliance with the standards.

He said the Tier One target for 2020 could be achieved if Malaysia received the cooperation of source countries that posed problems to Malaysia.

“This is because the one that bears the burden of this issue is our country,” Ahmad Zahid, who is Home Minister, said at the Dewan Rakyat sitting yesterday.

Hewasreplyingtoaquestionfrom Datuk Raime Unggi ( Tenom-BN) relating to factors that contributed to the improvement in Malaysia’s position on the United States State Department report on the US TIP Report as well as Malaysia’s action in maintaining the momentum of this achievement.

The US TIP Report 2017 involves assessing 187 countries on efforts to fight against human trafficking crimes. Ahmad Zahid said, among factors, Malaysia was now at Tier Two was the implementation of investigations and conviction of human trafficking cases and participation at high level committee meetings. — Bernama