Tenaganita today criticised both the government and opposition for not paying enough attention to human trafficking issues.

"It is not just the government, if you look at the opposition parties, if you look at Malaysia as a whole, human trafficking is not the priority.

"We turn a blind eye and deaf ear on what is happening," Aegile Fernandez, co-director and consultant for migrant rights group Tenaganita, told a press conference in Petaling Jaya today.

"As long as you keep on refusing to work on human trafficking, Malaysian people will be trafficked out and Malaysia will be a source country for human trafficking," she added.

This was further aggravated by the US' soft stance on Malaysia, when it refused to downgrade Malaysia to Tier 3 in the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, she said.

Fernandez claimed this was due to US interest in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement with Malaysia.

The Trafficking in Persons Report 2016 released yesterday maintained Malaysia's Tier-2 Watch List position despite the Rohingya refugee crisis and the discovery of mass graves of trafficked people in northern peninsula last year.

Meanwhile, Tenaganita executive director Glorene Das said they had a difficult task ahead.

"We are in a world increasingly hostile to human rights, we are fighting against systems of power that exploit with impunity, that silence dissent and give importance to profits over people," she said.

Today is also the 25th anniversary of Tenaganita's efforts in protecting and promoting the rights of migrants, refugees, and trafficked persons.

"In these 25 years, we've tried to break the silence on violence (against migrants) often made invisible, to tell the stories of communities who are often ignored and are unheard by most.

"Despite the challenges that multiply, we are committed to moving forward in solidarity with migrants, refugees and defenders of rights," she said.