Foreign Minister welcomes Malaysia's upgrade to Tier 2 in United States TIP Report

I welcome the recent upgrade of Malaysia to Tier 2 in the 2024 United States Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. This is an acknowledgement of the substantial progress made by the Malaysian Government in combatting trafficking in persons including the increased number of investigations, intensified efforts in prosecution and convictions of traffickers with significant sentences, increased number of trafficking-specialist prosecutors, increased funding for victim shelters, as well as improvement in public awareness programmes. Malaysia will continue to undertake serious actions to combat this heinous crime and address the challenges arising from TIP issues, as well as vigorously implement the National Action Plan on Anti-Trafficking in Persons (2021-2025) (NAPTIP 3.0). We call upon our international partners to work together in tackling common challenges in this issue.

We also call upon countries of origin to shoulder greater responsibilities in preventing their citizens from becoming potential trafficking victims as well as prosecuting and penalising the perpetrators in the country of origin.