PETALING JAYA, April 17 — The US ambassador here today acknowledged Putrajaya’s effort in tackling the human trafficking problem that led to Malaysia being placed on his country’s watch list on people-smuggling.
He cited Putrajaya’s introduction of the Anti-Human Trafficking Bill as a clear example that the Malaysian government was working hard in combating the problem.
“This is an issue I believe the Malaysian government takes very seriously and you would have seen the Bill that was introduced in the last (Parliamentary) session and I hope it would be in effect soon,” Yun told reporters after attending a dialogue session with local and international students here.
The US ambassador also noted positively that he and Putrajaya met frequently to discuss the issue.
“This is something that we have been having a discussion about for the past 12 months,” he said.
Among areas where Putrajaya could still improve upon include prosecuting people-smuggling syndicates, and ensuring sufficient care and protection for witnesses, he added.
Last year, Malaysia was relegated to Tier 3 in the US State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, the lowest ranking, joining Thailand, The Gambia and Venezuela.
In the report, Tier 1 countries are those who meet anti-trafficking standards. Tier 2 do not but are making a significant effort to do so. Tier 3 countries do not meet the standards and not making significant effort to do so.
Tier 3 countries are open to sanction by the US government. A US law also includes a watch list, in which countries on Tier 2 for two years are downgraded to Tier 3 unless they receive presidential waivers, available for two additional years.
Shortly after the report was published, the Najib administration tabled the Anti-Human Trafficking Bill.
