The Malaysian government has been urged by Amnesty International to end widespread abuse of migrant workers, including Burmese migrants.
The Amnesty International in a report released on Wednesday said that Malaysia should initiate action to end widespread abuses in the workplace and by police of migrant workers who make up more than 20 per cent of the country's workforce.
The report ; “Trapped: The Exploitation of Migrant Workers in Malaysia”, documents widespread abuses against migrant workers from eight South Asian and Southeast Asian countries, who are lured to Malaysia by the promise of jobs but are instead used in forced labour or exploited in other ways.
Michael Bochenek, the report’s author and Director of Policy at Amnesty International said, "Migrant workers are critical to Malaysia's economy, but they systematically receive less legal protection than other workers," and added that "They are easy prey for unscrupulous recruitment agents, employers and corrupt police."
The rights group noted that migrants, many from Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Nepal, are forced to work in hazardous situations and undergo long working-hours while many are subject to verbal, physical and sexual abuse. Most workers have taken loans at exorbitant interest rates and simply cannot afford to return to their home countries. Some are in situations close to bonded labour.
The Amnesty International said that labour laws in the country are not effectively enforced, and labour courts may take months or years to resolve cases. For domestic workers, who are not covered by most of the labour laws, recourse to the courts is usually not an option.
"Malaysia can and must do better for its workforce. Everyone, regardless of immigration status, is entitled to safe and fair working conditions and to equal treatment under the law," said Michael Bochenek.
The report concludes that many workers are victims of human trafficking. The Malaysian government has the responsibility to prevent such abuses but instead facilitates trafficking through its loose regulation of recruitment agents and through laws and policies that fail to protect workers.
In addition, the group heard over a dozen cases from Burma in which Malaysian authorities delivered immigration detainees to traffickers operating on the Thai border between 2006 and 2009. Several had been subjected to this practice more than once.
Malaysia is a destination for refugees and asylum seekers. At least 90,000 and as many as 170,000 or more refugees and asylum seekers, mostly from Burma and the Philippines, are in the country.
According to the group, Malaysia imposes severe and excessive criminal penalties — in some cases caning — on migrants who work without proper permits, even when errors by the employer are the reason for immigration violations.
Bochenek said that the Malaysian government must stop criminalizing its migrant work force and instead tackle forced and compulsory labour…until Malaysia's labour laws offer effective protection and are effectively enforced, exploitation will continue.
Wanchai, a Mon worker, who recently returned from Malaysia, now working in Mahachai district in Thailand, told Mizzima that he came back to Thailand because working conditions in Malaysia were not conducive.
“Malaysian authorities are very strict on migrant workers. We are scared to go out even though we have work documents. Besides, working conditions are quite bad. I used to work in a construction site but my former employer did not provide housing for us. We had to stay in a forest near the site where I was afflicted by Malaria.”
The AI concluded by calling on the Malaysian government to reform its labour laws and promptly investigate abuses in the workplace and by the police. In addition the government should also make more effective use of its Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act to prosecute individuals who recruit, transport or receive workers through fraud or deception in order to exploit them.
