Malaysian govt yet to respond to UN's migrant worker abuse allegations

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.

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 govt

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 its 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.

- Mkini