The two-day open dialogue on human trafficking hosted by the Malaysian Human Rights Organisation (Suhakam) ended in Kuala Lumpur today with the participants noting that enforcement agencies involved - ranging from police to immigration and local councils - are hampered by a multitude of factors in arresting perpetrators of the crime.

Representatives from the police said among the barriers faced is the lack of a coordinated effort to tackle crimes committed by usually well-organised syndicates that operate on a global scale.

This allows legal loopholes to be exploited, resulting in poor or even, missing enforcement, they said. In Malaysia, the lack of manpower, funds, and inter-agency coordination is compounded by the fact that the Penal Code does not view victims of trafficking as separate from other illegal immigrants.

"Raiding entertainment outlets for example, should not be the police's responsibility but that of local councils. (Trafficked) women are arrested for deportation, but are later found released.

"It is time all the enforcement agencies sit down together and re-evaluate their goals," said Choo Lily of Bukit Aman's criminal investigation division (CID).

Senior police participants also acknowledged that the force itself had its own set of problems including lack of training on the issue of trafficking and a CID that is too small to handle the related workload required of it.

"After calculating, you find that the CID, which is the core body for investigation, in reality only makes up six to seven percent of the police force," said Johor Officer in Charge of Criminal Investigations (OCCI) Haji Ithman Talib.

Funding problem

Funds is also seen as a major issue, both in preventing cash-strapped agencies from fulfilling their monitoring needs and in creating opportunity for corruption and other malpractices.

An official from the immigration department said: "If trafficked individuals entering the country with our (visa) requirements, there is nothing we can do about it. And usually they do, as these syndicates have a lot of money. There are loopholes everywhere.

"If you are talking about monitoring, of course we need to do more of that. But the funds need to come from somewhere," he added.

The issue of trafficking women is a pressing one with the number of foreign women arrested in Malaysia increasing by 350 percent from a decade ago - 1,666 foreign women and girls arrested in 1993, to 5,878 individuals last year according to police statistics.

Other related figures show no sign of abating. In 2000, 3,607 foreign women were arrested for prostitution. This figure jumped to 4,132 in 2001, and 5,149 in 2002.

As Malaysian law does not draw the a line between women or girls cheated or smuggled into prostitution, they are treated the same as anyone caught without possessing valid travel document..

Under the Malaysian Penal Code, illegal migrants once caught will be held in prisons or detention camps until deportation can be arranged - a process that could take up to one year.

Special report

Suhakam chairperson Abu Talib Othman at the conference's opening yesterday protested against this, calling instead on trafficking victims to be sent home as soon as possible.

Suhakam has proposed that a multi-sectoral national task force be set up to address the legal flaws with regards to the status of trafficked women and children.

As human trafficking was a borderless crime, the commission also called on the Malaysian government to learn from regional bilateral models in dealing with the crime. Currently in Asia, only Thailand and Cambodia as well as Nepal and India have memorandums of understanding on information exchange and joint monitoring of human trafficking.

As an advisory body, Suhakam will be putting forward the proposals of the two-day dialogue in a special report to the government, said its commissioner Dr Raj Karim.

"It is unfortunate that we don't have any government ministers here today to give political support (to the issue of trafficking)...but we will forward our report as we feel the government will look at it as a serious issue," she said.

Also participating in today's session of the dialogue was the United Nations International Children's Education Fund (Unicef).

Its representative Gaye Philips said that she was hopeful that with the recent transfer of Suhakam to the office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the government will show a stronger interest in human rights.

"The move is very significant. I think the new Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is sending out a strong message on human rights," she said.

Philips also applauded the Suhakam proposal for a national task force on human trafficking, as well as the call for an inter-agency approach to tackling the problem.