LEGAL CHALLENGES IN COMBATING CHILD TRAFFICKING IN MALAYSIA

Malaysia has enacted the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants 2007 (ATIPSOM) Act in regulating the crime of human trafficking in Malaysia. The Act has to be read together with other relevant legislations, for instance, the Child Act 2001, Immigration Act 1956/63, and Child and Young Person (Employment) Act 1966 (Amendment) 2019. Additionally, since Malaysia is a signatory of the international instrument related to human trafficking, the implementation of the laws is required to observe the international standard.  Such as, international instruments include the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons especially Women and Children, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Optional Protocol for the Sale of Children, Child Pornography, and Child Prostitution. This paper aims to analyse the challenges in implementing the existing laws to combat child trafficking in Malaysia. Therefore, this study adopted a qualitative approach that applies the doctrinal and non-doctrinal components by utilising library-based resources and conducting semi-structured interviews with relevant agencies. The findings indicate that there are loopholes in enforcing several domestic laws to comply with the international standards and necessitates improvements in terms of criminalizing child trafficking cases, demand and supply of a child for sexual exploitation, child adoption process, and the status of refugee children.