The dark underbelly of Kuala Lumpur, where underage girls from other Asian countries work in the sex trade, some of their own choice, others brutalized victims held as virtual prisoners.
Prostitution is illegal in Malaysia but it is rampant and not even particularly hidden.
Southeast Asia has been at war with human traffickers for quite a while now and most reports have demonstrated that this war is almost impossible to win
Malaysia has been a pot pours of various cultures. A very common phenomenon in the country is social mixing. Development of the travel industry has additionally prompted the improvement of its rich and differing society. Individuals from everywhere throughout the world come here and has cooperation prompting advancement of its way of life.
Culture and traditions in Malaysia are experiencing and is experiencing consistent yet moderate changes. Be that as it may, the most genuine social impact of the travel industry in Malaysia is the developing business of human trafficking. Seventy-nine percent of all worldwide dealing is for sexual misuse. Sex tourism industry is an extremely worthwhile industry that spans the globe and has its grip in Malaysia as well.
ECPAT International, formerly known as End Child Prostitution and Trafficking, released a report entitled ‘Sex Trafficking of Children in Malaysia’. In that 2016 report, ECPAT noted that Malaysian children and women were trafficked to Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Canada, US, Europe and Australia for prostitution. In any case, these children weren't just trafficked abroad as the report additionally expressed that young ladies from indigenous groups and rural areas in Malaysia were likewise trafficked for similar purposes.
In Malaysia, transnational organized crime groups are believed to be involved in the trafficking of Malaysian children to other countries and arranging illegal entry into Malaysia. In this manner, expanding number of tourists had prompted further compounding of the circumstance.
Women are forced to work until they pay all their debts - only then they are allowed to leave.
Dr. Hartini Zainuddin who is a child rights advocate said that there are a large number of children who are exposed and exploited by the sex industry and its particularly marginalized kids in high-risk areas and there is a growing number of children that we see on the streets and is getting harder to reach out to them since the syndicates and the gangs have gotten to the kids much faster so they don’t need so many things from them. They don’t need shelter, they don’t need food, they don’t need education, they don’t want to go to school. This is because they have alternatives and the alternative is for a lot of them is fast money, partying, doing drugs and having a good time
“I did an outreach programme in Bukit Bintang where I met a couple of school kids where they change out of their school uniforms in public toilets and once they come out, they head toward the areas with clubs but they would not go inside. Instead they will sit in nearby restaurants and wait till somebody comes and make an offer to them,” said Selvi Fatimah Abdulla, a volunteer for an NGO that helps unfortunates around the Chow Kit area.While the Government of Malaysia has anti-trafficking legislation set up and has created support services for trafficked victims, it needs to completely actualize and implement the law to handle multi-dimensional parts of dealing by prudently recognizing trafficked victims from migrant workers and people arrested for prostitution.
The Government must create solid measures to tackle demand for commercial sexual misuse of children, particularly on the expansion of sex tourism industry in the region and damages of children on the Internet.
Stories of human trafficking are not unfamiliar in Malaysia. Unfortunately, the plague of human trafficking is as yet a reason for extraordinary worry in the nation.
24-hour hotlines operated by TENAGANITA, a local non-governmental organisation:
Tel: 6 012-3350512, 6 019-2456933
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