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SINGAPORE: Singapore has rejected the US State Department's assessment that Singapore does not meet the "minimum standards" of the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act 2000. It described the assessment as "unjustified."
Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said Singapore's laws are tough but fair and its approach to crime has been uncompromising. This applies as much to human trafficking as it does to any other crime.
Mr Wong made these points in his response to a written Parliamentary question from MP for Marine Parade GRC Dr Fatimah Lateef.
Dr Lateef had asked how Singapore views the Tier 2 placement the US State Department had given the republic, alongside Thailand and Cambodia, in its 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report.
Mr Wong said Singapore's approach to human trafficking is not different from how it deals with crime in general.
Prostitution by anyone under 18 years of age is illegal. Also illegal is child sex tourism and the organisation or promotion of tours overseas for child sex. The penalties for all these offences are stiff.
Turning to another key focus of the report was Singapore's treatment of foreign domestic workers (FDW) working here.
Mr Wong pointed out that every FDW enters Singapore voluntarily via proper channels and is issued with a work permit. They should, therefore, not be included in a report on human trafficking.
Even so, Singapore has many measures in place to protect FDWs against exploitation. For instance, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) conducts random interviews with FDWs working for the first time in Singapore during their initial months of employment.
This means there are ample opportunities for a FDW to contact the authorities if she is forced, deceived or coerced into employment against her will before and after she starts work.
Mr Wong also pointed out that the number of substantiated FDW abuse cases handled by the Police fell from 157 cases in 1997 to 68 cases in 2007, in spite of an increasing FDW population.
From 2004 to 2007, MOM successfully prosecuted a total of 13 errant employers for failing to pay wages due to their FDWs. Five of them were eventually jailed.
Stressing that instances of FDW abuse are not widespread, Mr Wong said the frequency of abuse should be seen in the context of the total number of FDWs in Singapore, which is some 180,000 as of 2007.
He said reports of isolated cases of abuse should not obscure the fact that the majority of foreign workers in Singapore are reasonably well-treated.
Summing up, Mr Wong said: "Singapore has often been criticised for being too tough in law enforcement. To be criticised instead for being too soft in the US State Department's TIP Report is strange indeed.
"Our Police will continue to work against trafficking as they do against all crimes. They are answerable to the Singapore people who will judge how they perform.
"In this regard, it is fortunate that the public at least is better informed and has a better understanding of the realities on the ground and can separate fair fact from unfair conjecture." - CNA/vm
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