In a US watch on child and forced labour, Malaysia has been listed as using child labour in the electronics and oil palm industries, while the local garment industry has been listed as using forced labour.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorisation Act (TVPRA) List is compiled and made public, as required under the TVPRA Act of 2005 and subsequent reauthorisations.

The report is by the Bureau of International Labour Affairs (ILAB), under the US Department of Labour (DOL) and is updated every two years.

According to its website, ILAB ‘maintains a list of goods and their source countries which it has reason to believe are produced by child labour or forced labour in violation of international standards’.

"The list is intended to raise public awareness about child labour and forced labour around the world, and to promote and inform efforts to address them.

“The most common agricultural goods listed are cotton, sugarcane, coffee, cattle, rice, fish and cocoa. In the manufacturing sector, bricks, garments, carpets, and footwear appear most frequently; and in mined or quarried goods, diamonds, coal and gold,” said DOL.

The list defined child labour as work done by a person below 15 which includes slavery, prostitution, illicit purposes, and which harms "the health, safety and morals of children".

Forced labour was defined as “work provided or obtained by force, fraud or coercion” which includes threats, physical abuse, schemes and abuse of law.

DOL added that the report has also helped in combating forced and child labour by engaging with foreign governments, where it cited Malaysia as an example.

“The U.S. Government is already involved in productive high level discussions with the Government of Malaysia to address forced labour and child labour-related concerns.”

However, DOL said that the current list only includes goods that ILAB was able to either document or have a strong belief that it either uses child or forced labour.

“Given the current state of research on child labour and forced labour, the TVPRA list – while as comprehensive as possible – includes only those goods for which ILAB is able to document that there is reason to believe that child or forced labour is used in their production. It is likely that many more goods are produced through these forms of labour abuse.

Earlier this year, Malaysia was demoted to Tier 3 in the US State Department’s annual human trafficking report as it was a destination for forced labourers and sex workers who are among the two million undocumented foreign workers here.