Malaysia is no longer ranked in the lowest tier of the US state department’s annual human trafficking report, moving from Tier 3 to Tier 2 Watchlist.
Released last night, the report said human trafficking and cyber scam operations remain a concern in Malaysia as traffickers exploited widespread unemployment during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Malaysia was placed on the Tier 2 Watchlist from 2018 to 2020 before dropping to Tier 3, the lowest tier, in 2021 and remained there last year.
The US State Department places each country into one of three tiers based on the extent of government action to combat human trafficking and the size of the problem.