US ambassador nominee to press Malaysia on mass graves

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Malaysia said Wednesday she will press its government for a full investigation into mass graves of suspected human trafficking victims.

The nominee, career diplomat Kamala Lakhdhir, also said she would seek accountability for the perpetrators, including any officials who are implicated.

Lakhdhir made the commitment at her Senate confirmation hearing. Her appointment still has to be approved.

She was put on the spot by Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, who has criticized Malaysia’s record on human trafficking and the Obama administration’s decision two years ago to take it off a U.S. blacklist.

In May 2015, Malaysian authorities discovered graves used by human traffickers on the Thai border where Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar were held. The State Department has said the Malaysian government questioned several officials but did not prosecute any officials last year for complicity in trafficking crimes.

Lakhdir also said she would press Malaysia to take concrete steps to root out forced labour and debt bondage among domestic workers, on plantations and in construction and manufacturing. She said she would urge for the protection and rights of trafficking victims.

The State Department says there are several million migrant labourers in the Southeast Asian nation, many of them undocumented. The more than 150,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia are also vulnerable to trafficking, it says.