Dhaka wanted to allow all 1,520 licensed recruiting agencies to send manpower to Malaysia, but Kuala Lumpur selected only 101 agents, which industry insiders say are involved in manipulation and exploitation of workers from Bangladesh.

Original Source: The Daily Star by Porimol Palma – 3rd June 2024

Say industry insiders; Dhaka tells UN experts it wanted more competition

In response to a letter by four UN experts on March 28, Bangladesh’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva said Bangladesh and Malaysia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on December 19, 2021, for labour recruitment.

In pursuance of the MoU, the Malaysian human resources ministry wrote to the Bangladesh’s expatriates’ welfare ministry on January 14, 2022, regarding selection of 25 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies.

In response, the expatriates’ welfare ministry on January 18, 2022, wrote to the Malaysian ministry requesting it to keep the opportunity open for all the licenced Bangladeshi recruiting agencies.

See also: Daily Sun 3rd June 2024: Recruiting agencies never made accountable

Malaysia has closed its market to Bangladeshi workers at least three times in the last 15 years.

This is a good summary of the third successful attempt of the criminal syndicate to extort and abuse, three times already. And the fourth time? see HERE.

“The hon’ble minister flagged that this open opportunity would ensure transparency and fairness compatible with the relevant International Labour Organization (ILO) standards as well as the Competition Commission Act, 2012, of Bangladesh,” said the letter from Bangladesh permanent mission.

In a joint working group meeting on March 20, 2023, Bangladesh stressed the same request. In reply, Malaysia increased the number of recruiting agencies from 25 to 101 as per their choice and mandate, including state-owned Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Ltd, it added.

The issue of recruiting foreign workers in Malaysia came to the fore again as there have been numerous reports of joblessness, indebtedness and other forms of exploitation in Malaysia, which halted the foreign workers recruitment on May 31.

Between August 2022 and May 2024, about five lakh Bangladeshi workers went to Malaysia. UN experts in their letter to Bangladesh and Malaysia said the Bangladeshi migrants had to pay $4,500 to $6,000 as recruitment fees.

SCMP 3rd June 2024: ‘Nothing left for me’ as thousands of Bangladeshi workers lose everything in failed bid to work in Malaysia

Daily Star Editorial 3rd June 2024: Must our migrants pay the price every time?

Prothomalo 3rd June 2024 – Bangladesh Labour market: Hapless workers lose all vying to go to Malaysia

They even wrote about the bribes in recruitment process involving the Malaysian government officials, agents, and even Bangladesh high commission in Malaysia.

They called for measures to protect the thousands of Bangladeshi workers who face destitution and risk detention. They also enquired about the measures both the countries were taking regarding bilateral cooperation, policies, and investigations to improve the migrants’ situation.

With none of the countries responding in 60 days, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights made public the letters on May 27. Later, Malaysia’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva replied on May 28 and the Bangladesh mission the next day.

Among other things, Bangladesh mentioned how Malaysia played the role in selecting the 101 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies.

Recruitment industry insiders alleged that those who could pay hefty sums to leaders of the syndicate of 101 agencies were selected for the recruitment job.

The Bangladesh mission said the recruitment process and procedures had been agreed upon centred on an online-based system — Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS), which is developed and operated by the Malaysian government.

“As a result, there should be no scope for sending any Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia using false employment visas,” the letter said.

According to Malaysian media, controversial IT company Bestinet is contracted by the Malaysian government to maintain the FWCMS.

Industry insiders said Bestinet President Aminul Islam Abdul Nor is a key figure behind the foreign workers’ recruitment syndicate and manipulation.

The letter of Bangladesh to the UN experts says in the initial stage of the labour recruitment in August 2022, Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia used to inspect the employer companies before attesting the job demand letters — an exercise meant to verify the genuineness of the jobs.

Later, the high commission suspended the process as the Malaysian foreign ministry officially requested the Bangladesh mission not to conduct such company inspection saying the matter fell under the jurisdiction of the competent Malaysian authorities, the letter mentions.

In joint working group meetings, Bangladesh raised the issue of non-placement of newly migrated Bangladeshi workers and requested the Malaysian authorities to take necessary remedial actions.

The letter added that Malaysia’s Department of Labour (DoL) has prohibited 48 employers from recruiting foreign workers, including from Bangladesh.

In the letter, Nadzirah Osman, Malaysian permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, said the DoL relocated 1,664 foreign workers in 2023 and 910 workers this year to new employers.

It said Malaysia restricted the entry of foreign workers in the formal sector since May 31 to close the loopholes of exploitation and allow the government to reassess the country’s foreign workers’ needs.

She reaffirmed Kuala Lumpur’s commitment to protect the rights of migrant workers in the country.

31st May 2024: Malaysian Govt reaffirms commitment to protect migrant workers’ rights to UN

Original Source: FMT by FMT Reporters – 31st May 2024

alaysia responds to a letter from the UN on allegations of fraudulent recruitment of Bangladeshi migrant workers by a criminal network.

PETALING JAYA: The government has reaffirmed its commitment to protect the rights of migrant workers in the country in response to a letter from the United Nations (UN) on March 28.

The response was sent on Tuesday to Beatriz Balbin, chief of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) special procedures branch, by Malaysia’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Nadzirah Osman.

“We assure you that Malaysia remains committed to protecting the rights and well-being of migrant workers,” Nadzirah said.Nadzirah Osman.

She added that the response included a supplementary document that outlined the measures taken by the government to combat exploitation and human trafficking.null

It was reported on Tuesday that the government had not yet responded to a letter from the UN regarding allegations of fraudulent recruitment of Bangladeshi migrant workers by a criminal network.

In the letter, four UN experts said they were concerned about the deceptive practice of fake companies recruiting workers from Bangladesh, purportedly for employment in Malaysia.

They highlighted issues such as debt bondage, ill-treatment, and exploitation of migrant workers, all of which aligned with forced labour indicators established by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

In her response, Nadzirah cited the landmark case of 733 Bangladeshi migrant workers who were awarded more than RM1 million in unpaid wages after being duped, as evidence of the government’s ongoing efforts to uphold migrant workers’ rights.

In the case cited, as of May 17, some 692 of the 733 affected workers had been placed with new employers through the Johor labour department.

Nadzirah also mentioned other measures taken by the government, including regular business inspections, blacklisting employers based on labour department recommendations, regulating recruitment agencies, and addressing complaints made at labour department offices or through the Working for Workers (WFW) mobile application.

She added that the labour department has also undertaken to rescue and relocate foreign workers who have been exploited by not being given proper jobs, salaries, or adequate accommodation by their employers.

“In 2023, the labour department relocated 1,664 foreign workers to new employers. As of April this year, 910 foreign workers have been relocated to new employers,” Nadzirah said.

She also stressed that the government is committed to addressing issues highlighted by the UN comprehensively.

28th May 2024: FMT – Malaysia yet to respond to UN concerns on alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi migrant victims for forced labour in the country (with my full statement included)

Original Source: FMT by Jason Thomas – 28th May 2024

Experts call on Malaysia to fulfil its international obligation to protect migrant victims from human rights abuses.

UPDATE: Malaysia finally responds to OHCHR accusations on alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangaldeshi migrant workers for forced labour in Malaysia

Full response available: HERE

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has yet to respond to a letter from the United Nations (UN) regarding allegations of fraudulent recruitment of Bangladeshi migrant workers by criminal networks.

The previously confidential communication, now available online, is said to have gone unanswered for 60 days.

In a March 28 letter addressed to Malaysia’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, four UN experts said they were concerned about the deceptive practice of fake companies recruiting workers from Bangladesh, purportedly for employment in Malaysia.

The letter claimed that the workers were forced into paying exorbitant recruitment fees, pushing them into debt bondage.

The experts noted that, on arrival, many Bangladeshi migrant workers find that jobs previously promised to them are non-existent. The workers’ plight then forces them into overstaying their visa, risking arrest, detention, ill-treatment and deportation, they added.

Stressing that the situations described by these workers may amount to human trafficking and forced labour, the experts said the reported violations align with forced labour indicators established by the International Labour Organization.

They also called on Malaysia to fulfil its international obligations by protecting the affected migrant workers from human rights abuses, warning that they face a potentially “alarming humanitarian situation” due to the risk of further exploitation and destitution.

The experts urged the government to give “urgent attention” to the issue by ensuring that all affected migrants are protected from deportation while court cases involving assessments of whether they are victims of trafficking or have been subjected to labour exploitation are ongoing.

They also said the migrants should be given basic assistance to meet their daily needs – including adequate housing, food and other basic items – during their period of unemployment.

Highlighting the names of several businesses believed to be operating as bogus employers, the letter claimed that areas such as Cheras and Chow Kit, both in Kuala Lumpur, and Pengerang, in Johor, have a notable concentration of such workers.

“We believe that the wider public should be alerted to the potential implications of the above-mentioned allegations,” they said.

“We would appreciate receiving a response within 60 days. Past this delay, this communication and any response received from (the Malaysian) government will be made public via the communications reporting website.”

The experts also said the contents of the letter would be made available in their usual report to the UN Human Rights Council.

It reminded the government that failure to provide aid and protection to duped migrant workers would violate the Asean Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, signed in Kuala Lumpur in 2015.

The letter was co-authored by the UN’s special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, Tomoya Obokata; the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Gehad Madi; the UN’s special rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Siobhán Mullally; and the UN’s chair-rapporteur of the working group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, Robert McCorquodale.

Numerous unanswered questions

The letter sought information about the predicament faced by the duped migrants and assistance given by the government in terms of housing, food, health services, legal and social support.

The government was also asked to explain how private recruitment agencies are regulated, what measures are taken to address and dismantle exploitative migrant worker recruitment networks, and whether there are measures in place to stop bogus companies from issuing permits to migrant workers.

The UN experts also asked for details and results – where available – of investigations, prosecution or criminal charges against government officials, employers or other actors in relation to the allegations, including those pertaining to corruption.

The government was likewise asked about the status of cooperation between the Malaysian and Bangladeshi governments to effectively combat criminal networks and facilitate fair and ethical migrant worker recruitment.

A similar letter, sent to Bangladesh’s permanent representative to the UN, also appears to have gone unanswered.

Independent migrant worker rights specialist Andy Hall said the failure of the Malaysian and Bangladesh governments to respond to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ communications within the 60-day timeline points to a lack of accountability, and might be taken to suggest that they endorse human trafficking.

“Based on the many years of unsuccessfully engaging the Malaysian government on these and many other similar cases of alleged human trafficking and forced labour, I conclude that a failed migrant management and recruitment system continues to exist in the country,” he said.

FMT has contacted Wisma Putra and the office of Malaysia’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva for comment.

27th May 2024: Statement by Andy Hall, Independent Migrant Worker Rights Specialist, on today’s public release of UN OHCHR’s unanswered urgent appeal communications to the Malaysian and Bangladeshi Governments 

Read this story – HERE

The United Nations (UN) Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva (OHCHR) has today published in full its unanswered urgent appeal communications sent to origin (Bangladesh) and destination (Malaysian) governments regarding exploited and duped Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia who are alleged to be victims of labour trafficking perpetrated by criminal syndicates. 

This set of confidential communications had previously been sent to both Bangladeshi and Malaysian governments by a number of independent UN human rights experts on 28th March 2024. 

DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile 2.pdfDownload

DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile.pdfDownload

The communications were written jointly by the Mandates of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences; the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises; the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants and human rights and the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children. 

Yet today, after 60 days since these confidential communications to the Bangladeshi and Malaysian governments were sent, no response has been received by the UN OHCHR from either government, despite the worsening destitution and abusefaced by stranded Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia at this time. 

The urgent issues raised by the UN experts with the Bangladeshi and Malaysian governments outlined in these communications concern an alleged criminal syndicate that has since mid 2022 trafficked hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia, many of whom remain stranded without work until today.

These workers have been recruited on false promises of jobs and charged exorbitant fees and costs. These cases involve: violations to the physical safety and security of the workers; passport retention and ransom taking; deplorable living conditions; unpaid wages; and debt bondage resulting from extortionate recruitment related costs extracted involving cross border financial crimes, bribery and corruption.

Following submission of complaintsby myself and civil society activists, and after much media publicity, no effective action has been taken by either the Bangladeshi and Malaysian governments to: protect and assist victims; remediate their suffering; or to hold employers, recruitment intermediaries or government officials who authorised and were complicit in this alleged criminal and corrupt trafficking and forced labour syndicate accountable.

In April 2024, following twelve months of widespread reporting of this situation and the sending of the March 28th 2024 set of confidential communications, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) raised similar concerns in a public statement. 

In May 2024, in an exclusive statement issued to FMT news portal, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) likewise raised similar concerns for Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia and pledged support to the Government to address this crisis.

In the joint statement, IOM, ILO and UNODC highlighted Malaysia had ratified the Protocol of 2014 to the ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930, thereby renewing its commitment to fight against forced labour in all its forms, including trafficking in persons and debt bondage, and to ensure workers have access to justice and effective legal remedies.

Earlier last week, the former UN Special Rapporteur for human trafficking also reiterated that migrant workers’ vulnerability to trafficking through debt-based coercion indiscriminately raises the cost of migration exponentially.

Media reports on 10th May 2024 outline the first seemingly public reaction by Malaysia to this international condemnation. The Minister of Human Resources, Steven Sim, announced the Labour Department would set up a special unit handling migrant workers’ grievances, without specifying any details or a timeline. As with previous lack of engagement and response, this proposal, whilst welcome, is woefully inadequate.

Examples of ongoing abuses 

In late 2023 and early 2024 when 171 of more than 700 Bangladeshi workers who were left stranded without jobs in Pengerang attempted to lodge complaints, they were arrested and detained. They then lodged claims before the labour department for their employer’s breach of contract to supply work and wages under conditions indicating forced labour.

Although the Malaysian Home and Human Resource Ministers both decried the practice of trading in migrant workers and agreed on new standard operating procedures (SOPs) for dealing with errant employers, systemic foot-dragging has left the workers without an effective remedy. 

In what the government described  as a ‘landmark case,’ the companies involved agreed to pay half of a negotiated compensation settlement by March 21st 2024 and promised to secure jobs for all the workers. Whilst some of these workers have indeed finally secured jobs, many are being poorly paid and compensation has not been forthcoming. Most of these workers remain in situations akin to acute modern slavery.

Likewise 93 Bangladeshi workers left stranded without jobs in Cheras and in destitution employed under the Ricoler Construction Company were rescued by Malaysia’s immigration and anti-trafficking agencies and granted interim protection by a magistrate. The workers were taken to the only Malaysian government shelter for victims of human trafficking in Melaka. Government ministers said in a joint press statement that the employer could face charges under for (i) failing to house workers (ii) pay them wages and additionally be probed for breaching anti-trafficking and anti-smuggling laws. 

21 days later, the workers were simply released from their involuntary retention into the custody of the employer and remain in situations of deprivation and suffering. Most remain unemployed and destitute until this day.

When several workers in March 2024 recently sought to challenge their abusive situation in the Beaks case, both workers and PSM, the support organisation assisting them on the ground, became the target of alleged physical abuse and SLAPP litigation. Again, most of the victims in this case, despite the Minister’s claims to address their plight, remain destitute and unemployed.

These cases are amongst those raised in the OHCHR communications with the Bangladeshi and Malaysian Governments, none of which have been responsed to.   

Questions over Government Inaction

Andy Hall, independent migrant worker rights specialist, today said in response to the release of the OHCHR communications: ‘The failure of the Bangladeshi and  Malaysian governments to respond to UN OHCHR within the 60 days established timeline is purely symptomatic of the lack of rule of law, ingrained impunity and systemic corruption surrounding these migrant worker issues in both countries. Both governments simply cannot respond in any meaningful way to UN agencies, including OHCHR, ILO, IOM and UNODC, as any response at this stage is unlikely to be justifiable or to make much sense. This leaves open the inference that both governments endorse the continually unbroken link between publicly funded government ministries in both countries and transnational organised crime syndicates trafficking migrant workers for forced labour.’

Hall continued: ‘There is no defense for both governments to claim in relation to the grave human rights violations that we see 100,000s of Bangladeshi workers continuing to suffer in Malaysia. After over a decade since enacting laws to combat labour trafficking in Malaysia in particular, administrative loopholes continue to be extended to private interests with the resources to influence public agencies. The Malaysian Government’s lack of transparency as to investigations, detention and prosecutions of culpable actors and inaction leave open the inference  that the government endorses the phenomenon of human trafficking. This is why I recently called for the Malaysian government to be downgraded to the lowest level, Tier 3, in the upcoming U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report 2024.’

Hall finally added: ‘Based on many years of unsuccessfully engaging the Malaysian government on these and many other similar cases of alleged human trafficking and forced labour, I conclude that a failed migrant work management and recruitment system continues to exist in the country that promotes impunity, is devoid of the rule of law and is systemically corrupt. There is little to no accountability for this dire situation, and no remediation at all of its victims.’

Simultaneously, the export overseas of Malaysian goods made using foreign workers in situations of alleged forced labour and human trafficking is negatively impacting Malaysia as trading partners reject these goods. There have been 8 recent bans between 2019 and 2024 on export of goods from Malaysia to the U.S. by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Department (CBP).

For more information on this statement contact Andy Hall on WhatsApp +9779823486634, email andy@andyjhall.org, Twitter @atomicalandy and blog www.andyjhall.org

28th May 2024: Malaysiakini – Malaysian govt yet to respond to UN’s migrant worker abuse allegations

Original Source: Malaysiakini by Ilia Aqilah – 28th May 2024

The Malaysian government has yet to respond to a letter from a team of United Nations experts with queries on alleged abuses of Bangladeshi workers in the country.

The queries were raised by Tomoya Obokata, a UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, Robert McCorquodale (chair-rapporteur), Gehad Madi (special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants), and Siobhán Mullally (special rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children).

The official communication, recorded in the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights database, was dated March 28 with a 60-day deadline for response, which ended today.

Communications sent to #Bangladesh & #Malaysia regarding allegations of labour exploitation among Bangladeshi migrant workers are now available from our database at https://t.co/iW7gM2qKqL

Please click on my mandate (slavery) to locate them.— UN Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata (@TomObokata) May 27, 2024

According to the database, the Malaysian and Bangladeshi governments have yet to respond.

“We would like to bring to the attention of your Excellency’s Government, the information we have received concerning the fraudulent recruitment of migrant workers by criminal networks operating in Malaysia and countries of origin.

“Migrant workers are deceived, recruited by fake companies and obliged to pay exorbitant recruitment fees which pushes them into debt bondage,” according to the letter.

Recommendations for government 

Further, the letter stated that Bangladeshi migrants had arrived in Malaysia to find no jobs as promised and eventually faced risks of arrest, detention, ill-treatment, deportation, and further exploitation.

The Malaysian government was also recommended to state measures towards resolving the highlighted issues – access to health services, food, legal and social support, the nature of assistance provided to alleged trafficking victims, and the effectiveness of measures to prevent the trafficking of migrant workers in the country.

Following the UN’s revelation about the mismanagement of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia on April 19, the Bangladeshi government expressed their intention to meet with the Malaysian government this month to discuss migrant worker recruitment in the country.

Malaysiakini has contacted Human Resources Minister Steven Sim and Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and is waiting for a response

Background Reading:

SCMP 3rd June 2024: ‘Nothing left for me’ as thousands of Bangladeshi workers lose everything in failed bid to work in Malaysia

Daily Star Editorial 3rd June 2024: Must our migrants pay the price every time?

Prothomalo 3rd June 2024 – Bangladesh Labour market: Hapless workers lose all vying to go to Malaysia

Daily Sun 3rd June 2024: IRREGULARITIES IN MIGRATION TO MALAYSIA: Recruiting agencies never made accountable

FMT 3rd June 2024: 17,000 Bangladeshi workers stranded, Dhaka pleads for time

Daily Star 3rd June 2024: 16,970 Bangladeshis failed to reach Malaysia for mismanagement, more destitution and modern slavery will result

See also Daily Star 2nd June 2024: Controversial recruitment system to stay 3 more years

See also Daily Star 2nd June – Jobs in Malaysia: Mismanagement left over 3k workers with no ticket to KL

Daily Star 1st June 2024: Must history repeat itself with the Malaysian labour market’s alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi migrant workers for forced labour

MALAYSIAKINI June 1st 2024: Controversial worker management system BESTINET gets new lease, sources say

1st June 2024 Kalerkantho: Malaysia’s dream ends in deprivation for Bangladeshi migrant workers of criminal syndicate

FMT 31st May 2024: Expect Bangladeshi workers to be stranded and at high risk of modern slavery following Malaysian migration management deadline rush, warns activist

SCMP 31st May 2024: Malaysians shocked by thousands of Bangladeshis crowding at airport to beat deadline for legal work, as UN and activists warn of increased modern slavery risks

CNA 31st May 2024: Over 30,000 workers set to miss deadline to enter Malaysia even as officials clear backlog at KL airport

Prothomalo 31 May 2024 – Bangladesh – Malaysia’s labour market: Repeated syndicates, repeated closure

Prothomalo 31st May 2024: Bangladesh – Thousands of people crowded Dhaka airport without flight tickets to go to Malaysia

31st May 2024: Govt reaffirms commitment to protect migrant workers’ rights to UN

31st May 2024: The closure of the labor market in Malaysia has shattered the dreams of 31,000 workers

Daily Star 31 May 2024 – Recruitment in Malaysia: Syndicate siphons over $1b out of Bangladesh

Daily Sun 31st May 2024: Biman sends 2,000 migrant workers to Malaysia

Business Standard 31st May 2024: Malaysia-bound workers scammed, stranded at Dhaka airport as deadline set to expire today

Daily Star 30th May 2024: Manpower syndicates beyond Dhaka-KL control

30th May 2024: Comment by Andy Hall, independent migrant worker rights specialist, on ongoing migrant worker management crisis in Malaysia and at KLIA airport today, Bangladeshi workers at high risk of modern slavery

CNA 30th May 2024: ‘Congestion’ at KL airport as employers scramble to bring in thousands of migrant workers before deadline

MALAYSIAKINI 30th May 2023: ‘Migrants influx at KLIA due to employers chasing deadline’

30th May 2024 Benar News: Malaysia’s labor market closed – Migrant workers flock to airports in all countries

29th May Daily Star: Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia – Hiring begins with bribery (UN independent experts say Bangladeshi workers pay up to 8 times for migration alone due to corruption of Malaysia ministries, Bangladesh mission and syndicates)

29th May Daily Star: Airfare to Malaysia surges fivefold

FMT 28th May 2024: Malaysia yet to respond to UN concerns on alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi migrant victims for forced labour in the country(with my full statement included)

For Immediate Release 27th May 2024: Statement by Andy Hall, Independent Migrant Worker Rights Specialist, on today’s public release of UN OHCHR’s unanswered urgent appeal communications to the Malaysian and Bangladeshi Governments 

30th May Star: Cyclone smashes Bangladeshi workers’ hopes, extension requested

Channel News Asia 25th May 2024: Malaysia’s bid to revamp hiring of foreign workers through controversial BESTINET process faces pushback; activists say country’s reputation at stake

22nd May 2024: UN expert – Malaysian law enforcement mixing up human trafficking, migrant smuggling – “What steps has Malaysia taken to investigate alleged complicity of public officials in human trafficking?’’

20th May 2024 FMT: Duped Bangladeshi workers won’t impact Malaysia’s US Human trafficking report ranking, says HR Minister Sim

Malay Mail 17th May 2024: Pengerang employer to face Labour Court in Malaysia after failing for months to pay Bangladeshi workers’ wages over RM1m (government statements and my comments included – months on, court agreed mediation settlement unforced, workers allegedly remain in situation akin to acute modern slavery)

16th May 2024: Firm that left over 700 Bangladeshi workers to dry in Pengerang facing possible prosecution (months on, court agreed mediation settlement unforced, workers allegedly remain in situation akin to acute modern slavery)

14th May 2024: FMT – Activists warn of US trafficking report downgrade for Malaysia amid UN criticism

May 10th 2024 The Star: Malaysian Government responds to OHCHR, IOM, ILO and UNODC joint condemnation on alleged Bangaldeshi migrant worker criminal syndicate by pledging to set up special unit handling migrant workers’ grievances, says HR Minister Sim

9th May 2024: Study: 96% of Bangladeshi workers going to Malaysia fall into recruitment debt– The study also said that 82% had two or more loans and 73% of workers spent at least 50% to 100% of their monthly salary to repay recruitment debts

4th May 2024: UN agencies concerned over Bangladeshi workers stranded in Malaysia – Joint Statement of ILO, IOM and UNODC on Alleged Criminal Syndicate Trafficking Bangladeshi Workers for Forced Labour in Malaysia

24th April 2024: Address plight of duped Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia in response to UN warning, govt told (more on the ongoing saga of an alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi migrant workers for forced labour in Malaysia)

19th April 2024: UN (OHCHR) Statement on Alleged Criminal Syndicate Trafficking Bangladeshi Workers for Forced Labour in Malaysia – ‘Malaysia: Bangladeshi workers must be protected from exploitation and criminalisation, say UN experts’

FMT 19th April 2024: UN experts sound alarm over plight of duped Bangladeshi migrants in Malaysia

For more on Andy Hall’s complaint to the OHCHR see 30th Oct 2023: FMT: Andy Hall refers stranded Bangladeshi workers’ plight in Malaysia to UN Human Rights Council

See Daily Star 23rd Apr 2024: Bangladesh Plight of Migrant Workers – Bangladesh, Malaysia working group meeting likely in May

See Daily Star Editorial 23rd Apr 2024: When even legal migrants suffer – Workers migrating to Malaysia legally deserve better protection 

Business Standard 23rd April 2024: Expat Ministry reviews UN complaints on Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia

Prothomalo 23rd April 2024: Bangladesh – Ministry reviewing allegations over Malaysia labour market

BenarNews Malay Language: Pakar PBB gesa Malaysia tangani layanan buruk diterima pekerja Bangladesh (UN expert urges Malaysia to handle bad treatment received by Bangladeshi workers)

Daily Star 19th Apr 2024: UN experts express dismay over situation of Bangladeshi migrants in Malaysia

FMT 19th Apr 2024: PSM, news portal set aside order to stop debate on migrant workers’ plight

Daily Star Editorial 17th April 2024: Save our migrants in Malaysia (more on the crisis caused by an alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia)

9th April 2024 The Star – Bangladeshi victims of criminal syndicate trafficking worked for forced labour in Malaysia: ‘Cops after workers, not rogue employers’

7th April 2024: SCMP – As Malaysia’s door closes on low-paid migrant workers, companies scramble for staff (and a systemically corrupt migration management and recruitment policy, devoid of the rule of law and leading to impunity and gross exploitation, is revealed)

6th April 2024 Daily Star: A hostel of nightmares for Bangladeshi migrants allegedly trafficked by criminal syndicate for forced labour in Malaysia (and Daily Star Op Ed)

Daily Star Editorial 6th Apr 2024: What will happen to migrants abandoned in Malaysia?

26th March 2024: The Star – Freeze on foreign workers hiring quota in Malaysia stays for now, says HR Minister (with estimated 200,000+ surplus foreign workforce victims facing destitution and abuse)

25th March 2024: Bangladeshi workers (alleged victims of criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia) claim being coerced into withdrawing police and labour complaints

Daily Star 25th Mar: Malaysia employer framed Bangladeshi workers

Daily Star 24th Mar 2024: Jailed in Malaysia – 3 Bangladesh workers released

Editorial Prothomalo 24th Mar 2024: Malaysian labour market – Take action against the fraud syndicate

FMT 23rd March 2024: PSM calls on Sim to look into arrest of Bangladeshi workers

MALAYSIAKINI 23 Mar 2024: Stranded foreign workers (alleged victims of criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia) nabbed after labour complaints against employer

23rd March 2024 The Star: Half a million vulnerable and irregular foreign workers disappear from Malaysia’s migrant worker regularization programme as deadline looms in one week

23 Mar 2024 The Star: Verification rate lags as RTK 2.0 deadline approaches

22nd March 2024 Malay Mail: Home minister – Over RM9m in fines collected so far through migrant repatriation programme

22nd March 2024 Protomalo: Malaysian labour market set to be closed again due to syndication

20th March 2024: 93 duped/detained Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia have jobs now, says immigration DG

20th Mar 2024 Business Standard: Bangladeshi workers’ plight in Malaysia: Coalition of migration orgs demand action against recruiting agency syndicate

19th March 2024: FMT – Plantation firms wary of ‘forced labour’ concerns in hiring 200,000 surplus foreign workers/criminal syndicate victims in Malaysia, says minister – indeed he’s right, who wants to take on destitute foreign workers often with US$4-7000 in debt?

17th March 2024: FMT – Malaysia’s treatment of migrant workers utterly shameful

New Age 16th Mar 2024: Bangladeshi government must mend issues to keep Malaysia job market open

15th March 2024 SCMP: Malaysians deride minister’s idea to rebrand palm oil workers as ‘specialised harvesters’

14th March 2024: The Star – Opinion: When work in Malaysia is a con – the criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshis for forced labour in Malaysia

FMT 13th March 2024: Bangladeshi migrants file police reports after falling victim to job scam/criminal syndicate trafficking workers from Bangladesh for forced labour in Malaysia

12th March 2024: SCMP – Malaysia to slash migrant workforce amid intolerance, job scam crisis involving Bangladeshi labourers

FMT 11th Mar 2024: Duped migrant jobseekers, victims of alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangaldeshi workers to Malaysia for forced labour, face mental health issues, says Malaysian ex-MP

Daily Star Editorial 10th March 2024: Migrating to a life of unemployment

Daily Star 10th Mar 2024: Distressed in Malaysia – Thousands of Bangladeshi migrants jobless, unpaid or underpaid 

9th March 2024: Malay Mail – Activists warn rushed 31st March visa deadline in Malaysia could force firms to source foreign workers unethically (includes my commentary on the abrupt policy change)

9th Mar 2024 The Star: No extension of May 31 foreign worker deadline

NST 9th Mar 2024: Keep recruitment agencies in a list rather than shutting them down, govt told   

See also NST 9th Mar 2024: Sourcing migrant workers takes time, ‘not like buying cattle’, employer groups tell govt

NST 8th Mar 2024: Eliminate middlemen from migrant worker recruitment process, govt told

Star 8th Mar 2024: May 31 deadline for foreign workers recruitment under recalibration programme remains, says Saifuddin

Malay Mail 8th Mar 2024: Saifuddin Nasution: No more agents for Bangladeshi worker recruitment

6th Mar 2024: Malaysian government halts foreign worker entry into the country from 31st May 2024 (final calling visa/VDN approval issuance deadline 31st March 2024) as migrant worker management crisis worsens and victims of gross exploitation, unemployment and destitution rise significantly

6th March 2024: Business Times –Sudden change in foreign worker policy by Malaysian government leaves industry in limbo

6th Mar 2024 Edge: Foreign worker intake deadline changes will leave manufacturers in the lurch, says FMM

6th Mar 2024 FMT: Industry players shocked by foreign worker policy change, says FMM

Mar 5 2024: NCCIM urges govt to review unused foreign worker quota deadline

4th March 2024 URGENT call for donations/support: joining forces with HOPE SELANGOR to fill gap in providing humanitarian aid and assistance to victims of criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers into forced labour in Malaysia

Mar 3rd 2024: Concern on repatriation of potential trafficking and forced labour/abuse victims under Malaysian Migrant Worker Repatriation Programme Commencing 1st March 2024 (Statement by Andy Hall, Independent Migrant Worker Rights Specialist)

FMT 3rd Mar 2024: Ensure ‘crooks’ do not gain from repatriation programme, says activist

Mar 2nd 2024 The Star: A chance for illegals to go home

Mar 2nd 2024 The Star: Sarawak immigration extends RTK2.0 until June

Mar 1st 2024 FMT: 600,000 foreign workers urged to take easy exit home

Mar 1st 2024 The Star: Use repatriation programme to return home, 600,000 illegals told

Feb 28th 2024 The Star: New programme lets migrants off the hook without being prosecuted

Feb 25th 2024 The Star: Businesses want foreign worker hiring freeze lifted

Jan 31st 2024 NST: Govt to implement Migrant Repatriation Programme starting March

Jan 31st 2024 The Edge: Cabinet agrees to extend freeze on hiring of foreign workers, says home minister 

31st Jan 2024 FMT: Migrant repatriation programme set for March 1

31st Jan 2024 The Star: Migration Repatriation Programme to commence on March 1, says Home Ministry

FMT 6th Jan 2024: 171 duped migrant workers deserve compensation, govt told (includes my full statement)

5th Jan 2024: New Strait Times – MCA: Don’t just fine employers, hold ministry accountable as well for unemployed foreign workers

FMT 30th Dec 2023: Migrants being duped into Malaysia because of govt’s failure to curb criminal trafficking syndicates and organised crime network, says activist Andy Hall

30th Dec 2023: New Strait Times – Recruitment agencies accused of deception as Bangladeshi victims speak out on exploitation and fear

29th Dec 2023: Malay Mail – Set up probe on exploitation of migrant workers and new ministry to manage their affairs, Suhakam tells Putrajaya

28th Dec 2023: FMT – Malaysia has entered ‘slave labour’ territory, says ex-MP – Charles Santiago calls for specific set-ups to manage migrant workers 

27th Dec 2023: New Strait Times – MTUC demand govt, MACC probe into corrupt recruitment practices of foreign workers

26th Dec 2023: FMT – High recruitment fees make greedy agents bring in workers, says group

25th Dec 2023: FMT – Probe recruitment agents, MACC told after arrest of Bangladeshis

22nd Nov 2023: MALAYSIAKINI – Full probe of migrant worker syndicate, Malaysian HR Minister Sivakumar says

9th Nov 2023: Malaysia – The State of the Nation: Flaws of foreign worker system laid bare in declassified report

30th Oct 2023: FMT: Andy Hall refers stranded Bangladeshi workers’ plight in Malaysia to UN Human Rights Council

23rd Oct 2023: RESPONSE FROM THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCES IN REGARDS TO AN ARTICLE BY MR. ANDY HALL/HR Minister – strict actions against employers who fail to comply with Malaysia’s labour and immigration laws

20th Oct 2023 Malaysiakini: Long-awaited foreign worker management report declassified in Malaysia (my comments added)

19th Oct 2023: Malaysia facing huge excess of 1/4 million migrant laborers

21st Sep 2023: Malaysian government has 15 source countries for foreign workers – Comments by Andy Hall

20th Sep 2023: Rate of abused Bangladeshi workers’ entry into Malaysia worrying, says migrant rights activist Andy Hall

12th July 2023: excellent final offering from a 4 part account of atypical modern-day slavery, forced labour and abuse perpetrated against a group of migrant workers from Bangladesh in Malaysia, written concisely and passionately by former MP from Malaysia Charles Santiago

Aljazeera News TV 10th July 2023 – Migrants in Malaysia: Hundreds left stranded in recruitment scam

Reuters 11th Apr 2023: In Malaysia, migrants say they are in limbo after promised jobs fall through

25th April 2023 Sarawak Post: Malaysia And Modern Slavery – ‘PM Must Take Control’

23rd April 2023: REUTERS: Malaysia probes cases of migrant workers left jobless, without passports (with background summary and articles included in my blog post)

17th April 2023 Daily Star: Approval For Labour Recruitment – Malaysia’s transparency questioned by Bangladesh

FMT 13th April 2023: Stranded Bangladeshis endure ‘hell’ in Malaysia – The group of 35 now wants to go home after being left without jobs for months

11th Mar 2023 MALAYSIAKINI: Malaysian HR Minister Sivakumar – Zero checks for migrant quota approvals only until March 2023

13th Feb 2023: My Perspective published by FMT – ‘Time to address corruption in Malaysia’s migrant worker management’

10th Jan 2023: ‘Bangladeshi recruitment cartels’ grip must end’ – Govt now acting on billion-ringgit ‘human trafficking syndicates’

1st Oct 2022 Malay Mail: PM Anwar says Putrajaya to Ease Rules on Hiring Migrant Workers

7th July 2022 The Vibes: How Bestinet courted controversy over migrant worker recruitment – MACC’s raid on IT company once again casts spotlight on alleged hiring monopoly

June 2022 The Star: Human Traffickers made RM2 billion through syndicate smuggling in over 100,000 workers from Bangladesh

The post 3rd June 2024 – Bangladeshi Migrant Worker Exploitation and Malaysian Labour Market Alleged Criminal Syndicate: The agencies picked by KL to blame, Bangladesh tells UN OHCHR appeared first on Andy Hall.

19th April 2024: UN (OHCHR) Statement on Alleged Criminal Syndicate Trafficking Bangladeshi Workers for Forced Labour in Malaysia – ‘Malaysia: Bangladeshi workers must be protected from exploitation and criminalisation, say UN experts’

UN experts expressed dismay about the situation of Bangladeshi migrants in Malaysia, who had travelled there in the hope of employment after engaging in the official labour migration process.

UN Statement Available – HERE

Overview of situation:

FMT 19th April 2024: UN experts sound alarm over plight of duped Bangladeshi migrants in Malaysia

FMT Source: FMT by Jason Thomas – 19th April 2024

They say certain high-level officials in Malaysia and Bangladesh are reportedly involved in criminal networks which are fraudulently recruiting migrant workers.

PETALING JAYA: A group of United Nations experts has called on Malaysia to do more to protect Bangladeshi migrant workers from being exploited into coming to Malaysia for non-existent jobs.

In a statement to FMT, the UN Human Rights Council-appointed experts said they were dismayed at reports about Bangladeshi migrants who travelled to Malaysia after being promised employment, only to find out they had been duped.

They also expressed concern that large amounts of money are being generated through the fraudulent recruitment of migrant workers by criminal networks operating between Malaysia and Bangladesh.

The experts said migrants were being deceived as they were recruited by companies that are frequently fake, and obliged to pay exorbitant recruitment fees which push them into debt bondage.

They noted that many migrants find on arrival in Malaysia that they do not have employment as promised, and are often forced into overstaying their visas, which results in them risking arrest, detention, ill-treatment and deportation.

“The situation of Bangladeshi migrants who have lived in Malaysia for several months or longer (without jobs) is unsustainable and undignified,” the statement said.

“Malaysia needs to take urgent measures to address the dire humanitarian situation of migrants and protect them from exploitation, criminalisation and other human rights abuses.

“We received reports that certain high-level officials in both governments are involved in this business or condoning it. This is unacceptable and needs to end.

“Perpetrators of these exploitative recruitments must be held accountable.”

The experts said the action taken against these private businesses and fraudulent recruitment companies in Malaysia and Bangladesh so far has been “wholly insufficient”.

The statement was issued by the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Slavery, Tomoya Obokata; the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, Siobhan Mullally; the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Gehad Madi; and other experts.

Stating that some migrants have faced severe reprisals for reporting the exploitation suffered, they urged Malaysia to handle labour migration more effectively by adopting adequate safeguards.

They said Malaysia must fulfil its obligations under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, under which it has to protect migrant workers against human rights abuses by businesses operating in the country and ensure that these businesses respect human rights.

The experts also said Malaysia must step up efforts to identify, protect and assist victims of exploitation, enforce existing legal protections against trafficking in persons, and uphold the country’s international human rights obligations.

They said they have previously engaged with the Malaysian and Bangladeshi governments on these issues.

Last October, migrant rights activist Andy Hall referred the country’s poor response to the plight of these Bangladeshi workers to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), a body under the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.

Describing the workers’ situation as “dire”, he provided details of their poor living conditions, including cramped quarters, poor sanitation, and limited food, and how they became indebted due to exorbitant recruitment costs.

Hall had also sent the documented complaints to the UN special rapporteurs on slavery, trafficking, migrants, and poverty; the Working Group on Business and Human Rights, and Pia Oberoi, the senior adviser on migration and human rights for Asia Pacific.

UN Statement:

19th April 2024: NEWS RELEASE – Malaysia: Bangladeshi workers must be protected from exploitation and criminalisation, say UN experts

UN Statement Available – HERE – 19th April 2024

GENEVA (19 April 2024) – UN experts* today expressed dismay about the situation of Bangladeshi migrants in Malaysia, who had travelled there in the hope of employment after engaging in the official labour migration process.

“The situation of Bangladeshi migrants who have lived in Malaysia for several months or longer is unsustainable and undignified,” the experts said. “Malaysia needs to take urgent measures to address the dire humanitarian situation of migrants and protect them from exploitation, criminalisation and other human rights abuses.”

They noted that many migrants find on arrival in Malaysia that they do not have employment as promised and are often forced into overstaying their visas. Consequently, these migrants risk arrest, detention, ill-treatment and deportation, the experts said.

They expressed concern that large sums of money were being generated through the fraudulent recruitment of migrant workers by criminal networks operating between Malaysia and Bangladesh. Migrants were being deceived, recruited by companies that are frequently fake, and obliged to pay exorbitant recruitment fees which pushes them into debt bondage, the experts said.

“We received reports that certain high-level officials in both Governments are involved in this business or condoning it. This is unacceptable and needs to end,” the experts said. “Perpetrators of these exploitative recruitments must be held accountable,” they said, adding that so far action taken against these private businesses and fraudulent recruitment companies have been wholly insufficient, both in Bangladesh and Malaysia. “Meanwhile, vulnerable migrants have been criminalised and some have faced severe reprisals for reporting the exploitation suffered,” they said.

They urged Malaysia and Bangladesh to investigate and address the situation. “Malaysia must govern labour migration more effectively by adopting adequate safeguards,” the experts said, urging the country to fulfil its obligations under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to protect migrant workers against human rights abuses by businesses operating in Malaysia and ensure that these businesses respect human rights. Malaysia must also step up efforts to identify, protect and assist victims of exploitation, enforce existing legal protections against trafficking in persons and uphold the country’s international human rights obligations, they said.

The experts have previously engaged with the Governments of Malaysia and Bangladesh on these issues.

*The experts: Tomoya Obokata, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences; Siobhán Mullally, Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children; Gehad Madi, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants and Robert McCorquodale (Chair-Rapporteur), Fernanda Hopenhaym (Vice-Chair), Pichamon Yeophantong, Damilola Olawuyi, Elzbieta Karska, Working Group on business and human rights

Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent of any government or organisation and serve in their individual capacity.

For inquiries and media requests, please contact: Satya Jennings (satya.jennings@un.org)

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org)

Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on X: @UN_SPExperts.

——

*Bangladeshi response to UN statement*

See Daily Star 23rd Apr 2024: Bangladesh Plight of Migrant Workers – Bangladesh, Malaysia working group meeting likely in May

See Daily Star Editorial 23rd Apr 2024: When even legal migrants suffer – Workers migrating to Malaysia legally deserve better protection

Business Standard 23rd April 2024: Expat Ministry reviews UN complaints on Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia

Prothomalo 23rd April 2024: Bangladesh – Ministry reviewing allegations over Malaysia labour market

——

BenarNews Malay Language: Pakar PBB gesa Malaysia tangani layanan buruk diterima pekerja Bangladesh (UN expert urges Malaysia to handle bad treatment received by Bangladeshi workers)

Oleh Helmi Foad di Kuala Lumpur

https://www.facebook.com/100063698868032/posts/935965688536718/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

Pakar di Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) pada Jumaat melahirkan rasa kecewa dengan situasi yang menimpa migran Bangladesh di Malaysia setelah datang ke negara itu dengan harapan memperoleh pekerjaan selepas melalui proses rasmi pengambilan buruh warga asing.

Mereka berkata rakyat Bangladesh yang tiba di Malaysia tidak mendapat pekerjaan seperti yang dijanjikan dan sering terpaksa tinggal lebih masa hingga berdepan risiko ditangkap, menerima layanan buruk dan tindakan pengusiran.

“Keadaan warga Bangladesh yang telah tinggal di Malaysia selama beberapa bulan atau lebih lama adalah tidak mampan dan tidak bermaruah,” kata pakar badan dunia itu di Geneva.

“Malaysia perlu mengambil langkah segera menangani situasi kemanusiaan pekerja asing yang teruk dan melindungi mereka daripada eksploitasi, jenayah dan pencabulan hak asasi manusia.”

Pakar tersebut melahirkan kebimbangan bahawa sejumlah besar wang dikaut melalui penipuan pengambilan pekerja asing oleh rangkaian jenayah yang beroperasi antara Malaysia dan Bangladesh.

Para migran telah ditipu, direkrut oleh syarikat yang selalunya palsu dan diwajibkan membayar yuran pengambilan terlalu tinggi hingga menyebabkan mereka terbelenggu dengan hutang,” kata pakar.

Pakar itu mendakwa mereka menerima laporan terdapat pegawai peringkat tinggi tertentu dalam kedua-dua kerajaan terlibat dalam perniagaan itu atau membenarkannya.

Mereka menggesa Malaysia dan Bangladesh menyiasat dan menangani situasi tersebut.

“Malaysia mesti menguruskan kemasukan buruh secara lebih berkesan dengan mengamalkan perlindungan yang mencukupi,” kata pakar tersebut, menggesa negara itu memenuhi kewajipannya di bawah Prinsip Panduan PBB mengenai Perniagaan dan Hak Asasi Manusia untuk melindungi pekerja asing daripada pencabulan hak asasi manusia.

Keterangan gambar:- Sebuah taman perumahan yang dipercayai menjadi perkampungan pendatang asing diserbu pihak berkuasa dalam satu operasi bersepadu di Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, 29 Februari 2024. [S. Mahfuz/BenarNews]

bangladesh #Malaysia #PBB #pekerjaan

—-

Migration

Daily Star 19th Apr 2024: UN experts express dismay over situation of Bangladeshi migrants in Malaysia

Star Digital Report

Sourced from: https://www.thedailystar.net/nrb/migration/news/un-experts-express-dismay-over-situation-bangladeshi-migrants-malaysia-3590671

UN experts today expressed dismay about the situation of Bangladeshi migrants in Malaysia, who had travelled there in the hope of employment after engaging in the official labour migration process.

“The situation of Bangladeshi migrants who have lived in Malaysia for several months or is unsustainable and undignified,” the experts said, according to a statement of the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) issued today.

They expressed concern that large sums of money were being generated through the fraudulent recruitment of migrant workers by criminal networks operating between Malaysia and Bangladesh.

Save our migrants in Malaysia

They said migrants were being deceived, recruited by companies that are frequently fake, and obliged to pay exorbitant recruitment fees which pushes them into debt bondage.

“We received reports that certain high-level officials in both governments are involved in this business or condoning it. This is unacceptable and needs to end,” the experts said.

The independent experts who made the statements have previously engaged with the governments of Malaysia and Bangladesh on these issues.

Read more

Bangladeshis in Malaysia: Cops after workers, not rogue employers

They include Tomoya Obokata, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences; Siobhán Mullally, Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children; Gehad Madi, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants and Robert McCorquodale (Chair-Rapporteur), Fernanda Hopenhaym (Vice-Chair), Pichamon Yeophantong, Damilola Olawuyi, Elzbieta Karska of the Working Group on business and human rights.

According to the independent researchers and migrants who talked to this newspaper, each of the migrants paid around Tk 500,000 for a job in Malaysia.

Foreign workers: Malaysia govt extends visa deadline to April 21

Since the end of 2022, more than 400,000 Bangladeshis have migrated to Malaysia for jobs under a syndicated of 100 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies selected by the Malaysian government. But, a significant portion of them are facing joblessness, underpayment or no payment. In total, there are around 800,000 Bangladeshis in Malaysia.

Earlier in 2018, Malaysia had frozen the recruitment of Bangladeshis saying that there was corruption, debt bondage and Han trafficking.

There were also numerous media reports on the labour exploitation and malpractices of migration in the Bangladesh-Malaysia corridor.

What will happen to migrants abandoned in Malaysia?

“Malaysia needs to take urgent measures to address the dire humanitarian situation of migrants and protect them from exploitation, criminalisation and other human rights abuses,” the UN experts said.

They noted that many migrants find on arrival in Malaysia that they do not have employment as promised and are often forced into overstaying their visas. Consequently, these migrants risk arrest, detention, ill-treatment and deportation.

“Perpetrators of these exploitative recruitments must be held accountable,” they said, adding that so far action taken against these private businesses and fraudulent recruitment companies have been wholly insufficient, both in Bangladesh and Malaysia.

Malaysia’s freeze on hiring foreign workers: Big blow for Bangladesh’s aspiring migrant workers

“Meanwhile, vulnerable migrants have been criminalised and some have faced severe reprisals for reporting the exploitation suffered,” they said.

They urged Malaysia and Bangladesh to investigate and address the situation.

“Malaysia must govern labour migration more effectively by adopting adequate safeguards,” the experts said.

Malaysia employer framed Bangladeshi workers

They urged the country to fulfil its obligations under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to protect migrant workers against human rights abuses by businesses operating in Malaysia and ensure that these businesses respect human rights.

Malaysia must also step up efforts to identify, protect, and assist victims of exploitation, enforce existing legal protections against trafficking in persons and uphold the country’s international human rights obligations, the experts said.

——

Background Reading:

For more on Andy Hall’s complaint to the OHCHR see 30th Oct 2023: FMT: Andy Hall refers stranded Bangladeshi workers’ plight in Malaysia to UN Human Rights Council

FMT 19th Apr 2024: PSM, news portal set aside order to stop debate on migrant workers’ plight

Daily Star Editorial 17th April 2024: Save our migrants in Malaysia (more on the crisis caused by an alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia)

9th April 2024 The Star – Bangladeshi victims of criminal syndicate trafficking worked for forced labour in Malaysia: ‘Cops after workers, not rogue employers’

7th April 2024: SCMP – As Malaysia’s door closes on low-paid migrant workers, companies scramble for staff (and a systemically corrupt migration management and recruitment policy, devoid of the rule of law and leading to impunity and gross exploitation, is revealed)

6th April 2024 Daily Star: A hostel of nightmares for Bangladeshi migrants allegedly trafficked by criminal syndicate for forced labour in Malaysia (and Daily Star Op Ed)

Daily Star Editorial 6th Apr 2024: What will happen to migrants abandoned in Malaysia?

26th March 2024: The Star – Freeze on foreign workers hiring quota in Malaysia stays for now, says HR Minister (with estimated 200,000+ surplus foreign workforce victims facing destitution and abuse)

25th March 2024: Bangladeshi workers (alleged victims of criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia) claim being coerced into withdrawing police and labour complaints

Daily Star 25th Mar: Malaysia employer framed Bangladeshi workers

Daily Star 24th Mar 2024: Jailed in Malaysia – 3 Bangladesh workers released

Editorial Prothomalo 24th Mar 2024: Malaysian labour market – Take action against the fraud syndicate

FMT 23rd March 2024: PSM calls on Sim to look into arrest of Bangladeshi workers

MALAYSIAKINI 23 Mar 2024: Stranded foreign workers (alleged victims of criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia) nabbed after labour complaints against employer

23rd March 2024 The Star: Half a million vulnerable and irregular foreign workers disappear from Malaysia’s migrant worker regularization programme as deadline looms in one week

23 Mar 2024 The Star: Verification rate lags as RTK 2.0 deadline approaches

22nd March 2024 Malay Mail: Home minister – Over RM9m in fines collected so far through migrant repatriation programme

22nd March 2024 Protomalo: Malaysian labour market set to be closed again due to syndication

20th March 2024: 93 duped/detained Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia have jobs now, says immigration DG

20th Mar 2024 Business Standard: Bangladeshi workers’ plight in Malaysia: Coalition of migration orgs demand action against recruiting agency syndicate

19th March 2024: FMT – Plantation firms wary of ‘forced labour’ concerns in hiring 200,000 surplus foreign workers/criminal syndicate victims in Malaysia, says minister – indeed he’s right, who wants to take on destitute foreign workers often with US$4-7000 in debt?

17th March 2024: FMT – Malaysia’s treatment of migrant workers utterly shameful

New Age 16th Mar 2024: Bangladeshi government must mend issues to keep Malaysia job market open

15th March 2024 SCMP: Malaysians deride minister’s idea to rebrand palm oil workers as ‘specialised harvesters’

14th March 2024: The Star – Opinion: When work in Malaysia is a con – the criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshis for forced labour in Malaysia

FMT 13th March 2024: Bangladeshi migrants file police reports after falling victim to job scam/criminal syndicate trafficking workers from Bangladesh for forced labour in Malaysia

12th March 2024: SCMP – Malaysia to slash migrant workforce amid intolerance, job scam crisis involving Bangladeshi labourers

FMT 11th Mar 2024: Duped migrant jobseekers, victims of alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangaldeshi workers to Malaysia for forced labour, face mental health issues, says Malaysian ex-MP

Daily Star Editorial 10th March 2024: Migrating to a life of unemployment

Daily Star 10th Mar 2024: Distressed in Malaysia – Thousands of Bangladeshi migrants jobless, unpaid or underpaid 

9th March 2024: Malay Mail – Activists warn rushed 31st March visa deadline in Malaysia could force firms to source foreign workers unethically (includes my commentary on the abrupt policy change)

9th Mar 2024 The Star: No extension of May 31 foreign worker deadline

NST 9th Mar 2024: Keep recruitment agencies in a list rather than shutting them down, govt told   

See also NST 9th Mar 2024: Sourcing migrant workers takes time, ‘not like buying cattle’, employer groups tell govt

NST 8th Mar 2024: Eliminate middlemen from migrant worker recruitment process, govt told

Star 8th Mar 2024: May 31 deadline for foreign workers recruitment under recalibration programme remains, says Saifuddin

Malay Mail 8th Mar 2024: Saifuddin Nasution: No more agents for Bangladeshi worker recruitment

6th Mar 2024: Malaysian government halts foreign worker entry into the country from 31st May 2024 (final calling visa/VDN approval issuance deadline 31st March 2024) as migrant worker management crisis worsens and victims of gross exploitation, unemployment and destitution rise significantly

6th March 2024: Business Times –Sudden change in foreign worker policy by Malaysian government leaves industry in limbo

6th Mar 2024 Edge: Foreign worker intake deadline changes will leave manufacturers in the lurch, says FMM

6th Mar 2024 FMT: Industry players shocked by foreign worker policy change, says FMM

Mar 5 2024: NCCIM urges govt to review unused foreign worker quota deadline

4th March 2024 URGENT call for donations/support: joining forces with HOPE SELANGOR to fill gap in providing humanitarian aid and assistance to victims of criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers into forced labour in Malaysia

Mar 3rd 2024: Concern on repatriation of potential trafficking and forced labour/abuse victims under Malaysian Migrant Worker Repatriation Programme Commencing 1st March 2024 (Statement by Andy Hall, Independent Migrant Worker Rights Specialist)

FMT 3rd Mar 2024: Ensure ‘crooks’ do not gain from repatriation programme, says activist

Mar 2nd 2024 The Star: A chance for illegals to go home

Mar 2nd 2024 The Star: Sarawak immigration extends RTK2.0 until June

Mar 1st 2024 FMT: 600,000 foreign workers urged to take easy exit home

Mar 1st 2024 The Star: Use repatriation programme to return home, 600,000 illegals told

Feb 28th 2024 The Star: New programme lets migrants off the hook without being prosecuted

Feb 25th 2024 The Star: Businesses want foreign worker hiring freeze lifted

Jan 31st 2024 NST: Govt to implement Migrant Repatriation Programme starting March

Jan 31st 2024 The Edge: Cabinet agrees to extend freeze on hiring of foreign workers, says home minister 

31st Jan 2024 FMT: Migrant repatriation programme set for March 1

31st Jan 2024 The Star: Migration Repatriation Programme to commence on March 1, says Home Ministry

FMT 6th Jan 2024: 171 duped migrant workers deserve compensation, govt told (includes my full statement)

5th Jan 2024: New Strait Times – MCA: Don’t just fine employers, hold ministry accountable as well for unemployed foreign workers

FMT 30th Dec 2023: Migrants being duped into Malaysia because of govt’s failure to curb criminal trafficking syndicates and organised crime network, says activist Andy Hall

30th Dec 2023: New Strait Times – Recruitment agencies accused of deception as Bangladeshi victims speak out on exploitation and fear

29th Dec 2023: Malay Mail – Set up probe on exploitation of migrant workers and new ministry to manage their affairs, Suhakam tells Putrajaya

28th Dec 2023: FMT – Malaysia has entered ‘slave labour’ territory, says ex-MP – Charles Santiago calls for specific set-ups to manage migrant workers 

27th Dec 2023: New Strait Times – MTUC demand govt, MACC probe into corrupt recruitment practices of foreign workers

26th Dec 2023: FMT – High recruitment fees make greedy agents bring in workers, says group

25th Dec 2023: FMT – Probe recruitment agents, MACC told after arrest of Bangladeshis

22nd Nov 2023: MALAYSIAKINI – Full probe of migrant worker syndicate, Malaysian HR Minister Sivakumar says

9th Nov 2023: Malaysia – The State of the Nation: Flaws of foreign worker system laid bare in declassified report

30th Oct 2023: FMT: Andy Hall refers stranded Bangladeshi workers’ plight in Malaysia to UN Human Rights Council

23rd Oct 2023: RESPONSE FROM THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCES IN REGARDS TO AN ARTICLE BY MR. ANDY HALL/HR Minister – strict actions against employers who fail to comply with Malaysia’s labour and immigration laws

20th Oct 2023 Malaysiakini: Long-awaited foreign worker management report declassified in Malaysia (my comments added)

19th Oct 2023: Malaysia facing huge excess of 1/4 million migrant laborers

21st Sep 2023: Malaysian government has 15 source countries for foreign workers – Comments by Andy Hall

20th Sep 2023: Rate of abused Bangladeshi workers’ entry into Malaysia worrying, says migrant rights activist Andy Hall

12th July 2023: excellent final offering from a 4 part account of atypical modern-day slavery, forced labour and abuse perpetrated against a group of migrant workers from Bangladesh in Malaysia, written concisely and passionately by former MP from Malaysia Charles Santiago

Aljazeera News TV 10th July 2023 – Migrants in Malaysia: Hundreds left stranded in recruitment scam

Reuters 11th Apr 2023: In Malaysia, migrants say they are in limbo after promised jobs fall through

25th April 2023 Sarawak Post: Malaysia And Modern Slavery – ‘PM Must Take Control’

23rd April 2023: REUTERS: Malaysia probes cases of migrant workers left jobless, without passports (with background summary and articles included in my blog post)

17th April 2023 Daily Star: Approval For Labour Recruitment – Malaysia’s transparency questioned by Bangladesh

FMT 13th April 2023: Stranded Bangladeshis endure ‘hell’ in Malaysia – The group of 35 now wants to go home after being left without jobs for months

11th Mar 2023 MALAYSIAKINI: Malaysian HR Minister Sivakumar – Zero checks for migrant quota approvals only until March 2023

13th Feb 2023: My Perspective published by FMT – ‘Time to address corruption in Malaysia’s migrant worker management’

10th Jan 2023: ‘Bangladeshi recruitment cartels’ grip must end’ – Govt now acting on billion-ringgit ‘human trafficking syndicates’

1st Oct 2022 Malay Mail: PM Anwar says Putrajaya to Ease Rules on Hiring Migrant Workers

7th July 2022 The Vibes: How Bestinet courted controversy over migrant worker recruitment – MACC’s raid on IT company once again casts spotlight on alleged hiring monopoly

June 2022 The Star: Human Traffickers made RM2 billion through syndicate smuggling in over 100,000 workers from Bangladesh

The post 19th April 2024: UN (OHCHR) Statement on Alleged Criminal Syndicate Trafficking Bangladeshi Workers for Forced Labour in Malaysia – ‘Malaysia: Bangladeshi workers must be protected from exploitation and criminalisation, say UN experts’ appeared first on Andy Hall.

Andy Hall’s comments: This is indeed a correct and accurate statement by the Plantation firms Minister. These estimated 200,000 or more surplus foreign workers in Malaysia are surely indebted (in debt bondage) and often now irregular and destitute. Many are acute victims of modern slavery, forced labour, labour exploitation or even human trafficking and victims of a criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia, with debts of often over US$4,000-$6,000 per person. They are desperate for any jobs or income they can get, to survive, to eat, to remit money to their families to pay off the extortionate and ever increasing interest on their debt from high migration related costs and fees paid to get a job in Malaysia, particularly from Bangladesh. Malaysia has got itself into a real mess here with a systemically corrupt migration management and recruitment system devoid of the rule of law and full of impunity for illegality and extortion that has led to this situation with over 200,000 surplus indebted foreign workers in destitution in the country. And of course employers are now wary of hiring such desperate workers, given their debt and destitution, as it’s hard to say in such a situation such a worker could honestly be said to have given informed consent to the terms and conditions of their new employment, especially in dirty, dangerous and demanding (3Ds) sectors of work like plantations and agriculture.

Johari Ghani says the plantation industry fears that hiring the surplus of foreign workers from other sectors may be deemed as employing them against their will.

Original source: FMT by FMT Reporters – 19th March 2024

KUALA LUMPUR: Despite the shortage of manpower, the plantation industry is wary of hiring foreign workers brought in to work in other sectors for fear these labourers would be deemed as being employed “against their will”, Johari Ghani said.

The plantation and commodities minister told the Dewan Negara that while the palm oil industry lacked almost 40,000 workers, there was a “surplus” of workers in other sectors, Bernama reported.

Johari said there was an excess of 165,497 foreign workers in the manufacturing sector, while there was an excess of 27,158 foreign workers in the services sector.

The excess of foreign workers occurred after Malaysia reopened businesses following the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.

The excess led to the government freezing the hiring quota of foreign workers for the manufacturing and services sectors.

Subsequently, a “recalibration” was carried out, with the unemployed foreign workers offered work in the plantation sector, Johari said.

“However, the plantation industry is afraid to hire (excess foreign workers) because if some of them are hired against their will, it will cause them to be deemed as forced labour,” he was quoted as saying.

Johari went on to say that the ministry is currently conducting a “pilot test” by hiring 60 local workers specialising in harvesting to change the perception of working in the plantations.

“We will train them to harvest oil palm trees and call them specialist harvesters and hopefully they can earn a salary of up to RM3,000.”

In comparing the country to Indonesia, Johari said Malaysia has a labour problem.

He said 100% of Indonesia’s workers were local and that they have harvesters with specialised skills, some of whom had earlier worked in Malaysia.

Johari said the country’s palm oil industry suffered losses of RM20 billion to RM30 billion following the labour shortage.

Background Reading:

17th March 2024: FMT – Malaysia’s treatment of migrant workers utterly shameful

New Age 16th Mar 2024: Bangladeshi government must mend issues to keep Malaysia job market open

15th March 2024 SCMP: Malaysians deride minister’s idea to rebrand palm oil workers as ‘specialised harvesters’

14th March 2024: The Star – Opinion: When work in Malaysia is a con – the criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshis for forced labour in Malaysia

FMT 13th March 2024: Bangladeshi migrants file police reports after falling victim to job scam/criminal syndicate trafficking workers from Bangladesh for forced labour in Malaysia

SCMP 12th Mar 2024: Malaysia to slash migrant workforce amid intolerance, job scam crisis involving Bangladeshi labourers

FMT 11th Mar 2024: Duped migrant jobseekers, victims of alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangaldeshi workers to Malaysia for forced labour, face mental health issues, says Malaysian ex-MP

Daily Star Editorial 10th March 2024: Migrating to a life of unemployment

Daily Star 10th Mar 2024: Distressed in Malaysia – Thousands of Bangladeshi migrants jobless, unpaid or underpaid 

Malay Mail 9th Mar 2024: Activists warn rushed 31st Mar visa deadline in Malaysia could force firms to source foreign workers unethically (includes my commentary on the abrupt policy change)

9th Mar 2024 The Star: No extension of May 31 foreign worker deadline

NST 9th Mar 2024: Keep recruitment agencies in a list rather than shutting them down, govt told   

See also NST 9th Mar 2024: Sourcing migrant workers takes time, ‘not like buying cattle’, employer groups tell govt

NST 8th Mar 2024: Eliminate middlemen from migrant worker recruitment process, govt told

Star 8th Mar 2024: May 31 deadline for foreign workers recruitment under recalibration programme remains, says Saifuddin

Malay Mail 8th Mar 2024: Saifuddin Nasution: No more agents for Bangladeshi worker recruitment

6th March 2024: Malaysian government halts foreign worker entry into the country from 31st May 2024 (final calling visa/VDN approval issuance deadline 31st March 2024) as migrant worker management crisis worsens and victims of gross exploitation, unemployment and destitution rise significantly

6th March 2024: Business Times –Sudden change in foreign worker policy by Malaysian government leaves industry in limbo

6th Mar 2024 Edge: Foreign worker intake deadline changes will leave manufacturers in the lurch, says FMM

6th Mar 2024 FMT: Industry players shocked by foreign worker policy change, says FMM

5th March 2024: NCCIM urges govt to review unused foreign worker quota deadline

4th March 2024 URGENT call for donations/support: joining forces with HOPE SELANGOR to fill gap in providing humanitarian aid and assistance to victims of criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers into forced labour in Malaysia

3rd March 2024: Concern on repatriation of potential trafficking and forced labour/abuse victims under Malaysian Migrant Worker Repatriation Programme Commencing 1st March 2024 (Statement by Andy Hall, Independent Migrant Worker Rights Specialist)

3rd March 2024: Ensure ‘crooks’ do not gain from repatriation programme, says activist

2nd March 2024 The Star: A chance for illegals to go home

2nd March 2024 The Star: Sarawak immigration extends RTK2.0 until June

EDGE 1st Mar 2024: Home Ministry moves to free up foreign workers quota, unused allocations to be cancelled from June 1

1st March 2024 FMT: 600,000 foreign workers urged to take easy exit home

1st March 2024 The Star: Use repatriation programme to return home, 600,000 illegals told

1st March 2024 MalayMail: Saifuddin reminds employers to get their foreign worker affairs in order before March 31

28th February 2024 The Star: New programme lets migrants off the hook without being prosecuted

25th February 2024 The Star: Businesses want foreign worker hiring freeze lifted

31st January 2024 NST: Govt to implement Migrant Repatriation Programme starting March

31st January 2024 The Edge: Cabinet agrees to extend freeze on hiring of foreign workers, says home minister 

31st January 2024 FMT: Migrant repatriation programme set for March 1

31st January 2024 The Star: Migration Repatriation Programme to commence on March 1, says Home Ministry

1st March 2024: Duped Bangladeshi worker (another victim of alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia) dies while trying to go home

RTV Online 1st Mar 2024: Expatriates die without getting work in Malaysia (google translate)

27th February 2024: SCMP – Malaysian firm probed for human trafficking after 93 Bangladeshi workers found abandoned

26th February 2024: Statement by Independent Migrant Worker Rights Specialist Andy Hall on Joint KDN, KSM and MAPO Operation to Rescue More Destitute and Stranded Victims of the Alleged Criminal Syndicate Trafficking Workers from Bangladesh for Forced Labour in Malaysia (includes updated stories on the ‘Cheras’ case)

18th Februrary2024: Bangladeshis pay much higher than peers (US$4500++) to reach Malaysia job market – syndicates, impunity and systemic forced labour

8th February 2024 – Activists: Duped Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia sought RM2m in unpaid wages, but only got half(first reported compensation settlement for Bangladesh Malaysia organised crime syndicate victims being trafficked for forced labour in Malaysia)

6th February 2024: Benar News – Malaysian Labor Court orders employers to pay Bangladeshi workers RM1 million in unpaid wages – first reported compensation settlement for Bangladesh Malaysia organised crime syndicate victims being trafficked for forced labour in Malaysia

16th January 2024: FMT – 751 duped Bangladeshi migrant workers in Pengerang case file RM2 million claim for unpaid wages resulting from situation akin to forced labour, stranded and destitute on arrival in Malaysia (includes comments by Andy Hall)

6th January 2024: 171 duped migrant workers deserve compensation, govt told (includes my full statement)

5th January 2024: New Strait Times – MCA: Don’t just fine employers, hold ministry accountable as well for unemployed foreign workers

30th December 2023: Migrants being duped into Malaysia because of govt’s failure to curb criminal trafficking syndicates and organised crime network, says activist Andy Hall

30th Decenber 2023: New Strait Times – Recruitment agencies accused of deception as Bangladeshi victims speak out on exploitation and fear

29th December 2023: Malay Mail – Set up probe on exploitation of migrant workers and new ministry to manage their affairs, Suhakam tells Putrajaya

28th Decenber 2023: FMT – Malaysia has entered ‘slave labour’ territory, says ex-MP – Charles Santiago calls for specific set-ups to manage migrant workers 

27th December 2023: New Strait Times – MTUC demand govt, MACC probe into corrupt recruitment practices of foreign workers

26th December 2023: FMT – High recruitment fees make greedy agents bring in workers, says group

25th December 2023: FMT – Probe recruitment agents, MACC told after arrest of Bangladeshis

22nd November 2023: MALAYSIAKINI – Full probe of migrant worker syndicate, Malaysian HR Minister Sivakumar says

9th November 2023: Malaysia – The State of the Nation: Flaws of foreign worker system laid bare in declassified report

5th November 2023: Malaysian HR Minister pledges nationwide operations concerning plight of Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia following Andy Hall’s complaint letter to the OHCHR

30th October 2023: FMT: Andy Hall refers stranded Bangladeshi workers’ plight in Malaysia to UN Human Rights Council

23rd October 2023: RESPONSE FROM THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCES IN REGARDS TO AN ARTICLE BY MR. ANDY HALL/HR Minister – strict actions against employers who fail to comply with Malaysia’s labour and immigration laws

20th October 2023 Malaysiakini: Long-awaited foreign worker management report declassified in Malaysia (my comments added)

19th October 2023: Malaysia facing huge excess of 1/4 million migrant laborers

21st September 2023: Malaysian government has 15 source countries for foreign workers – Comments by Andy Hall

20th September 2023: Rate of abused Bangladeshi workers’ entry into Malaysia worrying, says migrant rights activist Andy Hall

12th July 2023: excellent final offering from a 4 part account of atypical modern-day slavery, forced labour and abuse perpetrated against a group of migrant workers from Bangladesh in Malaysia, written concisely and passionately by former MP from Malaysia Charles Santiago

10th July 2023 – Migrants in Malaysia: Hundreds left stranded in recruitment scam

11th April 2023: In Malaysia, migrants say they are in limbo after promised jobs fall through

25th April 2023 Sarawak Post: Malaysia And Modern Slavery – ‘PM Must Take Control’

23rd April 2023: REUTERS: Malaysia probes cases of migrant workers left jobless, without passports (with background summary and articles included in my blog post)

17th April 2023 Daily Star: Approval For Labour Recruitment – Malaysia’s transparency questioned by Bangladesh

13th April 2023: Stranded Bangladeshis endure ‘hell’ in Malaysia – The group of 35 now wants to go home after being left without jobs for months

11th Mar 2023 MALAYSIAKINI: Malaysian HR Minister Sivakumar – Zero checks for migrant quota approvals only until March 2023

13th Feb 2023: My Perspective published by FMT – ‘Time to address corruption in Malaysia’s migrant worker management’

10th Jan 2023: ‘Bangladeshi recruitment cartels’ grip must end’ – Govt now acting on billion-ringgit ‘human trafficking syndicates’

1st Oct 2022 Malay Mail: PM Anwar says Putrajaya to Ease Rules on Hiring Migrant Workers

7th July 2022 The Vibes: How Bestinet courted controversy over migrant worker recruitment – MACC’s raid on IT company once again casts spotlight on alleged hiring monopoly

June 2022 The Star: Human Traffickers made RM2 billion through syndicate smuggling in over 100,000 workers from Bangladesh

The post 19th March 2024: FMT – Plantation firms wary of ‘forced labour’ concerns in hiring 200,000 surplus foreign workers/criminal syndicate victims in Malaysia, says minister – indeed he’s right, who wants to take on destitute foreign workers often with US$4-7000 in debt? appeared first on Andy Hall.

In response to a stark lack of official Bangladeshi and Malaysian government and international UN agency support and assistance to an estimated 100,000 or more vulnerable victims of an alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia, myself and my colleagues have recently joined forces with an inspirational organisation called HOPE SELANGOR, and their network of community volunteers, to deliver urgent humanitarian assistance directly to those impacted in Malaysia.

Months of my continuous communication (emails, WhatsApp messages, letters and media advocacy) to Malaysian government agencies and UN and international organisations like the IOM, ILO and IJM (with their civil society union and NGO partners in Malaysia on the ground) has seen almost zero productive or practical response.

Promised support for voluntary repatriations by UN agencies have failed to materialize.

Requests for urgent human trafficking and forced labour investigations, alongside humanitarian assistance to the victims of these alleged crimes, have not been responded to.

Not even one victim referred by me has actually been supported by UN agencies in Malaysia tasked and funded to protect and support migrant workers in times of need, as far as I can ascertain.

Not our duty, no funds, too dangerous, Malaysian government too sensitive, too busy, staff on leave, rotating out of country.

The excuses for lack of practical assistance to the Bangladeshi criminal syndicate victims by those international and local actors mandated and funded to support them are as numerous as they are varied.

But now, responding to exactly the same emails, the same WhatsApp messages, the same GPS locations, the same videos and photos of appalling conditions of human destitution outlined in this post, HOPE SELANGOR has moved as best as they can into action to fill the gap, and energetically so.

Aid delivered straight to the impacted foreign worker communities. Cooked food, rice cookers, fans, toiletries, rice and other dried food, medicines, and much more as well.

The HOPE SELANGOR team, in the heat and rain of Malaysia’s challenging physical and political climate, have been out delivering at least some hope to the victims of exploitation and injustice across the country, in the face of others inaction.

Please NOW join me in supporting HOPE SELANGOR in their crucial work to provide a lifeline to Bangaldeshi victims of a criminal syndicate trafficking them for forced labour into Malaysia, an estimated 100,000 or more victims already.

Help HOPE SELANGOR fill the gap in practical support left wide open by Malaysian authorities and international and domestic actors tasked to protect and support migrant communities in need in Malaysia.

DONATE to support HOPE Selangor’s urgent work now, a little or a lot. Anything is welcome.

DONATION Account Details:
Pertubuhan Pembangunan Harapan Selangor
Account number: 512222631461

Email: hopeselangor@gmail.com

Swift Code: MBBEMYKL

Bank Name: Maybank

Feel free to indicate #Bangladeshifoodaid when making financial transfers

For more background on the situation of the needy Bangladeshi recipients of any donations you will make to HOPE SELANGOR, see the below articles and news.

THANKYOU

Background articles

FMT 3rd Mar 2024: Ensure ‘crooks’ do not gain from repatriation programme, says activist

3rd March 2024: Concern on repatriation of potential trafficking and forced labour/abuse victims under Malaysian Migrant Worker Repatriation Programme Commencing 1st March 2024 (Statement by Andy Hall, Independent Migrant Worker Rights Specialist)

FMT 2nd March 2024: Bangladesh MP – New Act drafted to monitor sub-agents of foreign workers and undermine criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia

FMT 1 Mar 2024: Duped Bangladeshi worker (another victim of alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia) dies while trying to go home

RTV Online 1st Mar 2024: Expatriates die without getting work in Malaysia (google translate)

27th February 2024: SCMP – Malaysian firm probed for human trafficking after 93 Bangladeshi workers found abandoned

26th Feb 2024: Statement by Independent Migrant Worker Rights Specialist Andy Hall on Joint KDN, KSM and MAPO Operation to Rescue More Destitute and Stranded Victims of the Alleged Criminal Syndicate Trafficking Workers from Bangladesh for Forced Labour in Malaysia (includes updated stories on the ‘Cheras’ case)

26th February 2024: FMT – Stern action against company that duped Bangladeshi workers in Cheras

26th February 2024: Bernama – Home, HR ministries: Firm facing legal action for abandoning 93 Bangladeshi workers brought into Malaysia last year

25th February 2024: FMT – More than 100 Bangladeshi migrants stranded in Cheras without jobs, says activist Andy Hall

Business Standard 18th Feb 2024: Bangladeshis pay much higher than peers (US$4500++) to reach Malaysia job market – syndicates, impunity and systemic forced labour

Malay Mail 8th Feb 2024 – Activists: Duped Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia sought RM2m in unpaid wages, but only got half(first reported compensation settlement for Bangladesh Malaysia organised crime syndicate victims being trafficked for forced labour in Malaysia)

Malay Mail 8th Feb 2024: HR Ministry hails mediation outcome despite claims duped Bangladeshi workers were short-changed

8th February 2024: FMT – Bangladeshi workers win RM1mil in unpaid wages

7th Feb 2024: Bangla Tribune – Job trap in Malaysia, 733 Bangladeshis in salary uncertainty

6th February 2024: Benar News – Malaysian Labor Court orders employers to pay Bangladeshi workers RM1 million in unpaid wages – first reported compensation settlement for Bangladesh Malaysia organised crime syndicate victims being trafficked for forced labour in Malaysia

16th January 2024: FMT – 751 duped Bangladeshi migrant workers in Pengerang case file RM2 million claim for unpaid wages resulting from situation akin to forced labour, stranded and destitute on arrival in Malaysia (includes comments by Andy Hall)

FMT 6th Jan 2024: 171 duped migrant workers deserve compensation, govt told (includes my full statement)

6th Jan 2024: FMT: Away from families, in debt, and jobless in a foreign land

6th Jan 2024: New Strait Times – Company that promised 171 Bangladeshi workers non-existent jobs blacklisted

5th Jan 2024: New Strait Times – MCA: Don’t just fine employers, hold ministry accountable as well for unemployed foreign workers

FMT 30th Dec 2023: Migrants being duped into Malaysia because of govt’s failure to curb criminal trafficking syndicates and organised crime network, says activist Andy Hall

30th Dec 2023: New Strait Times – Recruitment agencies accused of deception as Bangladeshi victims speak out on exploitation and fear

29th Dec 2023: Malay Mail – Set up probe on exploitation of migrant workers and new ministry to manage their affairs, Suhakam tells Putrajaya

28th Dec 2023: New Strait Times – ‘Company involved in 171 Bangladeshi migrant worker scandal not licensed to recruit’

28th Dec 2023: FMT – Malaysia has entered ‘slave labour’ territory, says ex-MP – Charles Santiago calls for specific set-ups to manage migrant workers 

27th Dec 2023: New Strait Times – MTUC demand govt, MACC probe into corrupt recruitment practices of foreign workers

27th Dec 2023: New Strait Times – Strict action against employers, agencies neglecting 171 Bangladeshi workers: MEF

27th Dec 2023: FMT – Bangladeshis duped over jobs are victims of human trafficking, says rights group

26th Dec 2023: FMT – Azalina wants urgent probe into 171 Bangladeshis duped over jobs

26th Dec 2023: FMT – High recruitment fees make greedy agents bring in workers, says group

25th Dec 2023: FMT – Probe recruitment agents, MACC told after arrest of Bangladeshis

25th Dec 2023: FMT – Human resources ministry comes to the rescue of Bangladeshi workers

25th Dec 2023: FMT – Cops nab 171 foreigners protesting lack of jobs in Johor

25th Dec 2023: The Star – Foreigners march to police station to complain about agent, get hauled up by Immigration Dept instead

5th Nov 2023: Malaysian HR Minister pledges nationwide operations concerning plight of Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia following Andy Hall’s complaint letter to the OHCHR

30th Oct 2023: FMT: Andy Hall refers stranded Bangladeshi workers’ plight in Malaysia to UN Human Rights Council

19th Oct 2023: Malaysia facing huge excess of 1/4 million migrant laborers

21st Sep 2023: Malaysian government has 15 source countries for foreign workers – Comments by Andy Hall

20th Sep 2023: Rate of abused Bangladeshi workers’ entry into Malaysia worrying, says migrant rights activist Andy Hall

The post 4th March 2024: URGENT call for donations/support: Joining forces with HOPE SELANGOR to fill gap in providing humanitarian aid and assistance to victims of criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers into forced labour in Malaysia appeared first on Andy Hall.