Tenaganita takes note of reports that the United States is proposing an additional 10% duty on imports from Malaysia and other economies over concerns relating to failures in addressing goods linked to forced labour.
While trade measures may create pressure for governments and businesses to act, we must be clear that forced labour is not first and foremost a trade issue. It is a human rights issue.
At the heart of this discussion are workers, migrant workers, refugee workers, women workers, plantation workers, domestic workers and others whose labour continues to sustain economies while they remain vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, trafficking, debt bondage, wage theft, intimidation and unsafe working conditions.
For years, Malaysia has responded to allegations of forced labour through investigations, action plans, compliance exercises and engagement with international markets.
While these efforts are important, they have not sufficiently addressed the structural conditions that allow exploitation to persist.
The reality is that forced labour does not begin at the factory gate. It often begins much earlier, during recruitment.
Workers continue to face excessive recruitment fees, indebtedness, deception, restrictions on movement, document retention, fear of retaliation, and barriers to justice.
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These vulnerabilities create the conditions in which forced labour and trafficking can thrive.
This is why Tenaganita has consistently called for a comprehensive national labour migration policy that regulates the entire migration cycle, recruitment, placement, employment, social protection, grievance mechanisms and return.
The absence of such a policy has resulted in fragmented governance, inconsistent enforcement, overlapping responsibilities, and opportunities for abuse by unscrupulous recruitment agents, employers, traffickers, syndicates and corrupt actors.
If Malaysia is serious about eliminating forced labour, reforms must go beyond responding to international scrutiny or avoiding trade penalties.
Malaysia urgently needs a comprehensive national labour migration policy that regulates the entire migration cycle, from recruitment and placement to employment, protection and return.
This must be accompanied by ethical and transparent recruitment systems, stronger accountability for employers and recruitment agents, effective protection for whistleblowers and workers who report abuse, and meaningful access to justice and remedies for victims.
At the same time, greater transparency throughout supply chains and stronger coordination between labour, immigration, customs, anti-trafficking and trade authorities are essential to prevent exploitation and forced labour.
Only through a coordinated, worker-centred approach can Malaysia address the root causes of forced labour and build a system that upholds dignity, rights and accountability.
Any prohibition on goods produced with forced labour must be backed by meaningful enforcement.
At the same time, workers must never be punished for exposing abuse. They must not be detained, deported, criminalised or silenced.
Accountability must fall on those who profit from exploitation, not those trapped within it.
The proposed tariff may create pressure for reform.
However, if the response is limited to protecting exports and preserving market access, we risk addressing symptoms rather than causes. More audits, certifications and paperwork alone will not end forced labour.
What is needed is the political will to confront the root causes of exploitation.
Malaysia should not act because another country is threatening tariffs. Malaysia should act because every worker deserves dignity, freedom, fair treatment and protection from exploitation.
Until we address the systems that enable exploitation, forced labour will continue to exist regardless of how many tariffs, audits or compliance measures are imposed.
Tenaganita calls on the Malaysia government, businesses, employers, trade unions, civil society organisations and international partners to work together to build a labour migration system that is transparent, accountable, worker-centred, and grounded in human rights.
Workers are not commodities in a supply chain. They are human beings. Their rights, dignity and freedom must remain at the centre of all efforts to combat forced labour. – Tenaganita
Glorene A Das is the executive director of Tenaganita.
The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.
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