Malaysia’s International KLIA airport is completely overrun today by mostly low skilled and highly vulnerable migrant workers. These workers, many whom are from Bangladesh, are arriving into Malaysia through all legal channels last minute, including from far flung transit destinations across the world like Dubai, Colombo, Hong Kong and Bangkok. They are coming in having had to pay higher flight costs than ever before, in advance of a 31st May 2024 government imposed migration management deadline on entry. This deadline coincides with the main BESTINET/FCWMS controversial migrant worker management systems contract expiry.

Surely a significant proportion of these workers are victims of a criminal syndicate trafficking Bangaldeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia, whose average costs to enter the country have increased recently up to US$6000 per person.

Many of these workers are at high risk of modern slavery and will surely be arriving to bogus employers on bogus quotas with no jobs, facilitated by corrupt government officials, agencies and recruitment intermediaries. Malaysia’s migrant management system has clearly broken down now. Impunity, corruption and no rule of law. The victims are increasing, as are the modern slavery risks.

Meanwhile, Andy Hall, an independent migrant worker right specialist, has raised serious concerns about the welfare of these workers and whether they have jobs or not.

‘Surely a significant proportion of these workers are victims of a criminal syndicate trafficking Bangaldeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia, whose average costs to enter the country have increased recently up to US$6000 per person. Many of these workers are at high risk of modern slavery and will surely be arriving to bogus employers on bogus quotas with no jobs, facilitated by corrupt government officials, agencies and recruitment intermediaries.’

‘Malaysia’s migrant management system has clearly broken down now. Impunity, corruption and no rule of law. The victims are increasing, as are the modern slavery risks.’

—

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

Original Source: CNA by Aqil Haziq Mahmud – 30th May 2024

Lumpur International Airport saw up to 4,500 migrant workers arriving on May 27, about four to nine times the usual number.

Videos circulating on social media showed crowds of migrant workers at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is seeing four to nine times more migrant worker arrivals as employers rush to bring them in before a Friday (May 31) deadline.

Videos circulating on social media show throngs of migrant workers in the gate area of the airport’s two terminals, some of them sitting and lying on the floor.

Malaysia’s Immigration Department said in a statement on Thursday that since May 22, 2,500 migrant workers have arrived each day, with this figure increasing to between 4,000 and 4,500 on Monday.

This is compared to the usual 500 to 1,000 daily arrivals of these migrant workers prior, the department said.

It also warned that it expects the number to increase until Friday, based on information received from airlines that had added more flights into the country “to meet demands”. 

Related:

Malaysia’s bid to revamp hiring of foreign workers faces pushback; activists say country’s reputation at stake

‘Limit their numbers’: Malaysia’s scammed, jobless migrant workers problem highlights its foreign labour dependence

The department attributed this increase to eleventh hour efforts by employers to bring in foreign workers before the Friday deadline, which the government had brought forward in line with a decision to cancel employers’ quotas for migrant workers who have not obtained entry visas with reference after Mar 31.

On Mar 8, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said this would enable the government to accurately measure the need for foreign manpower in the country, before considering the need to open up new quotas for the intake of more foreign workers, local media reported.

Industry players and activists criticised the move, saying that the visa application took months to process and that the prospect of missing the deadline could force employers to cut corners in bringing in already vulnerable migrant workers.

Since last year, thousands of migrants, mostly from Bangladesh and Nepal, have been left in limbo after arriving in Malaysia, where they were told that jobs promised to them in exchange for steep recruitment fees were no longer available.

But Mr Saifuddin resisted calls to reverse the decision and stick with the original Sep 30 deadline, citing reasons of national security.

The number of foreign workers, based on approved quotas so far, could already hit the government-set limit by May 31, he said then.

According to local media reports, there are some 2.17 million foreign workers already at work in Malaysia.

The immigration department said on Thursday that all migrant workers arriving in Malaysia need to be vetted and undergo health check-ups at KLIA.

“We urge employers to give their full cooperation by being present to settle the immigration process for their workers, which will reduce congestion in the arrival halls,” it added.

The department said it is working with Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, which manages KLIA, to take “immediate steps” in ensuring the comfort of other passengers.

This includes adding immigration counters and officers to speed up the vetting and validation process and manage the huge crowds, as well as providing food and water for the migrant workers in the airport.

“The department will continue to monitor and improve the situation,” it said.

30th May 2024: Employers rushing to bring in foreign workers before June 1 deadline

Original Source: FMT by FMT Reporters – 30th May 2024

Immigration director-general Ruslin Jusoh says KLIA Terminal 1 and 2 usually receive 500 to 1,000 foreign workers daily, but the number reached 4,500 on May 27.

PETALING JAYA: The large number of foreign workers arriving at KLIA Terminal 1 and 2 is due to employers rushing to bring them into the country before the June 1 deadline, says immigration director-general Ruslin Jusoh.

On March 1, the home ministry announced that unused quotas for foreign workers would be cancelled on June 1 as it wanted to free up quotas for the hiring of foreign workers – which was frozen in March last year – by cancelling allocations given that were not used up as of May 31.

null

Responding to a viral video on the large number of foreign workers at KLIA Terminal 1, Ruslin attributed this to employers bringing in foreign workers “at the last minute” before May 31.

Ruslin explained that while KLIA Terminal 1 and 2 usually receive 500 to 1,000 foreign workers daily, the number increased to 2,500 on May 22 and reached between 4,000 and 4,500 on May 27.null

“The immigration department expects the number of arrivals to continue increasing until tomorrow. This is based on information from airlines that they will increase the frequency of flights to meet demand,” he said in a statement.

Ruslin said the immigration department is working with Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd to manage congestion and ensure the comfort of KLIA’s passengers.

Apart from opening more counters to expedite the screening and verification of foreign workers, Ruslin said the immigration department has also increased the number of immigration officers at KLIA Terminal 1 and 2 to manage the influx.

Ruslin also said the foreign workers are being provided food and beverages.

He said the immigration department said it will continue to monitor the influx of foreign workers and urged employers to cooperate by expediting the immigration screening process for their workers. This is to reduce congestion at arrival halls.

30th May 2024: Last-minute recruitment cause of high foreign worker arrivals at KLIA and KLIA 2, says Immigration DG

Original Source: The Star by Farik Zolekpli – 30th May 2024

KUALA LUMPUR: The recent high arrivals of foreign workers at KLIA and KLIA2 were due to last-minute recruitment by employers as May 31 looms, says Datuk Ruslin Jusoh.

The Immigration Department director-general said such actions occurred following the government’s decision to set May 31 as the deadline for employers to bring in foreign workers.

“Furthermore, each foreign worker who enters Malaysia has to go through a review and confirmation of health checks at the airports.

“Normally, about 500 to 1,000 foreign workers would arrive (in the country) daily. However, the number has increased to 2,500 a day on May 22 and between 4,000 to 4,500 daily on May 27,” he said in a statement on Thursday (May 30).

The department expects the number of foreign worker arrivals to continue to spike until May 31 based on information from airlines, who have increased their flights to meet the demand, Ruslin said.

“The department and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad have taken immediate measures to manage the congestion to ensure the comfort of other passengers at the airports,” he added.

Ruslin said among the measures that will be implemented are increasing the number of counters to expedite the review and confirmation process and increasing the number of Immigration personnel to manage the arrivals of many foreign workers.

“We will also prepare sufficient food and drinks for the foreign workers at the terminals.

“The department will continue to monitor and improve the situation when the need arises.

“We urge employers to give their full cooperation by being at the airports promptly to settle the immigration inspection process for their foreign workers and thus lessening the congestion at the arrival halls,” he said.

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

Original Source: Malaysakini by Ili Aqilah – 30th May 2024

• UPDATED 6.43PM | Added comments from rights groups Tenaganita and North-South Initiative.

The influx of migrants at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport is due to local employers rushing to meet tomorrow’s deadline to bring in workers.

In a statement, Immigration Department director Ruslin Jusoh noted that the incoming migrant workers would also have to be subjected to checks and health screening at the airport upon arrival.

“Under normal circumstances, the daily number of migrant workers’ arrival is between 500 and 1,000 people. The arrival number increased to up to 2,500 people on May 22 and by May 27, it was between 4,000 and 4,500 individuals daily.

“The department expects the number to increase further until May 31, based on airlines increasing their flight frequencies to cope with the demand,” he said.

To cope with the influx, Ruslin said that it was working with Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad to implement several steps, including increasing the number of counters to expedite the checking and verification process and adding more immigration officers to manage the large influx of migrant workers.

In addition, the migrants at the terminal are also provided with food and drinks while they are at the terminal, the department assured.

In March, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said his ministry would not extend the May 31 deadline for hiring migrant workers through the Labour Recalibration Programme 2.0

Ruslin added that his team would continue to monitor and improve the situation and prompt employers to cooperate by promptly attending to the immigration screening process for their employees, which would further reduce congestion at the arrival hall.

‘Shocking situation’

Meanwhile, Tenaganita executive director Glorene A Das said their consultant had visited KLIA earlier and was shocked by the situation.

She told Malaysiakini that many migrant workers arrived without any information about their employment status, which has been a recurring issue in recent years.

Tenaganita executive director Glorene A Das

“Based on our findings, many of these workers do not have immediate employment or employers ready for them.

“Our consultant, Aziz Abdul Ismail, told us that almost all of them might be in debt bondage,” she said, adding all of them are from Bangladesh.

Glorene also said many of the migrant workers have not passed the immigration gate and are still waiting for their employers and agents to assist them.

“This is precisely why Malaysia must develop and implement a comprehensive national policy to regulate the recruitment, placement and employment of migrants,” she emphasised.

Meanwhile, Adrian Pereira, executive director of North-South Initiative, called the influx “abnormal” and questioned what would happen to the workers if their employers did not come to get them.

As some workers may have already paid recruitment fees to agents and bogus employers, Adrian suspected that the influx could indicate forced labour and human trafficking.

“We have never seen such a scene like this before. The people who have money now will try to bring in as many workers as they can, as fast as they can. But what happens to the workers if they don’t have jobs?” he asked.

Background Reading

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

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 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

Prothomalo 30th May 2024 – Malaysia labour market: Four MPs’ business booms after joining ‘syndicate’

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 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 appeared first on Andy Hall.

UK ministers announced in May 2024 that the seasonal worker visa scheme would be extended until 2029. United Nations experts raised serious concerns about the risk of exploitation of migrant workers on UK farms with the Foreign Office just weeks before the visa scheme was extended.

Original Source: The Independent by Emiliano Mellino and Holly Bancroft

Migrant fruit pickers who come to the UK to work on farms are being saddled with debts before they arrive. Some have reported exploitation on the farms, including punishment for not meeting targets, discrimination, and poor living and working conditions.

The workers pay middlemen who help them get jobs through the government’s seasonal worker scheme, which has been extended to 2029.

In a letter sent in March to the foreign secretary David Cameron, and only recently made public, four UN special rapporteurs expressed concerns about reports of abuse taking place through the scheme.

They said that, while the UK government recognises that migrants on the seasonal worker visa “may be more vulnerable and open to exploitation than other workers”, the oversight of the farms has been “insufficient”.

They raised a number of individual cases, which they claimed “illustrate the general, underlying shortcomings in ensuring decent working and living conditions of migrant workers in the country”.

The UN special rapporteurs criticised regulators the Health and Safety Executive and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority for not appearing to “have taken timely and adequate action”.

They criticised the way the visa scheme was set up, which the experts said was “stopping many workers from reporting exploitation”.

The special rapporteurs, who are the UN’s independent experts on human rights issues, told the government they had similar concerns about the health and care worker visa.

—

See also Independent 2nd June 2024: Vulnerable workers coming to UK in post-Brexit deal at risk of bullying and sexual harassment, report finds

—

In early May, environment secretary Steve Barclay extended the seasonal worker visa for five years to 2029, citing the labour shortages in the farming industry.

A total of 43,000 visas are available in the horticulture sector in 2025, with another 2,000 visas for poultry, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said.

Labour MP John McDonnell said urgent work is needed to stop exploitation in the farming sector. 

He said: “Migrant workers are the most exploited section of what has become known as the precariat. Their exploitation and the appalling treatment they receive at the hands of often brutal profiteering employers verges on modern day slavery. We urgently need comprehensive strong legislation and enforcement to tackle this stain on our economy.”

Much of the UN letter focused on allegations of underpayment and poor working conditions at Haygrove Ltd, one of the UK’s biggest fruit producers, and the recruitment of workers by Fruitful Jobs, one of the government-licensed recruiters for the seasonal worker visa scheme.

In response to the UN letter, Fruitful Jobs said it could not comment on the concerns rapporteurs had with the wider industry, but refuted any allegations against Fruitful Jobs. It made clear that Fruitful Jobs does not request or facilitate any form of payment from migrant workers for recruitment services. 

Haygrove also disputed the allegations, saying that it treats workers well, adhering to all standards. Haygrove said that in a recent Home Office audit no evidence of wrongdoing, labour exploitation or modern slavery was found. 

Last year, a Bureau of Investigative Journalism investigation spoke to Latin American workers, employed at Haygrove, who claimed they were not paid for all the hours they worked, were punished by being denied work, and had faced bullying on the farm. One person said they were physically assaulted by a supervisor. 

Haygrove, which has fruit-growing farms in the UK, South Africa and Portugal, has denied all the allegations. It refuted any allegation of bullying or discrimination, and said pickers were paid for all the hours that they worked. It said the company was not aware of the alleged incident with the supervisor as no formal complaint was raised but that it would investigate.

In the letter, the UN special rapporteurs said the Home Office decided that there were reasonable grounds to conclude that four workers employed by Haygrove could have been victims of modern slavery. In all four cases a final decision is pending. The special rapporteurs wrote that based on the information they received, some of the individuals would fall under the definition of victims of trafficking. 

Haygrove said the UN experts’ views “give the false impression that there are serious and systemic issues with the way in which Haygrove’s seasonal workers are treated in the UK”, adding that it refutes such allegations “in the strongest terms”. 

Haygrove said the reported concerns related to an isolated incident of discontent amongst workers in July last year. It added that, while the company recognised some workers on UK farms paid high fees to secure employment, this was not the case for workers recruited by Fruitful Jobs or working on Haygrove’s farms. 

In its response, the government said it would not comment on ongoing investigations and that those who are “interested in the fair and unbiased application of the law” should “refrain from unhelpful public commentary or speculation”. It added that licensed recruiters known as “scheme operators” are responsible for placing workers on farms and ensuring their welfare. Failure to comply with rules “could” result in these recruiters losing their licences, it said. 

The seasonal worker visa scheme was launched in 2019 to address labour shortages in the agricultural sector, which were expected to be exacerbated by the UK’s exit from the European Union. The scheme was rapidly expanded from an initial 2,500 workers coming in the first year, to more than 30,000 last year. Earlier this month the government announced that the scheme would be extended until 2029.

Robyn Phillips, director of operations at the Human Trafficking Foundation, said addressing the exploitation of workers on certain visas, such as the seasonal worker visa, health and care visa and overseas domestic worker visa “must be a key consideration for a future government”. 

The letter was signed by the special rapporteurs on contemporary forms of slavery, on the human rights of migrants, and on trafficking in persons, as well as the chair-rapporteur of the working group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises.

A government spokesperson said: “The seasonal worker route has been running for five years, and each year improvements have been made to stop exploitation and clamp down on poor working conditions while people are in the UK.

“We have a set of published requirements for organisations holding a sponsorship licence which make clear that those who benefit directly from migration are responsible for ensuring the immigration system is not abused. We will always take decisive action where we believe abusive practices are taking place or the conditions of the seasonal workers route are not met.” 

Bureau of Investigative Journalism 29th May 2024: Government expanded visa scheme weeks after UN raised alarm over people trafficking

Original Source: The Bureau of Investigative Journalism by By Emiliano Mellino  and Holly Bancroft – 29th May 2024

Experts wrote to David Cameron in March warning that workers on a UK farm could be victims of modern slavery

This story was published in partnership with:

Some migrant farm workers on a UK government visa scheme were allegedly trafficked to the country, according to United Nations human rights experts.

In a letter sent to David Cameron, the UK’s foreign secretary, four UN special rapporteurs said the government knew that workers were at risk of exploitation and its oversight of the farms had been “insufficient”. Weeks after receiving the letter, the government extended the scheme until 2029.

The letter detailed how migrant workers have reportedly been deceived about working and living conditions, and had faced abuses including discrimination, mistreatment, wage theft, low salaries and punishment for not meeting targets. 

The laws and practices around the visa scheme made seasonal workers particularly vulnerable to exploitation, the experts said. They added that systemic change was needed.‘The appalling treatment of migrant workers verges on modern-day slavery’

“Given the conditions reported to us, we are concerned that [regulatory] entities do not appear to have taken timely and adequate action,” read the letter, which was sent in March and made public in mid-May.

Labour MP John McDonnell said overseas workers are among the most exploited people in the farming sector. He called for urgent protections for them.

“[Migrant workers’] exploitation and the appalling treatment they receive at the hands of often brutal, profiteering employers verges on modern-day slavery,” he said. “We urgently need comprehensive, strong legislation and enforcement to tackle this stain on our economy.”

Much of the UN experts’ letter focused on allegations of underpayment and poor working conditions at Haygrove Ltd, one of the UK’s biggest fruit producers, and Fruitful Jobs, one of the government-licensed recruiters for the visa scheme.

Last year, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) reported allegations that Latin American workers employed at Haygrove had not been paid for all the hours they had worked, had been punished by being denied work and had faced bullying on the farm. One person had been physically assaulted by a supervisor, colleagues said. 

About 90 Haygrove workers staged a wildcat strike and some were told by the managing director of Fruitful Jobs that if they continued to protest, their visas would be revoked.

Read more stories in this project

‘All that is missing is a whip’: Home Office ignored migrant worker abuses on farms

‘It’s almost the same as living on the street’: this is how people picking your vegetables have to live

UK government ‘breaching international law’ with seasonal worker scheme, says UN envoy

Watchdog criticises Home Office for dropping farm worker visa review

Haygrove told TBIJ at the time that it rejected all allegations of wrongdoing in the “strongest terms” and had found no evidence of any mistreatment by supervisors. Fruitful Jobs said the managing director had been trying to resolve the issues with the workers.

The Home Office believes that four of the workers at Haygrove could have been victims of modern slavery, according to the UN experts’ letter.

They wrote that, based on the information they had received, these people would fall under the definition of victims of trafficking.

The experts also sent letters to Haygrove and Fruitful Jobs. They asked for clarification on what was being done to protect workers and called for compensation for those who had been victims of modern slavery.

The UN officials said they had received reports that Haygrove had promised people future work in order to “prevent them from reporting the labour exploitation suffered at the farm”.

The workers had been referred to the government’s scheme designed to support modern slavery victims, known as the national referral mechanism (NRM). In some cases, though, they were not receiving help with housing, mental health, healthcare or repatriation, according to the special rapporteurs.

One of the workers, who subsequently went to London, has “reportedly been deceived and abused by UK citizens who have employed him for small jobs without paying him”, the letter said. 

In a response published last week, the government said it would not comment on individual allegations. It said licensed recruiters, known as “scheme operators”, are responsible for placing workers on farms and ensuring their welfare. Failure to comply with rules could result in the recruiters losing their sponsor licence. 

The government also acknowledged that decision making on the NRM was slow, but said a new compliance team had been established to monitor the seasonal worker visa. 

It said 1,116 workers were interviewed at 144 farms in the 2022-23 season. That figure represents a decline in the number of workers interviewed at each farm, from an average of 44 in 2021 and 2022 to just under eight, according to inspection reports seen by TBIJ.

After being contacted by TBIJ, Haygrove and Fruitful Jobs sent separate responses to the UN letter. Haygrove chairman Angus Davison wrote that the allegations were “materially incorrect” and gave a “false impression” that there were systemic issues “akin to labour exploitation or modern slavery” in how the company treated its workers in the UK. 

He said that workers are fully informed about the terms and conditions of their employment and are paid at least the national living wage, with legal deductions for accommodation offsets and wage advances only.

Davison said that Haygrove would be paying workers for the time they spent travelling between company sites as “a goodwill gesture” in 2024.

He said the farm offered future employment opportunities “not [as] a means to silence complaints but to provide continued work for those who wish to return”.

Responding to the UN special rapporteurs, Fruitful Jobs said it “strongly refutes any allegations”. It said its recruitment process was open, transparent and complied with minimum wage legislation. It said it took the issues around the experience of workers at Haygrove seriously and works closely with farms to provide workers with a formal complaints mechanism.

The seasonal worker visa scheme was introduced in 2019 to address labour shortages in the agricultural sector, which were expected to be exacerbated by the UK’s exit from the European Union.

The scheme has been rapidly expanded from an initial 2,500 workers coming in the first year, to more than 30,000 in 2023. This month, the government announced that the scheme would continue to be extended until 2029.

The letter was signed by Tomoya Obokata, the special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Gehad Madi, the special rapporteur on human rights of migrants, and Siobhán Mullally, the special rapporteur on trafficking in persons. It was also signed by Robert McCorquodale, the chair-rapporteur of the working group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises.

Additional Reading:

See also Independent 2nd June 2024: Vulnerable workers coming to UK in post-Brexit deal at risk of bullying and sexual harassment, report finds

BHRRC 23rd May 2024: UK – Leading supermarkets asked to meet costs of implementing the Employer Pays Principle across supply chains by civil society group (see 9th May 2024 below); incl. company responses

Bloomberg 22nd May 2024: Fruit Picker Who Said Her Hands Bled From Work Sues UK Employer

Seasonal Worker Scheme Taskforce Update 17th May 2024: SWS Taskforce update on Employer Pays Principle study

GROCER 10th May 2024: SOURCING Workers’ groups call on supermarkets to pay seasonal labour fees – The groups said there are risks farmers will be unable to comply to new rules

Guardian 9th May 2024: UK Government says employers may be required to pay travel and visa costs for people getting seasonal worker visas

9th May 2024: Landworker’s Alliance and Allies call for UK supermarkets to pay recruitment related fees and costs for migrant workers

April 30th 2024: BBC World –England again employs seasonal fruit pickers from Indonesia (translation)

The Grocer 30th Apr 2024: Growers brace for up to £90m in additional seasonal worker costs in UK in move towards internationally compliant zero cost responsible recruitment model for vulnerable migrant workers

3rd April 2024: Financial Times (London) UK employment – Britain’s seasonal worker scheme leaves many migrants in debt, research finds

3rd April 2024: Independent – Migrant fruit pickers saddled with debts of up to £5,500 to come to UK through government scheme

26th January 2024: UK Seasonal Worker Scheme Modern Slavery Issues: Indonesian seasonal fruit pickers landed in debt bondage challenges Home Office

26th Jan 2024: ATLEU – UK government fails to protect workers from trafficking and exploitation

26th Jan 2024: ATLEU – Challenge to government’s Seasonal Worker Scheme

25th Jan 2024 Home Office: UK government survey on experiences of seasonal workers scheme confirms the exceptionally high levels of issues (confusion, fees etc) faced by Indonesian and Nepali workers in 2021/2022

24th Jan 2024: ATLEU – Seasonal worker recognised as a potential victim of trafficking

20th Jan 2024 Independent: Migrant fruit picker may have been modern slavery victim under Home Office scheme, government finds

12th January 2024: UK government ‘breaching international law’ with seasonal worker scheme, says UN envoy

2nd Dec 2023 Independent: Nepali Migrant fruit picker who ‘struggled to buy food after being underpaid by British farm’ sues employers

FLEX 6th Nov 2023 – FLEX on the House of Lords Horticultural Committee report

6th Nov 2023: UK government complicit in exploitation of farm workers – Bureau of Investigative Journalism

FLEX 26th Oct 2023 – Seasonal Workers’ Rights; Who’s Responsible?

25th Oct 2023: DEFRA Former Secretary – Seasonal Worker Scheme should be taken away from Home Office to prevent continued abuses.

20th Sept 2023: Worker interest groups’ statement on leaving the UK ‘Seasonal Worker Scheme Taskforce’.

27th July 2023 Maplecroft: UK’s Seasonal Worker Scheme Raising Human Rights Concerns in the Food Sector.

21st July 2023: Vulnerable UK migrant workers at risk as audits of farm recruiters stall

23rd June 2023 – ‘They’re afraid’: Seasonal farm workers in the UK face poor conditions and visa hurdles.

17th March 2023 BHRRC Blog Series: UK Seasonal Worker Scheme Endangers Vulnerable Foreign Workers. (My Op Ed) 

16th March 2023: Labour agencies to face supermarket scrutiny over foreign worker exploitation claims in UK seasonal worker scheme.

11th March 2023: ‘UK Seasonal Workers Scheme Taskforce’ to fund audits to prevent worker exploitation.

23rd February 2023: Farm workers on UK seasonal visas to be guaranteed 32 hours a week

Other stories on challenges of UK seasonal worker scheme: 

1. Working in the UK: Hundreds of Indonesian Citizens Escape, More Than 1,200 Workers from Indonesia Threatened to Cancel (BBC, 16th Feb 2023)

2. AG Recruitment, UK recruiter of debt-hit Indonesian and Nepali migrant workers, loses seasonal workers scheme license following forced labour related allegations, worker abscondments and asylum claims (Guardian, 10th Feb 2023)

3. Indonesian former fruit pickers become illegal immigrants and asylum seekers in the UK – ‘This is the easiest shortcut’ (BBC, 26th Jan 2023)

4. Home Office accepts recommendations in Chief Inspector’s report on immigration system as it relates to the agricultural sector (Freeths, 16^th Jan 2023)

5. Immigration: Investors warn food companies about risk of forced labour on UK farms (Financial Times 19^th Dec 2022)

6. Investor statement on the UK Seasonal Worker Scheme (Public Investor Statement 19^th Dec 2022)

7. Hundreds of Indonesian fruit pickers in UK seek diplomatic help  (Guardian, 2^nd Dec 2022)

8. Seasonal worker visa puts migrants at risk of exploitation, say supermarkets (Guardian, 2^nd Dec 2022)

9. Seasonal fruit pickers from Nepal left thousands in debt after being sent home early from UK farms (Guardian, 13^th Nov 2022)

10. Indonesia to investigate claims fruit pickers in UK seasonal agricultural workers scheme charged thousands to work in Kent (Guardian, 29^th Aug 2022)

The post 29th May 2024: UK ministers pressed ahead with seasonal worker visa scheme for migrants despite UN experts’ warning of forced labour and human trafficking risks appeared first on Andy Hall.

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

Original Source: FMT by Jason Thomas 28 May 2024

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.null

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.

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 

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 complaints by 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: 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:

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 

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

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

10th 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’

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 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) appeared first on Andy Hall.

UN forum is told that such confusion can lead to traffickers getting away with lesser employment-related charges in the courts

Original Source: FMT by Predeep Nambiar – 22nd May 2024

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s battle against human trafficking is being undermined by a critical issue within its law enforcement practices, a United Nations forum heard.

According to human rights and anti-trafficking expert Corrine Dettmeijer, law enforcement agencies here are mixing up human trafficking with migrant smuggling.

She was speaking at a Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (Cedaw) high-level dialogue in Geneva, which was aired live online today.

Dettmeijer, a former rapporteur on human trafficking and sexual violence against children, said this “misidentification” severely hampered enforcement of anti-trafficking laws and the proper identification of trafficked women and girls.

“The state party has increased its efforts in prosecuting human trafficking through the amended Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act,” she said.

“However, law enforcement often conflates trafficking with migrant smuggling, which undermines the identification and protection of trafficking victims,” she said.

This mix-up, she said, resulted in human trafficking exploiting labour, potentially facing lesser penalties under the Employment Act 1955, instead of the harsher penalties prescribed under the anti-trafficking laws.

“Trafficking and smuggling are distinct crimes with different impacts on victims. Effective enforcement requires a clear understanding and differentiation between the two,” she said.

Dettmeijer also highlighted corruption within government ranks.

“Government officials have been reported to profit from bribes, and the extortion and exploitation of migrants. This increases the cost of migration and consequently increases migrant workers’ vulnerability to trafficking through debt-based coercion.

“What steps has Malaysia taken to investigate and address the alleged complicity of public officials in human trafficking?” she asked.

Dettmeijer asked how these practices aligned with the country’s national action plan on anti-trafficking in persons (2021-2025), which focused on victim protection.

The Malaysian delegation at the meeting said the government was committed to investigating these allegations and strengthening anti-trafficking measures.

Meanwhile, Cedaw committee member Bandana Rana asked about dress codes imposed on Muslim women in Malaysia.

“The special rapporteur on cultural rights has highlighted the impact of a de facto dress code for Malaysian Muslim women in many contexts.

“What steps are being taken to ensure that dress codes are not made mandatory and that women have the freedom to choose the attire they wish to wear?” she asked, adding that a woman’s right to personal expression and freedom of choice must be protected.

In response, Zurshida Murni Abd Hamid from the Attorney-General’s Chambers said the government had no laws on dress codes.

“While guidelines have been introduced to ensure decorum, the government does not impose any dress code by way of laws for the public or in government offices,” she said, adding that freedom of expression, including the choice of attire, was protected under the Federal Constitution.

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

Original Source: FMT by Faisal Asyraf – 22nd May 2024

The human resources minister says Bangladeshi workers were not trafficked, but were victims of employers who abused their quotas.

PUTRAJAYA: Incidents of Bangladeshi workers being duped into travelling to Malaysia for non-existent jobs will not impact the upcoming Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, human resources Steven Sim said.

Sim brushed off such concerns as the foreigners had not been trafficked.

“It is an abuse of the quota by employers,” he told reporters, referring to quota applications to hire migrant workers.

“We have taken action, along with the home minister, since December, including against the employers.”

Sim was speaking to reporters after attending a joint committee meeting between the home ministry and his ministry on the management of foreign workers. Also present was home minister Saifuddin Ismail Nasution.

He was asked to comment on activists’ fears that Malaysia was at risk of being downgraded to Tier 3 in the TIP Report, expected to be published next month, in view of criticisms by UN experts and major international agencies, alongside concerns of recruitment quota fraud.

The TIP Report, published by the US Department of State, is an annual assessment that evaluates global trafficking trends, focusing on government efforts in prosecution, protection and prevention.

Malaysia is on Tier 2 (watch list) of the ranking, placing it among countries that do not fully comply with US minimum standards but are making significant efforts to do so.

The plight of Bangladeshi workers, who now account for the lion’s share of migrant labour in Malaysia, has taken centre stage recently.

Early this month, three international organisations expressed concern over allegations that some of these workers were duped into coming to Malaysia on promises of non-existent jobs.

Sim said his ministry has been working “very hard” to ensure there is no abuse of policies related to hiring migrant workers.

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

By Andy Hall / 14/05/2024 / 16 minutes of reading

14th May 2024: FMT – Activists warn of US trafficking report downgrade for Malaysia amid UN criticism (includes my full public statement calling for a Tier 3 downgrade for Malaysia)

Migrant rights activist Andy Hall highlights US trafficking report and says Malaysia’s failure to tackle labour trafficking could lead to a drop to Tier 3 in the upcoming US TIP report.

Original Source: FMT by Jason Thomas and Amirul Aiman – 14th May 2024 

PETALING JAYA: Activists fear Malaysia is at risk of being downgraded to Tier 3 in the upcoming Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report in view of criticisms by UN experts and major international agencies, alongside concerns of recruitment quota fraud.

Migrant rights activist Andy Hall said Malaysia’s systemic failure to effectively combat labour trafficking justified an immediate downgrade in the TIP report issued by the US State Department.

Hall claimed that despite repeated red flags raised to Malaysian authorities on allegations of trafficking, there has been little to no action on their part.

Most of these cases have also been shared with the US State Department, he told FMT.nullPlay

“Based on many years of unsuccessful engagement with the Malaysian government on these and other similar cases of alleged human trafficking and forced labour, I conclude that a failed migrant work management and recruitment system persists in the country,” he said.

He claimed the system fostered impunity, lacked adherence to the rule of law and provided little to no accountability over the plight of victims.

The TIP Report is an annual assessment that evaluates global trafficking trends, focusing on government efforts in prosecution, protection and prevention.

Malaysia is now on Tier 2 (watch list) of the ranking, placing it among countries that do not fully comply with US minimum standards but are making significant efforts to do so.

The country’s ranking was upgraded to Tier 2 (watch list) last year after being downgraded to Tier 3 – which put it at risk of possible export sanctions – in 2021. Malaysia was in Tier 3 in 2022 as well.

The plight of Bangladeshi workers, who now account for the lion’s share of migrant labour in Malaysia, has taken centre stage lately.

Early this month, three international organisations expressed concern over allegations that some of these workers were duped into coming to Malaysia on promises of non-existent jobs.

The International Organization for Migration, International Labour Organization and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said they were ready to support efforts to meet the immediate needs of those stranded.

The three organisations said their efforts would include enhancing the migrant workers’ access to justice and basic services as well as long-term efforts to find rights-based and sustainable solutions to their problem.

In April, a group of experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council urged Malaysia to enhance protection for Bangladeshi migrant workers who have been lured into the country with false promises of jobs.

This was in response to multiple reports of migrants being deceived into signing up for jobs in non-existent companies in Malaysia.

These workers put themselves at risk of being detained, mistreated and deported.

Hall described human resources minister Steven Sim’s assurances of action as “woefully inadequate”.

Sim had announced last Thursday that a special unit within the labour department would be set up to address complaints from migrant workers.

Hall said there was already a pattern of lacklustre engagement and insufficient measures to address the core issues.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia migrant desk coordinator Mohana Rani Rasiah warned that the government’s “sluggish and ineffective” response to the migrant worker issue will further diminish Malaysia’s reputation on the international stage.

“The recruitment quota fraud crisis is bound to affect our ranking. There is an urgent need for new standard operating procedures (SOPs) to help labour departments address the grievances of victims,” she said.

Mohana said enforcement agencies also need to adopt new SOPs to protect the highly vulnerable workers, especially those whose passports have been confiscated.

“Putrajaya must not show any leniency to the perpetrators. We must ensure justice for the workers and their families,” she added.

14th May 2024: FMT – Malaysia berisiko turun taraf laporan TIP, aktivis beri amaran (Malaysian language version)

Original Source: FMT by Jason Thomas and Amirul Aiman – 14th May 2024

Aktivis hak migran Andy Hall berkata kegagalan kerajaan menangani pemerdagangan buruh boleh menyebabkan Malaysia jatuh ke Tahap 3 dalam laporan TIP akan datang.

For Immediate Release 14th May 2024 – Malaysia: Tier 3 on US TIP Report

Statement by Andy Hall, Independent Migrant Worker Rights Specialist

In June 2023, the Malaysian government was upgraded from Tier 3 to Tier 2 Watch-List in the US Department of State’s Annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. 

Malaysia 2024 TIP statement FINAL TWO.docxDownload

The report outlined that although some improvements were seen in counter-trafficking efforts, ‘Delays in prosecution, insufficient interagency coordination and inadequate services for victims discouraged them from remaining in Malaysia to participate in criminal proceedings and continued to hinder successful anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts.”

Throughout 2023 and early 2024, during the 2024 TIP report reporting period (1st Apr 2023 to 31st Mar 2024), I brought numerous cases to the attention of the Malaysian Minister of Human Resources. Most of these cases have been shared with the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, the US Department of Labour and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). 

Many of these cases concern an alleged criminal syndicate trafficking hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia, who 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 these complaints and much media publicity, no effective action has been taken by the Malaysian government 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, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) raised concerns.

Highlighting conditions which workers from Bangaladesh in Malaysia are facing, the UN Special Rapporteurs for Modern Slavery, Trafficking in Persons, Human Rights of Migrants and the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rightscalled on Bangladesh and Malaysia to identify and protect and assist victims of exploitation and to enforce existing legal protections against trafficking in persons. The joint statement also highlighted both government’s failures to hold certain high-level officials involved in this abusive situation accountable. 

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 Bangaldeshi 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.

Media reports on 10th May 2024 outline the first 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. 

In late 2023 and early 2024 when 171 Bangladeshi workers who were left stranded without jobs in Pengerang attempted to lodge complaints, they were arrested and detained. The Minister’s involvement led to a similar statement about ‘efforts that will be taken.’ Most of these workers remain uncompensated, unemployed and in situations akin to acute modern slavery. 

Likewise more than 100 Bangladeshi workers left stranded without jobs in Cheras and in destitution were taken to the only Malaysian government shelter for victims of human trafficking in Melaka in February 2024. After the Minister’s commitments to support the victims and hold accountable those involved in any wrongdoing, and after weeks of involuntary detention, the workers were released back to their employer. 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. 

Two US CBP withhold release orders remain active after almost 3 years on Malaysian gloves and palm oil products, blocking Brightway Holdings Sdn Bhd and FGV Holdings Berhad from exporting to the U.S. due to forced labour concerns.

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. 

Malaysia’s systemic inability to meaningfully combat labour trafficking, ensure remediation of victims and accountability of perpetrators warrants its immediate downgrade to Tier 3 in the upcoming 2024 U.S. Department of State TIP Report.

Background Reading

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)

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 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?’’ appeared first on Andy Hall.

Migrant rights activist Andy Hall highlights US trafficking report and says Malaysia’s failure to tackle labour trafficking could lead to a drop to Tier 3 in the upcoming US TIP report.

Original Source: FMT by Jason Thomas and Amirul Aiman – 14th May 2024

PETALING JAYA: Activists fear Malaysia is at risk of being downgraded to Tier 3 in the upcoming Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report in view of criticisms by UN experts and major international agencies, alongside concerns of recruitment quota fraud.

Migrant rights activist Andy Hall said Malaysia’s systemic failure to effectively combat labour trafficking justified an immediate downgrade in the TIP report issued by the US State Department.

Hall claimed that despite repeated red flags raised to Malaysian authorities on allegations of trafficking, there has been little to no action on their part.

Most of these cases have also been shared with the US State Department, he told FMT.nullPlay

“Based on many years of unsuccessful engagement with the Malaysian government on these and other similar cases of alleged human trafficking and forced labour, I conclude that a failed migrant work management and recruitment system persists in the country,” he said.

He claimed the system fostered impunity, lacked adherence to the rule of law and provided little to no accountability over the plight of victims.

The TIP Report is an annual assessment that evaluates global trafficking trends, focusing on government efforts in prosecution, protection and prevention.

Malaysia is now on Tier 2 (watch list) of the ranking, placing it among countries that do not fully comply with US minimum standards but are making significant efforts to do so.

The country’s ranking was upgraded to Tier 2 (watch list) last year after being downgraded to Tier 3 – which put it at risk of possible export sanctions – in 2021. Malaysia was in Tier 3 in 2022 as well.

The plight of Bangladeshi workers, who now account for the lion’s share of migrant labour in Malaysia, has taken centre stage lately.

Early this month, three international organisations expressed concern over allegations that some of these workers were duped into coming to Malaysia on promises of non-existent jobs.

The International Organization for Migration, International Labour Organization and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said they were ready to support efforts to meet the immediate needs of those stranded.

The three organisations said their efforts would include enhancing the migrant workers’ access to justice and basic services as well as long-term efforts to find rights-based and sustainable solutions to their problem.

In April, a group of experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council urged Malaysia to enhance protection for Bangladeshi migrant workers who have been lured into the country with false promises of jobs.

This was in response to multiple reports of migrants being deceived into signing up for jobs in non-existent companies in Malaysia.

These workers put themselves at risk of being detained, mistreated and deported.

Hall described human resources minister Steven Sim’s assurances of action as “woefully inadequate”.

Sim had announced last Thursday that a special unit within the labour department would be set up to address complaints from migrant workers.

Hall said there was already a pattern of lacklustre engagement and insufficient measures to address the core issues.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia migrant desk coordinator Mohana Rani Rasiah warned that the government’s “sluggish and ineffective” response to the migrant worker issue will further diminish Malaysia’s reputation on the international stage.

“The recruitment quota fraud crisis is bound to affect our ranking. There is an urgent need for new standard operating procedures (SOPs) to help labour departments address the grievances of victims,” she said.

Mohana said enforcement agencies also need to adopt new SOPs to protect the highly vulnerable workers, especially those whose passports have been confiscated.

“Putrajaya must not show any leniency to the perpetrators. We must ensure justice for the workers and their families,” she added.

14th May 2024: FMT – Malaysia berisiko turun taraf laporan TIP, aktivis beri amaran (Malaysian language version)

Original Source: FMT by Jason Thomas and Amirul Aiman – 14th May 2024

Aktivis hak migran Andy Hall berkata kegagalan kerajaan menangani pemerdagangan buruh boleh menyebabkan Malaysia jatuh ke Tahap 3 dalam laporan TIP akan datang.

For Immediate Release 14th May 2024 – Malaysia: Tier 3 on US TIP Report

Statement by Andy Hall, Independent Migrant Worker Rights Specialist

In June 2023, the Malaysian government was upgraded from Tier 3 to Tier 2 Watch-List in the US Department of State’s Annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. 

The report outlined that although some improvements were seen in counter-trafficking efforts, ‘Delays in prosecution, insufficient interagency coordination and inadequate services for victims discouraged them from remaining in Malaysia to participate in criminal proceedings and continued to hinder successful anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts.”

Throughout 2023 and early 2024, during the 2024 TIP report reporting period (1st Apr 2023 to 31st Mar 2024), I brought numerous cases to the attention of the Malaysian Minister of Human Resources. Most of these cases have been shared with the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, the US Department of Labour and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). 

Many of these cases concern an alleged criminal syndicate trafficking hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia, who 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 these complaints and much media publicity, no effective action has been taken by the Malaysian government 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, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) raised concerns.

Highlighting conditions which workers from Bangaladesh in Malaysia are facing, the UN Special Rapporteurs for Modern Slavery, Trafficking in Persons, Human Rights of Migrants and the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rightscalled on Bangladesh and Malaysia to identify and protect and assist victims of exploitation and to enforce existing legal protections against trafficking in persons. The joint statement also highlighted both government’s failures to hold certain high-level officials involved in this abusive situation accountable. 

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 Bangaldeshi 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.

Media reports on 10th May 2024 outline the first 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. 

In late 2023 and early 2024 when 171 Bangladeshi workers who were left stranded without jobs in Pengerang attempted to lodge complaints, they were arrested and detained. The Minister’s involvement led to a similar statement about ‘efforts that will be taken.’ Most of these workers remain uncompensated, unemployed and in situations akin to acute modern slavery. 

Likewise more than 100 Bangladeshi workers left stranded without jobs in Cheras and in destitution were taken to the only Malaysian government shelter for victims of human trafficking in Melaka in February 2024. After the Minister’s commitments to support the victims and hold accountable those involved in any wrongdoing, and after weeks of involuntary detention, the workers were released back to their employer. 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. 

Two US CBP withhold release orders remain active after almost 3 years on Malaysian gloves and palm oil products, blocking Brightway Holdings Sdn Bhd and FGV Holdings Berhad from exporting to the U.S. due to forced labour concerns.

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. 

Malaysia’s systemic inability to meaningfully combat labour trafficking, ensure remediation of victims and accountability of perpetrators warrants its immediate downgrade to Tier 3 in the upcoming 2024 U.S. Department of State TIP Report.

Background Reading

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

I welcome the apparently prompt and decisive joint investigation by KDN, KSM and MAPO into my recent 23rd Feb 2024 complaint to Malaysian authorities, as publicised by the Malaysian media, regarding more victims of an alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers into Malaysia for forced labour who were left stranded and destitute in Cheras (see below for background media reports).

I applaud the joint operation which has followed this investigation, undertaken today, by Malaysia’s Ministry of Home Affairs (KDN/Immigration Department of Putrajaya), officers of the National Strategic Office of the Council for Anti-Trafficking in Persons (NSO MAPO) and the Ministry of Human Resources (KSM) (see below for media reports and official statement on todays operation).

I welcome the prompt rescue of and support to more of these allegedly traumatized and destitute, stranded victims of the alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers into Malaysia for forced labour.

These particular victims from Cheras area of Malaysia were reportedly today taken to JIM Putrajaya for documentation before being brought before a Magistrate to obtain a 21 day Interim Protection Order (IPO) as potential victims of human trafficking.

I hope that as a result of this operation and the ongoing investigations being undertaken jointly by KSM, MAPO and KDN that the victims in this Cheras abuse case will be fully compensated for their immense sufferings, akin to a situation of alleged forced labour, during the past months both in Bangladesh and Malaysia.

These workers were deceived into paying exorbitant recruitment fees in Bangladesh for non-existent full time jobs in Malaysia, to be paid at minimum wage levels. They should therefore be fully compensated at minimum wage levels for months spent waiting for a non existent job that was promised to them.

They should in addition have all recruitment costs and related fees paid by them in Bangladesh fully returned to them, with interest.

In addition, these workers should also be fully compensated for their suffering from the destitution that they have experienced as a result of their unemployment and isolation, as mentioned, akin to a situation of forced labour.

It is hoped these victims will also promptly be provided meaningful employment and be rehired by a responsible employer in decent work so that they can rebuild their lives and ensure their migration experience from Bangladesh to Malaysia is eventually a fruitful and positive one. These victims want work and rehabilitation, and not shelter and charity.

These potential human trafficking victims should also be treated humanely during their involuntary and imposed detention under the 21 day IPO in a government shelter. They should be fed properly, housed adequately and be given the freedom to communicate with the outside world and their families regarding their ongoing ordeal.

These alleged victims should not be repatriated against their will back to Bangladesh, as often happens to potential victims of human trafficking in Malaysia following the frequently failed and ineffective investigations into the alleged perpetrators of trafficking offenses committed against them.

I would like to encourage KDN, KSM and MAPO to promptly share the outcome of the investigation into human trafficking in this particular Cheras case within 21 days to the public or interested parties without first revoking the victim’s IPO and/or repatriating them involuntarily back to Bangladesh in debt or destitution.

In the event if KDN, KSM and MAPO do consider following investigation that this Cheras case is perhaps not a human trafficking case, the victims should be fully compensated anyhow, including with all their expenses spent to migrate to Malaysia and for lost wages and suffering (as mentioned above) before any involuntary repatriation to Bangladesh.

I do believe prosecution and enforcement of the newly introduced offense of forced labour (under s90B of the revised Employment Act 1955) and/or human trafficking in this case will however set an important precedent and have a deterrent impact for the better.

The newly introduced section 90B of the Employment Act 1955, concerning the offence of forced labour, prescribes a maximum fine of MYR 100,000 or imprisonment of up to 2 years or both for deceiving a worker and preventing them from proceeding beyond the place where their employment activity is done.

Even if workers in this case were not provided with any work at all, they have limited freedom of movement and essentially have been prevented from removing themselves from the control and authority of bogus employers, agents and middle men. Wrongs have been committed by various parties in subjecting the workers to conditions akin to forced labour, which should be prosecuted under section 90B.

Additionally, the Director-General of Labour has the power to summon and inquire into this offence pursuant to section 79 of the employment act and to institute criminal proceedings against offenders. Under section 87, the court more importantly may direct that a fine received under this Act be paid to the complainant as compensation.

Since Malaysia ratified the Forced Labour Protocol in March 2022, provisions in section 90B were designed for precisely the form of exploitation seen in this Cheras case. The Employment Act procedures are efficient and simple. Yet instead, complex and time consuming processes pursuant to trafficking legislation are frequently pursued, and will reportedly be pursued also in this case, according to the ministerial statement today.

One must question whether such human trafficking investigations are put on for political show or whether they are genuine and the most productive way ahead in these situations.

Usually in such trafficking cases, foreign workers are detained involuntarily in isolated shelters under temporary IPOs and then deported without remedy or compensation as prosecutions fall apart. This is not what most destitute victims of the current organised crimes syndicate have said they want in remedy to their distressing predicament.

Victims in stranded foreign worker cases, like the Cheras case, have stated that they need only a decent job and compensation, which can be provided to them through utilising s90B of the Employment Act. These victims have said they do not want to be further detained and/or deported in response to their situation. They do not want to be labelled as ‘trafficking victims’ if negative consequences result from this situation.

It is also important that decisive enforcement action is urgently taken, in line with upholding the rule of law and to address systemic impunity and corruption in foreign worker management in Malaysia at this time, both by KDN, MAPO, KSM and the Bangladeshi authorities.

This enforcement should be taken both against Malaysian employers, bogus Malaysian employers and outsource agents, recruitment intermediaries and corrupt officials both in Bangladesh and Malaysia who, like in this Cheras case, have been and continue to be complicit in Bangladeshi worker’s sufferings and who continue to reap profits from an active criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers into forced labour in Malaysia.

The perpetrators of the abuses against workers, like in today’s Cheras case, certainly should be subject to due process and penalised if found guilty. But any government investigation in this case and in others needs to move beyond immediate employers and recruiters to also investigate and take action against the organised crime syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers like these into Malaysia for forced labour (Related story – 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)

The Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission and all law enforcement agencies involved in corruption, organised crime and money laundering in the country need to also be brought into such an investigation. This would contribute to strengthening the rule of law and cracking down on systemic corruption, impunity and criminal syndicates that pervade migrant worker management processes across the country.

In addition, the enforcement action proposed in the joint ministerial statement today is focused on the employer – presumably a company. Both recruiters and hiring employers are jointly or severally responsible for the offences against the workers as the offences could not have occurred without their collusion.

It is also critical that directors, managers and officers of companies involved be jointly or severally charged of related offenses and blacklisted as per section 101B of the Employment Act 1955. It is insufficient to merely blacklist legal entities or companies.

Regarding an effective response to the current crisis of deceived and stranded foreign workers in Malaysia, the Ministers both also need to ensure that the response outlined in the Cheras case today also leads to established operating procedures for future responses by district level enforcers who receive complaints of or detect similar rights violations most frequently on a daily basis.

More proactive enforcement action is needed, and proactive investigation of conditions of foreign workers against all past foreign worker quotas issued is now essential and urgent.

The Cheras case is not a unique case. We have seen similar responses by KDN and KSM in the Pengerang case a few weeks ago. The positive response to this case by the ministers as outlined in their joint statement today, subject to the above concerns, needs to be replicated by officers in similar cases currently impacting 100,000s of victims of this organised crime network or syndicate that continues to traffick foreign workers into forced labour in Malaysia.

I suspect that there may at this time be many more than 100,000 victims of this active alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi workers for forced labour in Malaysia. Many more rescue operations and much more law enforcement activity is essential urgently if inroads are to be made in tackling the systemic corruption, impunity and undermining of the rule of law that is currently seen in Malaysia’s management of foreign workers and migration, of which this alleged criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshi victims for forced labour in Malaysia is just one small but significant part.

It remains concerning also, however, that even in the Pengerang case, workers still remain uncompensated, despite a landmark RM1.1m court order against their employer. Compensation needs to be getting into workers pockets urgently. And workers urgently need jobs. More can be done to ensure workers get the compensation they deserve and the jobs they need.

Todays events demonstrate some initial commitments by the Malaysian government to strengthen foreign workers’ welfare protections nationwide, enforce the rule of law and crack down on systemic corruption, impunity and criminal syndicates that currently pervade migrant worker management processes across the country. I repeat again therefore that; in my opinion, these developments are most welcome.

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

Original Article: FMT by FMT Reporters 26th February 2024

Ninety-four left without jobs, adequate food or proper living quarters.

PETALING JAYA: The company in Cheras which recruited 94 Bangladeshi workers but failed to provide them with jobs will face severe legal repercussions.

Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and human resources minister Steven Sim said the company that brought the workers to Malaysia last November had “abandoned” them and did not provide them with proper living quarters or adequate food.

“Decisive action will be taken by both ministries against the employers,” Saifuddin and Sim said in a joint statement.

“Employers who hire foreign workers must always take care of their welfare and make sure they comply with national legal standards.”

The migrant workers were taken to the Putrajaya immigration department to be documented before being brought before a magistrate to obtain an interim protection order.

Saifuddin and Sim agreed that the employers must face legal action under the Immigration Act 1959/63 for holding the workers’ passports, and the Employment Act 1955 for failing to pay them.

They will also face charges under the Employees’ Minimum Standards of Housing, Accommodations and Amenities Act 1990 for failing to provide proper accommodation, and will be investigated under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act (Atipsom) 2007.

Apart from cancelling their remaining quotas for foreign workers and their approval letters, the employers will be blacklisted from applying for foreign workers in the future, they said.

FMT reported that the workers had paid recruitment fees of between RM19,500 and RM21,700 to secure employment in Malaysia, where they were promised good living facilities and high-paying jobs.

Three of the workers interviewed by migrant labour rights activist Andy Hall said payment of the recruitment fees had pushed them into debt bondage as they had to borrow heavily.

They said their passports were confiscated upon arrival, and they suffered physical and verbal abuse. In addition, they were subjected to death threats by a man who picked them up at the airport.

The report said the workers lived in a confined space with only one toilet. They received inadequate food of mostly rice, lentils and mashed potatoes, with one worker claiming not to have been given food for up to four days after asking for updates on his job situation.

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

Original source: malaymail – 26th February 2024

Pembinaan Ricoler Sdn Bhd is facing legal action by the Home Ministry (KDN) and the Human Resources Ministry (KSM) for abandoning 93 of its Bangladeshi workers brought into the country in November 2023.

Both ministries launched investigations and found that the workers were abandoned without work or accommodation by their employer following online media reports on Feb 22.

“The employer also failed to ensure the welfare of its workers in terms of accommodation and meals,” Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Human Resource Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong said in a joint statement here today.

The rescued workers were brought to the Putrajaya Immigration Department for documentation process before taken to the magistrate to obtain interim protection orders, they said, and the employer is facing six charges, including under the Employees’ Minimum Standards of Housing, Accommodations and Amenities Act 1990, the Employment Act 1955, Section 12 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 and the Passport Act 1966.

“Finally our ministries are issuing a stern warning to all employers who hire foreign workers to always maintain their welfare and to comply with the laws of the country,” they added.

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

• A construction company allegedly brought the workers to Kuala Lumpur in November, only to leave them jobless and homeless for months
• An activist says dozens more people have yet to be rescued, in a case that highlights the risks that people from Bangladesh face when accepting jobs in Malaysia

Original source: SCMP by Hadi Azmi – 27th February 2024

Malaysian authorities are investigating a construction firm that allegedly brought in 93 Bangladeshi migrant workers, only to leave them languishing without jobs or accommodation, in a human-trafficking case that activists say could include employees who are yet unaccounted for.

The Ricoler Construction Company could face charges under several laws for failing to house its workers and pay them wages. It is also being probed for breaching anti-trafficking and anti-smuggling laws, which carry a 15-year prison sentence and fines.

The workers’ plight came to light after personnel from Malaysia’s immigration and anti-trafficking agencies on Monday rescued them from a shop in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Cheras, where they had been stranded since November.

Malaysian police raid against illegal migrant workers fuels ‘xenophobic’ views

The Home Ministry and Human Resources Ministry released a joint statement saying the workers’ welfare had been neglected. “All rescued victims were taken to [the immigration department’s headquarters in] Putrajaya for documentation before being brought before the Magistrate to obtain an Interim Protection Order,” it said.

Migrant activist Andy Hall, who blew the whistle on the workers’ situation last Friday, said there were at least 50 more Bangladeshi workers from the same group that had yet to be rescued from the Cheras shop lot premises, located above a tyre workshop.

“These workers arrived at the location just a few days ago, and are managed by the same agent, it is alleged,” Hall wrote in a letter to the Malaysian authorities.

The incident follows another in December, when 171 Bangladeshi workers were arrested after they arrived at a police station in Pengerang, Johor, to file a report against their employer for leaving them in a similar predicament.

Malaysia is heavily reliant on migrant workers – particularly from Muslim-majority Bangladesh, partly because of the lower wages – and it has over the years recorded hundreds of human-trafficking cases committed by agents in both countries, who dupe would-be migrant workers with promises of work that turn out to be non-existent.

According to Hall, these workers pay a recruitment fee of as much as 21,700 ringgit (US$4,500) to come to Malaysia.

‘Desperate’ Indonesians risk abuse in Malaysia as they turn to illegal agents

On February 8, the 171 Bangladeshi migrant workers in Johor received a total of 1.03 million ringgit (US$215,500) in unpaid wages from their employer after their case was heard before a labour court.

Hall, however, noted that these workers had yet to receive their compensation despite the court order against their employer. “Compensation needs to get into the workers’ pockets urgently,” he said.

According to data from the Department of Statistics, there were almost 2 million regular migrant workers employed in Malaysia in 2022, making up about 12.9 per cent of the total work force.

The country’s dependence on migrant workers has long been a sore point among locals, some of whom complain about the influx of migrant workers, especially in city centres.

Last Christmas, the government received flak after it detained more than 1,100 migrant workers in the heart of Kuala Lumpur in a raid that involved some 1,000 officers from the Royal Malaysian Police’s paramilitary wing, which is normally tasked with counter-insurgency and counterterrorism.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Minister of Economy Rafizi Ramli described Malaysia’s heavy reliance on migrant workers as a “structural failure” and a diversion from the country’s goal of achieving sustainable growth driven mostly by locals.

Cheras Construction Firm Will Not “JUST” be Blacklisted Over Abandoning 93 Foreign Workers

February 27, 2024

By Renushara

Source: Andy HallThe government has announced that they have blacklisted a construction firm in Cheras, after they were found to have recruited 93 Bangladeshi workers only to abandon them without jobs.

The construction firm also apparently disregarded the Bangladeshi workers’ welfare by not providing them with proper accommodation and sustenance (food and water).

Human Resource Minister, Steven Sim Chee Keong, took to his Twitter page to share a statement in regards to this, as well as to share the the many other punishments that apply.

He wrote, “Not just that, sir. There are 6 strict actions other than the ‘blacklist’.”

“For the Ministry of Human Resources, legal action under Act 446 and Act 265 will be taken. For the Ministry of Home Affairs, legal action under Act 670 and Act 150 will be taken. Act 670 is an anti-trafficking in persons Act.”

Only a blacklist?

This comes after many believed that the government had only blacklisted the company despite the human rights violations that come with their actions of recruiting and then abandoning the foreign workers without much regard for their well being.

“Pay (the foreign workers) compensation for their losses. Blacklisting is not enough.”

This allegedly comes after Independent Migrant Worker Rights Specialist Andy Hall brought to light a total of 104 foreign workers that had been abandoned in Cheras since last November (2023), after they had apparently paid up to RM21,700 in recruitment fees.

These foreign workers were also apparently promised high-paying jobs and good facilities.

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FMT 25th Feb 2024: More than 100 Bangladeshi migrants (possibly again alleged victims of the criminal syndicate trafficking Bangladeshis into Malaysia for forced labour) stranded in Cheras without jobs, says activist

The 104 migrant workers are believed to have paid recruitment fees of up to RM21,700 each to secure employment in Malaysia.

Original source: FMT by Jason Thomas – 25th February 2024

PETALING JAYA: More than 100 Bangladeshi workers have been without jobs since arriving in Malaysia in November, according to migrant labour rights activist Andy Hall.

Hall said the 104 workers had paid recruitment fees of between RM19,500 and RM21,700 to secure employment in Malaysia, where they were promised good living facilities and high-paying jobs.

He said they were recruited by a construction firm in Cheras.

Three of the workers interviewed by Hall said payment of the recruitment fees had pushed them into debt bondage as they had to borrow heavily to secure the fees.

In a report Hall prepared, one worker was quoted as saying: “I am running into a huge debt.

“I am unable to pay monthly instalments which I promised when I borrowed money from different sources, and lenders are threatening my family.”

The workers said their passports were confiscated upon arrival, and they suffered physical and verbal abuse. In addition, they were subjected to death threats by the man who picked them up at the airport.

The report said the workers live in a confined space with only one toilet for over 100 workers. They received inadequate food of mostly rice, lentils and mashed potatoes, with one worker claiming not to have been given food for up to four days after asking for updates on his job situation.

“Instead of receiving the promised jobs, they are left with no work and no income. This exacerbates their situation, pushing them further into debt and sadness,” said Hall.

FMT has sought comment from the human resources ministry.

Additional Reading: 

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)

See also: Related story – 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

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

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

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

See also: 6th February2024: 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

See also: 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)

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

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

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

See also: 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See also: 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

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

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

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

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

The post 26th February 2024: Statement by 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 appeared first on Andy Hall.