KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 — Malaysia needs to set up a royal commission of inquiry on human trafficking in response to the country being in the lowest ranking of Tier 3 in the annual US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report, DAP MP Kasthuri Patto said today.
“A Royal Commission must be set up as a body to scrutinise and monitor the Government’s efforts in fighting trafficking and should consist of men and women whose professional opinions be taken seriously by the Government and acted on instead of an internal movement to counter this age-old trade. Kasthuri, who is also a member of the parliamentary special select committee for international affairs, also highlighted the mass graves of human trafficking victims in Wang Kelian, Perlis.
Earlier in her statement, Kasthuri said she welcome stiffer penalties and the National Action Plan on Anti-Trafficking in Persons , but said prospects for Malaysia to improve and to be upgraded to the Tier 2 ranking will remain bleak if the matter is not addressed holistically.
“Perhaps it is time Hamzah took his head out of the sand and take a good hard look at data, statistics and the faces of victims of trafficking and the evil faces of the traffickers — even up to the involvement of officers in his own ministry,” she said. Apart from Malaysia, there are 21 others in Tier 3 in the 2022 report, namely Afghanistan, Belarus, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Curaçao, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Korea, Macau, Nicaragua, Russia, Sint Maarten, South Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, Venezuela and Vietnam.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.