1. Center for Modern Language & Human Sciences
UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PAHANG
ISLAMIC AND ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS
UHR 1012
PROJECT REPORT
TITLE:
“THE HUMAN COMMODITY”
Prepared by:
NURHASHIKIN BINTI ABU HASAN MG 12012 13P
NURUL IZZATI BINTI MOHAMAD SOBRI MC 12013 13P
NOR HASNI BINTI OTHMAN MC 12015 13P
NORHABIBAH BINTI SANSUDIN MC 12014 13P
NORUL ATIQAH BINTI CHE SHAARI ED 12050 13P
Lecturer:
MOHAMAD HILMI BIN MAT SAID
Date of submission:
26 NOVEMBER 2012
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3. DEFINITION
Human trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, shelter or receiving
persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud. There
also mean abuse of power or position of vulnerability beside giving or receiving of payments or
utilization to achieve the consent of a person and having control over others, for the purpose of
exploitation of prostitution, forced labor or servitude and removal of organ.
Definition from Wikipedia:
Human commodity is the illegal trade of human beings mainly for the purposes of commercial sexual
exploitation or forced labor. Other purposes can be extraction of organs, or tissues or even surrogacy or
ova removal.
The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and
Children (also referred to as the Trafficking Protocol) was adopted by the United Nations in Palermo, Italy
in 2000, and is an international legal agreement attached to the United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime. The Trafficking Protocol is one of three Protocols adopted to supplement
the Convention. The Protocol is the first global, legally binding instrument on trafficking in over half a
century and the only one that sets out an agreed definition of trafficking in persons. The purpose of the
Protocol is to facilitate convergence in national cooperation in investigating and prosecuting trafficking in
persons. An additional objective of the Protocol is to protect and assist the victims of trafficking in persons
with full respect for their human rights. The Trafficking Protocol defines human trafficking as:
(a) the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or
use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a
position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a
person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a
minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced
labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs;
(b) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation
shall be considered “trafficking in persons” even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in
subparagraph (a) of this article;
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4. INTRODUCTION
Malaysia is a destination, and to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for women and
children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced prostitution and for
men, women, and children who are in conditions of forced labor. The majority of trafficking
victims are foreign workers who migrate willingly to Malaysia from Indonesia, Nepal, India,
Thailand, China, the Philippines, Burma, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Vietnam in
search of greater economic opportunities, some of whom subsequently encounter forced labor or
debt bondage at the hands of their employers, employment agents, or informal labor recruiters.
While many of Malaysia’s trafficking offenders are individual business people, large organized
crime syndicates are also behind some of the trafficking of foreigners in Malaysia. A significant
number of young women are recruited for work in Malaysian restaurants and hotels, some of
whom migrate through the use of “Guest Relations Officer” (GRO) visas, but subsequently are
coerced into Malaysia’s commercial sex trade.Some Malaysian citizens are trafficked internally
and abroad to Singapore, Hong Kong, France, and the United Kingdom for commercial sexual
exploitation. There were approximately two million documented migrant workers in Malaysia in
2009, and an additional estimated 1.9 million who were undocumented.
Many migrant workers in plantations, construction sites, textile factories, and employed as
domestic workers throughout Malaysia experienced restrictions on movement, deceit and fraud
in wages, passport confiscation, or debt bondage, which are practices indicative of trafficking.
Some Malaysian employers reportedly did not pay their foreign domestic workers three to six
months’ wages in order to recoup recruitment agency charges, making them vulnerable to
trafficking. Refugees were particularly vulnerable to trafficking, and Malaysians from rural
communities and indigenous groups were also vulnerable.
The Government of Malaysia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the
elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Because the
assessment that the government had made significant efforts is based in part on its commitments
to undertake actions over the coming. During the reporting period, senior government officials,
including the Prime Minister, publicly acknowledged Malaysia’s human trafficking problem, the
government increased its investigations of trafficking cases and filed an increased number of
criminal charges against traffickers, significantly expanded training of officials on the 2007 anti-
trafficking law, conducted a public awareness campaign on human trafficking, opened three
more shelters for trafficking victims, and launched a five-year national action plan on trafficking.
Nevertheless, these early efforts will require continued attention, as there are many serious
concerns remaining regarding trafficking in Malaysia, including the detention of trafficking
victims in government facilities.
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5. CAUSES, EFFECTS AND MITIGATION OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Causes of Human Trafficking
• Lack of employment opportunities in the area of origin.
• Poor enforcement of laws within a state.
• Lack of formal employment especially for women.
• Government member on the protection of migrant workers
• high economic growth in the area or place of destination.
• increased demand labor from outside the area or wilay
Effects of Human Trafficking
• People suffering from mental and physical harassment.
• People suffering from mental harassment and trauma
• People suffering from infectious diseases such as HIV, AIDS and others.
• Victims of trafficking shame lifetime.
• The country will lose the energy and expertise in terms of economic, political and social
Mitigation
• Law enforcement should be tightened by the government to curb human trafficking.
• The existence of the National Action Plan (NAP) under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons
(ABLE) to reduce human trafficking.
• Organize a campaign to increase understanding and professionalism in the enforcement of the
government machinery Trafficking in Persons Act of 2007.
• Society must also be more aware and take care of the problem.
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6. TASK DELEGATION:
NO DATE ACTIVITY
1 11/9/2012 Group formation and first meeting. Deciding on which one project to do.
2 30/9/2012 Discuss on the proposal of the podcast.
3 1/10/2012 Submit the proposal. Segregation of duties among member group.
4 19/11/2012 Collect all the material and information that have been task.
5 24/11/2012 Prepare on the script and record the audio.
6 26/11/2012 Submit the project report and audio file.
Segregation of duties:
1) Nurhasyikin bt Abu Hasan definition of human commodity
2) Nurul Izzati bt Sobri introduction
3) Nor Habibah bt Sansudin causes
4) Norul Atiqah bt Che Shaari effect
5) Nur Hasni bt Othman mitigation
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7. PODCAST
Topic: Human Commodity
Type: Dialogue
Situation: Dicussion between teacher and her student during English class.
Duration: 4 minute 8 second
Character:
Teacher Hasni: Nor Hasni bt Othman
Zaza: Nurul Izzati binti Sobri
Shikin: Nurhashikin bt Abu Hasan
Tiqah: Norul Atiqah bt Che Shaari
Habibah: Nor Habibah bt Sansudin
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8. ATTACHMENT:
ARTICLE
Illinois Right to Life Committee
Fall 2006 IRLC News
Human Life as a Commodity
When the founders of our nation stated in the Declaration of Independence that we are “endowed by our Creator
with certain inalienable rights,” they declared their belief that human life is not to be treated like a commodity.
They recognized that each human being is unique with the same rights as every other human being. Fast forward
from 1776 to 2006. Recently, three separate reports demonstrated just how far we have fallen from protecting this
principle proclaimed in 1776. How can we claim to be more advanced when human life has become a
commodity?
Many ethicists have warned that the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) technology with pre-implantation genetic
diagnosis, combined with recent breakthroughs in understanding of human genetics, will lead to the nightmare of
babies made to order in labs and sold as commodities. An exclusive private IVF facility in San Antonio, Texas
offers the chance to buy embryos screened for hair and eye color, along with other characteristics, and have them
implanted. The facility creates the embryos entirely in the lab with donated sperm and ova. Demand is high and
there is a waiting list for white, blue-eyed, blonde-haired babies.
Women from around the world are traveling to clinics in various locations that are now offering facelifts and
cosmetic surgery using tissue from aborted babies. To produce the treatments, clinics are using tissue from babies
killed in abortions from 8 to 12 weeks into pregnancy to inject into a client’s face. The injected tissue is supposed
to begin a rejuvenation process that makes the skin look younger. To obtain the cells, women in underdeveloped
nations are paid up to $200 dollars to carry a baby up to the 8 to 12 week period when the fetuses are “harvested”
for their stem cells, which are then sold to exclusive cosmetic clinics.
At some locations, stem cells obtained from killing human embryos are used instead of or in addition to tissue
from aborted babies. Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse of Concerned Women for America observed, “This savage and
repulsive ‘brave new world’ of human sacrifices in the quest for eternal youth is a prime example of the end
results when all moral boundaries are destroyed.”
There is a growing push from the medical community to increase the number of available human transplant
organs by removing organs from non-brain-dead donors who experience “cardiac death,” or 5 minutes of cardiac
arrest. A recent article in the New Scientist, entitled “Not brain-dead, but ripe for transplant,” discussed this
procedure, known as “donation after cardiac death” (DCD) or non-heart beating organ donation (NHBD). When a
patient is deemed unlikely to recover, though not “brain dead,” doctors remove ventilation from the patient and
then wait for the heart to stop beating. If the heart stops for five minutes, death is pronounced and organs are
harvested by another surgical team.
A presentation at the World Transplant Congress claimed that the widespread practice of NHBD could increase
the number of available transplant organs by 20%. In essence, if the doctor judges a patient to be “hopeless”, the
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9. patient becomes a commodity of transplant organs ready to be harvested.
Pro-Life advocates and a number of doctors are strongly against using NHBD to put more harvested organs in the
medical market, especially since there have been a number of cases where patients have recovered after the
proposed 5 minutes for determining “cardiac death”. The New Scientist also revealed that three US transplant
centers use a 2-minute interval, since they claim by that time there is complete loss of brain function, and the
heart could only rarely start beating again.
These already shrinking criteria for NHBD demonstrate the slippery slope of disrespect for life that occurs when
human beings are reduced to commodities. We have now entered the age of human history where human life
begins as a commodity, then uses other expendable human lives as commodities to stay young, but ultimately
becomes a commodity when seriously injured or disabled. We need to rediscover the founding principles of our
nation and reject these expedient developments that have turned human beings into commodities. Otherwise, we
will continue to lose our inalienable rights to the human commodity traders.
Bill Beckman
TABLE 1:
Refugee movements into Malaysia by groups and countries of origin
Years Entered Malaysia Refugee Groups and Countries of Origin
1970s Filipino (Philippines)
Vietnamese (Vietnam)
Champa (Cambodia)
1990s Bosnian (Bosnia)
Acheh (Indonesia)
Indonesian-Chinese ethnic (Indonesia)
Rohingya, Chin, Mon (Myanmar)
2000s South-Thailand (Thailand)
Somalian (Somalia)
Iraqi (Iraq)
Afghan (Afghanistan)
Sri Lankan (Sri Lanka)
Source: UNHCR, “Refworld” at http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/
refworld/rwmain (retrieved February 22, 2012).
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10. TABLE 2:
List of global migration problems and affected countries
Global Migration Problem Affected Countries
1.Migrant Workers’ Rights Exploitation China, India, Malaysia, Middle
East, etc.
2. Human Trafficking Europe, Asia, America, etc
3. Human Smuggling Europe, Asia, America, etc
4. Drug Trafficking Europe, Asia, Middle East, etc.
5.Racism Europe, Australia, United States,
Indonesia, India, etc
6. Anti-immigrant Violence United Kingdom, Indonesia, United
States of America, South Africa, etc.
Source: International Organization for Migration (IOM) Website http://www.
iom.int (retrieved February 22, 2012).
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11. SCRIPT DIALOGUE:
Project: Podcast
Title:The Human Commodity
During English class, Teacher Hasni with her students are discussing on human commodity
topic. Below are the conversation.
Teacher seni : Hello everyone! Today we will discuss on human commodity. Did you familiar
with this topic?
Zaza : Isn’t it human commodity is a form of slavery. This occurs due to the demand for labor,
sexual services, debt and poverty. Children are the primary victims of human trafficking
offenders. The women are weak and cannot protect themselves often forced to do something to
be desired as an illegal maid in law, unlicensed babysitters, GRO or prostitutes.
Teacher seni: Good zaza. What do you think, syikin?
Syikin: As far as I know, human commodity is defined as the recruitment, transportation,
transfer, shelter or receiving persons by means of threat or use of force in other forms of
coercion, abduction and fraud. Such as abuse of power for the purpose of exploitation in
prostitution, forced labor or servitude and removal of organs. Victims usually are not given any
choice and not be able to report their suffering as a result of tight control by the syndicate.
Human commodity not only occur in underdeveloped countries but also in developed countries
Tikah: Teacher is it human commodity is the same as human trafficking?
Teacher seni: Yes, human trafficking is one of the activity of human commudity. For your
information, human trafficking is the term used for transports of human across international
borders. Tikah, please tell us the causes of this problem!
Tikah:There are some causes of human trafficking. Such as lack of employment opportunities in
the area of origin.This happen in undevelopement country. Beside that, poor enforcement of laws
within a state. Next is, lack of formal employment especially for women. Lastly, there also high
economic growth in the area or place of destination that increased demand labor from outside the
area or region.
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12. Teacher seni: That’s great Tikah. Good explanation. Who want to share with us the effects of
human trafficking?
Habibah: I want teacher! Let me explain. There is a lot of impact by this phenomenon. One of
that, a lot of people suffering from mental and physical harassment. In addition to, human
suffering from infectious diseases such as HIV, AIDS and others. In long term effect, is being
victims of trafficking shame lifetime. Country will lose the energy and expertise in terms of
economic, political and social.
Teacher seni: Now, I want everyone give me one of the step should be taken in order to solve
this problem.
Zaza: I think law enforcement should be tightened by the government to curb human trafficking.
This will reduce the number of cases on this phenomenon.
Syikin: Creating an association such as NAP. The existence of the National Action Plan (NAP)
under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons (ABLE) are able to reduce human trafficking.
Tikah:Organize a campaign to increase understanding and professionalism in the enforcement of
the government machining by using, Trafficking in Persons Act of 2007.
Habibah: In my opinion, society must also be more aware and take care of the problem.This is
because society is one of community part that contribute to human awareness.
Teacher seni: In conclusion, without realizing we have fallen in the midst of victims of human
trafficking. According to findings from independent bodies and found a number of cases,
particularly Sabah Malaysia is a transit point for women and children trafficked for commercial
sexual exploitation, while men used as forced labor.That’s all for today class. I hope you can
summarize on this topic and hand in to me before this coming Thursday.
All student: Alrite, teacher.
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14. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, without realizing we have fallen in the midst of abject victims of human
trafficking. According to findings from independent bodies and found a number of cases,
particularly Sabah Malaysia is a transit point for women and children trafficked for commercial
sexual exploitation, while men used as forced labor.
All in all, human trafficking is a serious crime that not many people are informed about. Young
woman and children are forced into this sickening business everyday. Woman and children
living in poverty do not know the meaning of human trafficking due to the lack of education.
The highest percentage with people carrying the HIV/AIDS virus is for woman on this planet,
many believing part of the percentage is because of human trafficking. Not many woman and
children know the risks they are taking when they have no choice but to sell their bodies.
Government all over the world should be providing information on human trafficking because no
nation is immune from this crime.
Knowledge of this crime must be extended to all levels of society. All parties must instill a sense
of responsibility in combating this problem in addition to the efforts made by the government.
We hope this project will enlighten the public on the symptoms that quietly become the enemy
within the country. Therefore, let us together fight relentlessly.
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15. REFERENCES
http://manusiasebagaikomoditi.blogspot.com
"Colombian soap opera raises awareness about human
trafficking".http://www.unodc.org
http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2009&dt=1001&pub=Utusan
_Malaysia&sec=Rencana&pg=re_06.htmr.
Agustin, Laura, 2008, Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the
Rescue Industry, London and New York: Zed Books.
Migration Information Programme. Trafficking and prostitution: the growing
exploitation of migrant women from central and eastern Europe. Geneva,
International Organization for Migration, 1995.
Chauzy JP. Kyrgyz Republic: trafficking. Geneva, International Organization for
Migration, 20 January 2001
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