Malaysia’s prime minister vowed to investigate a scathing report by US lawmakers saying thousands of Myanmar refugees were handed over to human traffickers with some ending up working in Thai brothels.
The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations said in the report that illegal Myanmar migrants deported from Malaysia were often forced to work in brothels, fishing boats and restaurants across the border in Thailand if they had no money to purchase their freedom.
The report was based on a yearlong review by committee staff who spoke to migrants from military-ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, and human rights activists.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Friday that his government hoped to get more information on the report from US authorities.
“We will take appropriate action,” Najib told reporters. “We do not want Malaysia to be used as a point for human trafficking ... but we need to know more facts.”
Earlier this year, former Malaysian Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar dismissed claims of human trafficking at the border as “wild allegations.” But Malaysian national police chief Musa Hassan said earlier this month that Malaysian and Thai police and immigration officials were investigating the claims.
Many who flee persecution in Myanmar try to stay illegally in Malaysia, which does not recognize refugees and can arrest them, whip them as punishment then deport them.
The US Senate committee report said “a few thousand” Myanmar migrants in recent years might have become victims of extortion and trafficking once they were deported across Malaysia’s northern border with Thailand.
“Upon arrival at the Malaysia-Thailand border, human traffickers reportedly take possession of the migrants,” the report said.
The report quoted one unidentified migrant as saying women “are sold at a brothel if they look good. If they are not beautiful, they might sell them at a restaurant or housekeeping job.”
It called on Malaysia to investigate and prosecute “the trafficking, selling and slavery of Burmese and other migrants.”
“The prospect that Burmese migrants, having fled the heavy hand of the Burmese junta, only to find themselves in harms’ way in Malaysia, seemed beyond belief,” it said.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Malaysia’s government “should act on this US Senate report to protect the rights of refugees and victims of human trafficking.”
The UN refugee agency has registered 47,600 refugees living in Malaysia as of the end of last month, of whom 42,300 were from Myanmar.
Malaysian opposition politician Lim Kit-siang also urged the government to “respond with instant action” to the US report, saying it is “not only most damaging to Malaysia’s international image but raises grave questions about Malaysia’s human rights commitment.”
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
RSS