Consider This: Anti-Trafficking in Persons (Part 1) - Gaps in Legal Framework

The World Day Against Trafficking in Persons is observed annually on July 30th, to highlight the need to protect victims and survivors of trafficking, smuggling, and forced labour. A shadow cast on this day for Malaysia is that we remain on Tier 3 of the US State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report for the second consecutive year. Tier 3 is the lowest grade, reserved for “countries whose governments do not fully meet the minimum anti-trafficking standards, and who are not making significant efforts to do so.” In looking at it from a prosecution, protection, and prevention perspective, would that be an accurate description of Putrajaya’s efforts to address human trafficking and migrant smuggling crimes? Melisa Idris speaks to lawyer Edmund Bon, who was the Representative of Malaysia to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human RIghts from 2016 to 2018.