Malaysia now Tier 2 in Trafficking in Persons Report

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has been upgraded to Tier 2 in the Trafficking in Persons Report 2017, an annual report issued by the US State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
It ranks governments based on their perceived efforts to acknowledge and combat human trafficking, Malaysia was in Tier 2 watchlist from 2015 and 2016, an upgrade from Tier 3 in 2014.
"The government demonstrated increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period, therefore, Malaysia was upgraded to Tier 2. The government demonstrated increasing efforts by expanding trafficking investigations, prosecutions, and convictions. Officials strengthened enforcement of the law prohibiting passport retention, convicting 17 employers for unauthorised
retention of passports, compared to zero during the previous year," the report detailed the reason for Malaysia to be bumped to Tier 2.
The establishment of a new interagency law enforcement taskforce, to which 17 officers from seven agencies were assigned and trained on investigative tactics to galvanise coordinated anti-trafficking operations, were also given credit in the TIP report.