trafficking5

Crimes against children
More steps have to be taken to curb human trafficking and protect the rights of
these victims, reports PATSY KAM.
MOST of the time, the sale of a baby is a private affair, a contract between the
would-be parents and the pregnant woman, who for personal reasons chooses to
give up her child. “The first reported case was in 1992, and since then, the
numbers have remained low (fewer than 10 per year). In recent years, however,
there has been a new ‘trend’. “In Sarawak, the police uncovered a syndicate
whereby the women were smuggled in from Indonesia and hidden away in the
jungle or kongsi. These girls were forced into prostitution primarily to give birth
to babies that were meant for the local market and sold for RM20,000 to RM30,000
per baby,” explained Federal deputy CID director Datuk Mohd Nawawi Ismail. The
sale of babies is not a rampant problem in Malaysia. However, when these babies
are recovered, a whole new set of problems arises such as the race of the
babies, their nationality and health conditio
A forum in Kuala Lumpur recently highlighted that one of the most heinous crimes
being committed currently is human trafficking, an offence that particularly affects
women and children.

“There is no special unit within the Royal Malaysian Police to handle such cases.
What we need is more awareness programmes and the welfare department to
help in putting up these babies for adoption. “We also need tighter control of the
registration of babies and of the borders (between the countries),” he said. And
what of human trafficking? That’s not to say that we don’t recognise the act as a
criminal offence. But the fact is, commercial or sexual exploitation is not
recognised in Malaysia. “There is also no distinction between illegal immigrants
and victims of human trafficking,” said Nor Amini Yusoff, Director, Child Division
Social Welfare Department. “The Malaysian strategy is to develop an environment
that protects all children from violation of their rights,” she added. According to
Professor Vitit Mubtabhorn, professor of law, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok,
human trafficking is defined as the transfer of a person into exploitation such as
prostitution, forced labour, or reason of adoption. “One of the most heinous
crimes being committed currently is human trafficking, an offence that particularly
affects women and children,” he said. However, he emphasised that there was a
distinct difference between smuggling and trafficking. “While human trafficking
is tested by the fact that a person ends up in a situation of exploitation, human
smuggling, which involves more women than men, is a situation where an
intermediary helps a person to cross the border illegally into another country.
“Trafficking is not linked to poverty and there are many rich communities where it
is a major problem. It is also not just a problem of developing countries but also
of developed countries. “Laws and policies on the issue of human trafficking
shouldn’t treat victims as criminals but as persons who need protection. Humane
action is essential, especially for those with medical problems such as HIV/AIDS,”
said Professor Mubtabhorn, who spoke on Trafficking of Children in Asia. The
forum was organised by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) and
the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). He suggested a few solutions which
could be effective in tackling the problem such as coming up with policies and
programmes which promotes awareness and are victim and gender sensitive,
coupled with quality enforcement and dealing with the problem at source and
addressing the criminality and poverty issue. He also stressed the importance of
the protection of the rights of the victims and penalisation of the traffickers. But
it doesn’t stop there as national commitment has to be reviewed