Gaps remain in effective enforcement of anti-trafficking law - Tenaganita

KUALA LUMPUR: An organisation dedicated to combating human trafficking has called for Malaysia to intensify efforts in prosecuting people under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act (ATIPSOM) 2007.

Glorene Das, Executive Director of Tenaganita, acknowledged the adequacy of the Act but highlighted persisting issues in terms of interpretation, implementation, and enforcement.

“A lot of the big fish walk away with impunity,” she said. “We need to think about what more is needed in building the evidence against them through testimonies and documentation from survivors.”

She added that there have been instances where insufficient evidence led to inability to convict perpetrators before the expiration of a victim’s 21-day interim protection order (IPO), resulting in the closure of the case without further action.

Glorene was speaking at the launch of Tenaganita’s latest book “The Trapped Trades: Unseen, Unheard and Unspoken”, which highlights the different forms of human trafficking including sex trafficking, scamming, baby selling, organ harvesting and child marriage.

The book is the fourth series of its “Stop Trafficking in Persons” publication featuring the stories of individuals who have fallen victim to exploitation, based on interviews with case workers and counter-trafficking activists.

“Human trafficking, like the layers of an onion, conceals horrors beneath a seemingly harmless surface, encompassing forced migration, displacement, marginalisation, inequality and sexual gender-based violence,” said Glorene.

She noted that baby selling formed a large part of human trafficking within the country.

This included cases of sex trafficking victims falling pregnant where their newborns are then sold off.

“We have had survivors from the age of one day to four years old who are unaccompanied in our shelter, “she said. “All the cases of baby selling were Malaysians, not foreigners.”