Public Opinion is Clear: Urgent Legislation Required to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation! Read the story

Members

The End CSEC Network Malaysia consists of three organisations: Protect and Save the Children Association; Majlis Kabajikan Kanak-Kanak Malaysia (Malaysian Council for Child Welfare); and Good Shepherd Services.

Protect and Save the Children (P.S. The Children) is a non-profit organisation that envisions a world that upholds the right and dignity of every child from sexual abuse and exploitation – where culture that excuses nobody from sexual crime and violence, where communities not only have the courage to speak up, but are also committed to reach out. It advocates, educates and offers case management support and therapy to those who have been sexually abused and exploited.

The Malaysian Council for Child Welfare provides care and runs welfare homes for abandoned children, conducts operational research and development – new initiatives/ emerging issues (e.g. human trafficking), CSEC, advocacy and IEC (information, education and communication).

Good Shepherd Services provides residential programmes to women and girls who experience crisis situations, providing a safe haven and temporary shelter to enable them to heal and recover from their traumatic experiences. Good Shepherd Services also operate a hostel for primary school children from rural communities in the Sabah region to provide them with temporary accommodation whilst they go to a nearby primary school. Good Shepherd Services engages with the government and NGOs on implementation of child protection policies in homes and shelters.

End CSEC Malaysia

Contact: No.5 Jalan 7/14, Section 7, 46050, Petaling Jaya, Salangor, Malaysia
Phone: 162273065
Address:
protect@psthechildren.org.my

Website: http://www.psthechildren.org.my

Facts

Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, source and transit country for children trafficked for sexual purposes; an increase in the prevalence of trafficking of boys and a rising number of victims from communities of irregular migrants have been noticed in the past few years.

According to the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Vietnamese girls who enter into brokered marriages in Malaysia are sexually exploited to pay off their marriage debts, which range from US$4,000-6,000.

It is reported by child rights activists that the exploitation of children in prostitution in Malaysia is two times more profitable than adult prostitution.

Resources

ECPAT
Disrupting Harm: Conversations with Young Survivors about Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

Year: 2022

Download
ECPAT International
Southeast Asia – Summary of Recommendations: Legal Interventions in Southeast Asia

Year: 2022

Download
ECPAT, INTERPOL and UNICEF
Disrupting Harm: Malaysia

Year: 2022

ECPAT International
Malaysia – Legal Checklist: Key Legal Interventions to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism

Year: 2022

Download
ECPAT International
Malaysia – Country Overview

Year: 2019

Download
ECPAT International
Malaysia – Briefing Paper

Year: 2019

Download

Stories

News from Malaysia

Indicators

Age of Consent

No

Age of sexual consent is set at 16 for girls only. The age of sexual consent has not been defined for boys. The national legislation does not provide for a close-in-age exemption.

ECO Malaysia, 2019

Extraterritoriality & Extradition

Partial

Legislation provides for active extraterritoriality (including by Malaysian residents) of all SEC crimes committed abroad. Passive extraterritoriality only applies to SEC offences that account for organized crime.

Extradition requires double criminality and must be for an offence punished with no less than a year of imprisonment (including attempts, and conspiracy to commit an offence).

ECO Malaysia, 2019

CSAM Definition

No

The national legislation does not provide a definition of CSAM which is in line with international standards. The definition provided does not include depictions of the sexual parts of a child’s body for primarily sexual purposes. Positively, the definition includes materials depicting a person appearing to be a child as well as computer/digitally generated CSAM.

DH Legal Analysis Malaysia, 2021

Background Check Required

No

There are no mandatory legal provisions for criminal background checks nor legislation prohibiting convicted sex offenders to hold positions involving or facilitating contact with children. However, the sex offenders’ registry allows people to verify if an individual has committed any sexual offense against children by filling in a form and stating their relationship to the individual at the department’s state office, or the department district office.

DH Legal Analysis Malaysia, 2020

National Commitments

Partial

Malaysia has ratified the CRC, the OPSC, the Trafficking Protocol and the ILO Convention No. 182.

Malaysia has not ratified the OPIC, the UNWTO Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics and the Council of Europe’s Lanzarote and Budapest Conventions.

ECO Malaysia, 2019

Child Advocacy Centers

Partial

Initiatives similar to a Child Advocacy Centre have been established in Malaysia such as the Victim Care Centre and Child Interview Centres in every state under the Sexual Crime and Children Division (D11) to provide emotional support for the child while collecting evidence to be used in court.

No information found on whether these centres are currently and effectively functioning.

ECO Malaysia, 2019

SEC Police Unit

Partial

The main police unit including SEC in its mandate is the Sexual Crime and Children Division, also called D11 which also includes the Internet Crime Against Children Investigations Unit (MICAC).
It is unclear whether both offences under national and extra-territorial jurisdiction are able to be addressed by these units.

DH Desk-based research Malaysia, 2020

Protection Standards Travel and Tourism

No

There are no child protection standards for the travel and tourism industry in place.

SECTT Legal Checklist Malaysia, 2020

Public SEC Case Data

No

Data on SEC cases is not publicly available.

ECO Malaysia, 2019