Trafficking in persons Malaysia, in 18 editions.

current situation: Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for men and women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor; exploitation; foreign victims, mostly women and girls from Burma, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, are trafficked to Malaysia for commercial sexual exploitation; economic migrants from countries in the region who work as domestic servants or laborers in the construction and agricultural sectors face exploitative conditions in Malaysia that meet the definition of involuntary servitude; some Malaysian women, primarily of Chinese ethnicity, are trafficked abroad for sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List 3 - Malaysia is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence lack of increasing efforts satisfactory progress in combating trafficking in 2006; the government failed to combat trafficking, particularly its failure prosecute traffickers arrested and detained under existing law and failed to provide protection for adequate shelters and services to victims of trafficking

current situation: Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for the purposes purpose of commercial sexual exploitation; foreign victims, mostly women exploitation, and girls from Burma, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, men, women, and Vietnam, are trafficked to children for forced labor; Malaysia is mainly a destination country for commercial sexual exploitation; economic migrants from countries in the region men, women, and children who work as domestic servants or laborers in the construction migrate willingly from South and agricultural sectors face exploitative Southeast Asia to work, some of whom are subjected to conditions in Malaysia that meet the definition of involuntary servitude; servitude by Malaysian employers in the domestic, agricultural, construction, plantation, and industrial sectors; to a lesser extent, some Malaysian women, primarily of Chinese ethnicity, are trafficked abroad for commercial sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 3 2 Watch List - lack of satisfactory progress Malaysia improved from Tier 3 to the Tier 2 Watch List for 2008 when it enacted comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation in combating trafficking July 2007; however, it did not take action against exploitative employers or labor traffickers in 2006; 2007; the government failed to prosecute traffickers arrested and detained under existing law and failed to provide adequate shelters and services to victims of trafficking has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008)

current situation:
Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, and men, women, and children for forced labor; Malaysia is mainly a destination country for men, women, and children who migrate willingly from South and Southeast Asia to work, some of whom are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude by Malaysian employers in the domestic, agricultural, construction, plantation, and industrial sectors; to a lesser extent, some Malaysian women, primarily of Chinese ethnicity, are trafficked abroad for commercial sexual exploitation
tier rating:
Tier 2 Watch List - Malaysia improved from Tier 3 to the Tier 2 Watch List for 2008 when it enacted comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation in July 2007; however, it did not take action against exploitative employers or labor traffickers in 2007; the government has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008)

current situation:
Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, and men, women, and children for forced labor; Malaysia is mainly a destination country for men, women, and children who migrate willingly from South and Southeast Asia to work, some of whom are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude by Malaysian employers in the domestic, agricultural, construction, plantation, and industrial sectors; to a lesser extent, some Malaysian women, primarily of Chinese ethnicity, are trafficked abroad for commercial sexual exploitation
tier rating:
Tier 2 Watch List - the Government of Malaysia improved from Tier 3 to does not fully comply with the Tier 2 Watch List minimum standards for 2008 when it enacted the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, despite some progress in enforcing the 2007 comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation in July 2007; however, law; it did not take action against exploitative employers or has yet to fully address labor traffickers trafficking in 2007; Malaysia; there are credible allegations of involvement of Malaysian immigration officials in trafficking and extorting Burmese refugees; the government has did not ratified develop mechanisms to effectively screen victims of trafficking in vulnerable groups and condones the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008) confiscation of passports of migrant workers by employers (2009)

current situation:
Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, and men, women, and children for forced labor; Malaysia is mainly a destination country for men, women, and children who migrate willingly from South countries including Indonesia, Nepal, India, Thailand, China, the Philippines, Burma, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Southeast Asia Vietnam to work, some of whom are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude by Malaysian employers in the domestic, agricultural, construction, plantation, and industrial sectors; to a lesser extent, some Malaysian women, primarily small number of Chinese ethnicity, are Malaysian citizens were reportedly trafficked internally and abroad to Singapore, China, and Japan for commercial sexual exploitation
tier rating:
Tier 2 Watch List - the Government of Malaysia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and trafficking; however, it is not making significant efforts to do so, despite some progress in enforcing so; while the 2007 comprehensive anti-trafficking law; it has yet to fully address labor trafficking in Malaysia; there are credible allegations of involvement government increased the number of Malaysian immigration officials convictions obtained under the Anti-Trafficking in trafficking Persons and extorting Burmese refugees; Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act during the government year and continued public awareness efforts on trafficking, it did not develop mechanisms to effectively screen victims of investigate and prosecute labor trafficking in vulnerable groups cases, and condones the confiscation failed to address problems of passports government complicity in trafficking and lack of migrant workers effective victim care and counseling by employers (2009) authorities (2011)

current situation:
Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, and men, women, and children for forced labor; Malaysia is mainly a destination country for men, women, and children who migrate willingly from countries including Indonesia, Nepal, India, Thailand, China, the Philippines, Burma, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Vietnam to work, some of whom are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude by Malaysian employers in the domestic, agricultural, construction, plantation, and industrial sectors; a small number of Malaysian citizens were reportedly trafficked internally and abroad to Singapore, China, and Japan for commercial sexual exploitation
tier rating:
Tier 2 Watch List - the Government of Malaysia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so; while the government increased the number of convictions obtained under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act during the year and continued public awareness efforts on trafficking, it did not effectively investigate and prosecute labor trafficking cases, and failed to address problems of government complicity in trafficking and lack of effective victim care and counseling by authorities (2011) (2009)

current situation:
Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for the purpose subjected to conditions of commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor and men, women, women and children for forced labor; subjected to sex trafficking; Malaysia is mainly a destination country for men, women, and children foreign workers who migrate willingly from countries including Indonesia, Nepal, India, Thailand, China, the Philippines, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Vietnam to work, some of whom are subjected to conditions but subsequently encounter forced labor or debt bondage at the hands of involuntary servitude by Malaysian their employers in the domestic, agricultural, construction, plantation, and industrial sectors; a small number of Malaysian citizens were reportedly trafficked internally and abroad to Singapore, China, and Japan for commercial sexual exploitation exploitation; refugees are also vulnerable to trafficking; some officials are reportedly complicit in facilitating trafficking
tier rating:
Tier 2 Watch List - the Government of Malaysia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so; while the government increased the number of convictions obtained under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons has made no tangible improvements to its inadequate system for identifying and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act during protecting trafficking victims, such as amending its laws to allow victims to reside in NGO shelters; trafficking victims identified by Malaysian authorities are forcibly detained in government facilities, where they are provided with limited, if any, access to legal or psychological assistance by the year and continued public awareness government or NGOs; increasing efforts on trafficking, it did not effectively are being made to investigate and prosecute labor trafficking cases, and failed to address problems of government complicity offenders, notably in the area of labor trafficking, though convictions of sex trafficking and offenders has decreased; many front-line officials continue to lack the ability to recognize indicators of effective victim care human trafficking, hindering the investigation of cases and counseling the identification of victims; although the confiscation of passports by authorities (2009) employers is illegal, the government has not prosecuted any employers who confiscated migrants' passports or travel documents or confined them to the workplace (2013)

current situation:
Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for women men, women, and children subjected to conditions of forced labor and women and children subjected to sex trafficking; Malaysia is mainly a destination country for foreign workers who migrate willingly from countries including Indonesia, Nepal, India, Thailand, China, the Philippines, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Vietnam but subsequently encounter forced labor or debt bondage at the hands of their employers in the domestic, agricultural, construction, plantation, and industrial sectors; a small number of Malaysian citizens were reportedly trafficked internally and abroad to Singapore, China, and Japan for commercial sexual exploitation; exploitation in 2013; refugees are also vulnerable to trafficking; some officials are reportedly complicit in facilitating trafficking
tier rating:
Tier 2 Watch List 3 - Malaysia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government has made no tangible improvements to its inadequate system for identifying and protecting trafficking victims, such as amending its laws to allow victims to reside in NGO shelters; 2013, authorities continued to detain trafficking victims identified by Malaysian authorities are forcibly detained in government facilities, where they are provided with limited, if any, access to legal or psychological assistance by facilities as part of a court-ordered protection measure, the government or NGOs; increasing efforts are being made to investigate and prosecute identified significantly fewer trafficking offenders, notably in the area of labor trafficking, though victims and reported fewer investigations and convictions of sex trafficking offenders has decreased; compared to the previous year; many front-line officials continue continued to lack the ability to recognize indicators of human trafficking, hindering the investigation of cases trafficking and the identification of victims; although instead treated these cases as immigration violations; NGOs provided the confiscation majority of passports by employers is illegal, victim rehabilitation and counseling services with no financial support from the government has not prosecuted any employers who confiscated migrants' passports or travel documents or confined them to the workplace (2013) (2014)

current situation: Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and women and children subjected to sex trafficking; Malaysia is mainly a destination country for foreign workers who migrate willingly from countries countries, including Indonesia, Nepal, India, Thailand, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Nepal, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, and Vietnam other Southeast Asian countries, but subsequently encounter forced labor or debt bondage in agriculture, construction, factories, and domestic service at the hands of their employers employers, employment agents, and labor recruiters; women from Southeast Asia and, to a much lesser extent, Africa, are recruited for legal work in the domestic, agricultural, construction, plantation, restaurants, hotels, and industrial sectors; salons but are forced into prostitution; refugees, including Rohingya adults and children, are not legally permitted to work and are vulnerable to trafficking; a small number of Malaysian citizens were reportedly Malaysians are trafficked internally and abroad for commercial sexual exploitation in 2013; refugees are also vulnerable subjected to trafficking; some officials are reportedly complicit in facilitating sex trafficking abroad
tier rating: Tier 3 2 Watch list - Malaysia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and trafficking; however, it is not making significant efforts to do so; in 2013, authorities continued 2014, amendments to detain trafficking strengthen existing anti-trafficking laws, including enabling victims in government facilities as part of a court-ordered protection measure, to move freely and to work and for NGOs to run protective facilities, were drafted by the government identified significantly fewer trafficking victims and reported fewer are pending approval from Parliament; authorities more than doubled investigations and convictions prosecutions but convicted only three traffickers for forced labor and none for sex trafficking, a decline from 2013 and a disproportionately small number compared to the previous year; many front-line officials continued to lack the ability to recognize indicators scale of human the country’s trafficking and instead treated these cases as immigration violations; problem; NGOs provided the majority of victim rehabilitation and counseling services with no financial support from the government (2014) (2015)

current situation: Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for men, women, women and children subjected to conditions of forced labor and women and children subjected to sex trafficking; Malaysia is mainly a destination country for foreign workers who migrate willingly from countries, countries including Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Thailand, China, the Philippines, Nepal, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and other Southeast Asian countries, Vietnam, but subsequently they encounter forced labor or debt bondage in agriculture, construction, factories, and domestic service at the hands of employers, employment agents, and labor recruiters; women from Southeast Asia and, to a much lesser extent, Africa, are recruited for legal work their employers in restaurants, hotels, the domestic, agricultural, construction, plantation, and salons but are forced into prostitution; refugees, including Rohingya adults industrial sectors; a small number of Malaysian citizens were reportedly trafficked internally and children, are not legally permitted to work Singapore, China, and Japan for commercial sexual exploitation; refugees are also vulnerable to trafficking; a small number of Malaysians some officials are trafficked internally reportedly complicit in facilitating trafficking; traffickers lure Rohingya women and subjected girls residing in refugee camps in Bangladesh to Malaysia, where they are coerced to engage in commercial sex trafficking abroad
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch list - List — Malaysia does not fully comply with meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; in 2014, amendments to strengthen existing anti-trafficking laws, including enabling victims to move freely and to work and for NGOs to run protective facilities, were drafted by the government and are pending approval from Parliament; authorities identified more victims, increased the number of trafficking-specialist prosecutors, drafted victim identification standard operating procedures, identified two volunteer victim assistance specialists that worked with more than doubled investigations 100 victims, and prosecutions but co-hosted the first national conference on anti-trafficking; however, authorities prosecuted and convicted only three fewer traffickers for forced labor and none for sex trafficking, a decline from 2013 and a disproportionately small number compared to investigated few trafficking cases; despite the scale issue of the country’s trafficking problem; NGOs provided corruption, insufficient efforts were made to prosecute officials’ complicity in trafficking-related crimes or to report the majority results of victim rehabilitation investigations into such crimes; insufficient interagency coordination and counseling victim services with no financial support discouraged foreign victims from participating in criminal proceedings; no resources were devoted to a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute significant efforts to meet the government (2015) minimum standards; Malaysia was granted a waiver per the Trafficking Victims Protection Act from an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3 (2020)

current situation: Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for women and children subjected to conditions of forced labor and women and children subjected to sex trafficking; Malaysia is mainly a destination country for foreign workers who migrate willingly from countries including Indonesia, Nepal, India, Thailand, China, the Philippines, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Vietnam, but subsequently they encounter forced labor or debt bondage at the hands of their employers in the domestic, agricultural, construction, plantation, and industrial sectors; a small number of Malaysian citizens were reportedly trafficked internally and to Singapore, China, and Japan for commercial sexual exploitation; refugees are also vulnerable to trafficking; some officials are reportedly complicit in facilitating trafficking; traffickers lure Rohingya women and girls residing in refugee camps in Bangladesh to Malaysia, where they are coerced to engage in commercial sex
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List — Malaysia does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; the government identified more victims, increased the number of trafficking-specialist prosecutors, drafted victim identification standard operating procedures, identified two volunteer victim assistance specialists that worked with more than 100 victims, and co-hosted the first national conference on anti-trafficking; however, authorities prosecuted and convicted fewer traffickers and investigated few trafficking cases; despite the issue of corruption, insufficient efforts were made to prosecute officials’ complicity in trafficking-related crimes or to report the results of investigations into such crimes; insufficient interagency coordination and victim services discouraged foreign victims from participating in criminal proceedings; no resources were devoted to a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute significant efforts to meet the minimum standards; Malaysia was granted a waiver per the Trafficking Victims Protection Act from an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3 (2020)
trafficking profile: Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for women and children subjected to conditions of forced labor and women and children subjected to sex trafficking; Malaysia is mainly a destination country for foreign workers who migrate willingly from countries including Indonesia, Nepal, India, Thailand, China, the Philippines, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Vietnam, but subsequently they encounter forced labor or debt bondage at the hands of their employers in the domestic, agricultural, construction, plantation, and industrial sectors; a small number of Malaysian citizens were reportedly trafficked internally and to Singapore, China, and Japan for commercial sexual exploitation; refugees are also vulnerable to trafficking; some officials are reportedly complicit in facilitating trafficking; traffickers lure Rohingya women and girls residing in refugee camps in Bangladesh to Malaysia, where they are coerced to engage in commercial sex