KUALA LUMPUR: The Home Ministry will continue to improve on its efforts against human trafficking and forced labour although Malaysia had reached Tier 2 in the US State Department’s Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Report, says minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

He said that efforts by the ministry and relevant agencies are far from over.

“We welcome the upgrade to Tier 2 but our work is not done. We are committed towards improving further and upgrading the country to Tier 1,” he told reporters after attending the closing of the Retired Senior Police Officers Association of Malaysia annual general meeting here yesterday.

Malaysia was upgraded to Tier 2 in the 2024 TIP Report issued by the State Department on Monday.

This moves Malaysia up one spot after being on the Tier 2 Watch List category last year.

“The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period; therefore, Malaysia was upgraded to Tier 2,” the report said.

Malaysia was placed in Tier 3 in 2021 and 2022.

Saifuddin Nasution said Malaysia’s efforts would focus on improving capacity building and forging more inter-agency cooperation.

He said the upgrade to Tier 2 was a testament to the efforts of the ministry and various agencies.

“When we came under the Tier 2 Watch List last year, we scrutinised 19 aspects that we had to improve upon.

“We worked on this for about a year and the result is the nation’s upgraded TIP status,” he said.

Saifuddin Nasution said he had relayed Malaysia’s commitment to get to Tier 1 to the US Ambassador to Malaysia and State Department representatives at a meeting recently.

“I told them about efforts that are underway to improve the country’s TIP rating,” he said.

In a statement, the Home Ministry attributed the country’s success to factors such as an increase in the number of investigations, indictments with significant sentences, awareness programmes, prosecutions against civil servants, more forced labour prosecutions and the channelling of funds to shelter houses.

“The latest US State Department report also outlined 16 aspects that can be improved upon and an action plan that the country could implement for the next assessment period, which is from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025,” the ministry said.

According to the US State Department website, the TIP Report is the United States’ diplomatic tool to engage foreign governments on human trafficking.

Tier 1 refers to countries that fully comply with the minimum standards of the Trafficking in Persons Act for the elimination of trafficking.

Tier 2 are countries that do not fully comply with these minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance.

Tier 2 Watch List are nations that require “special scrutiny because of a significantly increasing number of victims; (and) failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons.”

Countries in Tier 3 are those that “neither satisfy the minimum standards nor demonstrate a significant effort to come into compliance.”

Countries in this tier may face non-humanitarian and non-trade sanctions.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/06/26/saifuddin-our-work-is-not-done