PUTRAJAYA (Aug 21): The government will take measures to combat forced labour, including increasing inspections of workplaces, providing more support to victims of forced labour and raising awareness of the issue among employers and workers.

Human Resources Ministry in a statement on Monday (Aug 21) said the government is also embarking on some key measures such as ratifying the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention and adopting the National Action Plan on Forced Labour (2021-2025), given that forced labour is a serious human right issue surrounding employee relation.

“Malaysia will continue to work closely with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and other partners to further strengthen our efforts to combat forced labour in Malaysia.

“We are confident that we can make progress on this issue, and we are committed to ensuring that all workers in Malaysia are treated fairly and with respect,” it said.

The ministry said the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the recruitment and employment of domestic workers that the government signed with many sending countries specifically incorporated protection provisions relating to addressing the domestic sector setbacks and the concerns raised by the workers and their governments in Malaysia.

Responding to a recently released ILO report on forced labour in Malaysia entitled "Skilled to care, forced to work? Recognising the skills profiles of migrant workers in Asean amid forced labour exploitation", the ministry said the government is deeply concerned by the findings of the report.

It is learned that the findings of the report based on interviews with 1,201 domestic workers between July and September 2022 in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand indicated that 29% of surveyed migrant domestic workers in the country were in conditions meeting the ILO’s statistical definition of forced labour, as 7% of surveyed workers in Singapore and Thailand 4%.