DPM: Four years to get to Tier 1
U.S. WATCH LIST: Malaysia to prove it is doing all to curb human trafficking
MALAYSIA is giving it four years to place itself on Tier1 of the United States’ Trafficking in Persons Watch List.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said to realise this, Malaysia needed to do more to prove to the global community that it was doing all it could in tackling the issue of modern slavery, where the source of most of the problem, he said, could be traced to its neighbours.
Malaysia is on Tier-2 of the list after being moved up from Tier-3 last year.
Zahid said Kuala Lumpur would continue its war against human traffickers, including those who operate from some countries in Asia, which were ironically on Tier-1 of the list.
An improved ranking in the watch list will determine Malaysia’s chances of getting Washington’s nod for the Visa-Waiver Programme, for which Kuala Lumpur had applied.
“The issue we are facing is that our prosecutors find it hard to secure witnesses to appear in court and this has something to do with the global networking of traffickers,” he told a media conference at the start of his five-day working trip in the United Kingdom.
Zahid, who is also home minister, said Washington felt that the conviction rate of those behind human trafficking could be higher.
Kuala Lumpur, he said, had been pushing to plug holes in the human trade and secure a higher conviction rate against those behind it.
Malaysia, he said, had obtained Thailand’s agreement to extradite 10 suspected traffickers to be tried in the country for their roles in the Wang Kelian human smuggling tragedy last year, where authorities found no less than 200 bodies buried in mass graves, surrounded by abandoned camps.
A Bangladeshi became the first person convicted in connection with the case in June and will be serving 10 years in jail.
The foreigner’s conviction is among the estimated 30 scored this year for human trafficking .
Zahid said going by the 50 arrests related to the scourge, he was optimistic that the conviction rate would be higher next year.
Discussions, he said, had been carried out with the Attorney-General’s Chambers to address issues that could otherwise compromise water-tight cases against those levelled with human-trafficking charges.
“Even though we arrested about 100 (suspected human traffickers) more than the previous years, the number of charges and conviction do not commensurate with those nabbed,” he said.
The issue of human trafficking and smuggling will also be high on the agenda of Zahid’s meeting with his ministerial counterpart, Amber Rudd, tomorrow.
Zahid said Malaysia recognised the UK’s concern over the issue of modern slavery and would support initiatives aimed at tackling the scourge, including the convening of an international conference on Deputy Prime Minister sharing a light moment with (right), from Digital Barriers, and Masterplan Consulting chief executive officer
Halim in London yesterday. Bernama pic
modern slavery.
He said Kuala Lumpur was working with Interpol and Aseanpol to tackle human smuggling.
The country, Zahid said, was also working with the International Organisation for Migrants, as well as governments of victims of human traffickers to rein in the problem of cross-border human trade.
The programmes and discussions with them would include the perennial issue of some countries refusing to acknowledge the citizenship of their people, especially those picked up in anti-human trafficking raids.
Zahid yesterday also had a meeting with a delegation from Digital Barriers, which deals with solutions for global surveillance, security and safety. Present was Malaysian High Commissioner to the UK Datuk Ah- mad Rasidi Hazizi.