|
|
MALAYSIA: Gov’t Urged to Stem the Tide of Child Trafficking
By Baradan Kuppusamy
KUALA LUMPUR, Sep 27, 2009 (IPS) - "My family was starving. . . . I was sold to people who brought me here to work
and feed my family back home," said Ah Mun, a victim of child trafficking.
The 13-year-old girl from Kachin state, in northern Burma, thinks herself
fortunate compared to other trafficked children who have been forced into
the flesh trade.
Ah Mun cleans and packs fish and shrimp at a fish market in the capital. "I
am lucky," she said in halting Malay. "I heard that others from my country
have been forced to work to satisfy men."
She has no travel documents, and is neither listed in her employer’s
employment book nor is she recognised as a citizen by the Burmese embassy.
International trafficking syndicates bought her and shipped her overland from
Burma through Thailand into Malaysia, where she was sold to traders in 2007.
Traffickers had promised her parents she would remit at least $900 U.S.
dollars a month, a princely sum in Burma (official called Myanmar), by selling
perfume in a famous Japanese-owned shopping complex in the city.
"They showed them brochures and gave some money, and my parents
agreed," Ah Mun said with a resigned smile on her face. "I wish I could see
them again."
She gets 20 Malaysian ringgit (6 U.S. dollars) a day for a 15-hour job as a
cleaner, hardly enough to remit money home. "At least here, I have food, a
job and some money. Back home there is nothing, and one meal a day is
hard," she said.
Her fate is shared by increasing numbers of other Asian children, numbering
thousands, who are smuggled into Malaysia and other Asian capitals and
forced to work mostly as cheap labour or in the sex trade.
In the international human trafficking trade, Malaysia is emerging as a key
transit centre – a trend that has raised alarm bells among rights activists,
lawyers and United Nations agencies like the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Trafficking is "considered to be one of the most profitable businesses in the
world today," said UNICEF. It "has become so lucrative that it is able to amass
profits in the billions of dollars, similar to the trade in illegal drugs and
arms."
A UNICEF report, ‘Child Trafficking in East and South-East Asia: Reversing the
Trend’, released early this month, has concluded that trafficking in the region
is rampant.
"Reported forms of child trafficking involve labour exploitation, sexual
exploitation, forced marriage, criminal activities, armed conflict, adoption and
begging," said the report.
But what is most often reported is sexual exploitation, especially commercial
sexual exploitation. "It may or may not constitute the majority of child
trafficking cases in the region, but it is the one that gains the most
attention," added the report, which was based on country-level assessments
in seven countries, namely, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines,
Thailand and Viet Nam in early 2008.
Migration experts who monitor the situation say trafficking syndicates prefer
Malaysia as an ideal jump-off point because of its long, unguarded and
porous border, corrupt officials ever willing to "close an eye" and the
presence of nearly four million documented and undocumented migrant
workers who act as cover for child traffickers.
They also said Malaysia is a major transit point because of its first-class
world air transport and information and communication technologies coupled
with a cavalier attitude toward human rights issues and official corruption.
Child rights advocates and other concerned sectors have urged Malaysian
officials to wake up and act to stem the heinous trade.
"We are alarmed at the situation," said Dr Irene Fernandez, an expert on
migrant labour and head of the rights group Tenaganita (Women’s Force), in
an interview with IPS.
"Officials, including political leaders, remain blind to the emerging threat and
the potential impact on Malaysia’s image." They are also insensitive to child
trafficking as a heinous crime, Fernandez said.
According to Tenaganita the demand for children and women – as cheap
labour and for the sex trade — has been consistently rising over the years
and made worse by the global economic slowdown beginning in late 2007.
"Among the victims are children as young as nine years and elderly women,"
said Fernandez.
The NGO head expressed fears that the powerful trafficking syndicates were
also grooming young children to become prostitutes and actors in child
pornography. "Increasingly we fear they are trafficked for child labour or
illegal organ harvesting," she said.
Experts estimate that some 1.2 million children, in both industrialised and
developing countries, are trafficked annually. These children are subjected to
prostitution, forced into marriage or illegally adopted and often used as cheap
or unpaid labour in houses and even forced to work as beggars on the
streets.
"Child trafficking in Malaysia is a serious threat, but there is no proper
collaboration amongst government agencies to combat it,’ said Dr Hartini
Zainuddin, an adviser to Rumah Nur Salam, a shelter for underprivileged
children.
Speaking at a media forum on child trafficking, Hartini said officers in the
immigration, marine, customs and police departments were not trained to
deal with young victims. "Some were treated as routine illegal immigrants and
deported," she added. "This situation must change... awareness must be
raised significantly."
Although Malaysia has been a signatory to the Convention of the Rights of
the Child since 1995, there have been many gaps in the treaty’s
implementation, she said. Lack of proper counseling for traumatised victims
is one of them, she added.
According to UNICEF Malaysia is also one of five countries in the region that
have enacted legislation specific to trafficking. The others are Indonesia, Lao
PDR, the Philippines and Thailand.
The UNICEF study calls for new approaches to combat child trafficking and
other related forms of abuse and exploitation. Among the solutions the
report cites is the creation of national child protection systems similar to
national health care systems to protect children from exploitation.
UNICEF Malaysia representative Youssouf Oomar said the authorities in the
region are short of well-trained personnel – a setback, he said, in the fight
against child trafficking.
Malaysian Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan said the issues must be
addressed at a regional level to effectively stem the trade. The root causes
that fuel child trafficking — which he identifies as poverty, broken family and
lack of opportunities — have to be tackled at every level.
"These push factors, (compounded by) a growing demand for sex with
children, are a driving force behind the trafficking of minors," he told IPS.
Human trafficking is big business, with "revenues" reaching into the billions
each year, other experts said. Numerous people profit from the business and
at all levels, including document forgers, corrupt officials, transport workers,
pimps and even hotels and restaurants that are accomplices to the crime.
Malaysia’s police say they are aware of the situation and bracing for a "long
and hard" battle against child traffickers. Deputy chief of the National Police,
Ismail Omar, told local newspapers last week that the police needed to
understand the issue and would win the battle, but progress would be "slow
but significant."
"It is impossible for any one country to become an overnight success in
combating child trafficking. I can say our force has the will power and
determination to defeat the trafficking syndicates," he said.
But critics say such a determination still remains on paper and that significant
progress would only be achieved if this were translated into immediate and
urgent action.
(END)
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
What is RSS?
