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COVID-19 and the effects on women involved in drug trafficking in
Malaysia
Author(s)
Lucy Harry
DPhil
Criminolog y
Posted
15 January 2021
Time to read
3 Minutes
Inequity is the theme of the moment. As the world grapples with the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic, we are bonded by our shared
sense of insecurity, yet at a deeper level, the pandemic is exacerbating intersectional disadvantage. In the context of the drug trade in
Southeast Asia, the long-term result of COVID-19 will likely be a disproportionate increase in the number of women sentenced to death for drug
offences.
Drug traf]cking and the death penalty in Malaysia
The vast majority of the 141 women on death row in Malaysia (86%) are foreign citizens, almost all of whom (95%) have been charged with
drug traf]cking. Most of these women were arrested at a Malaysian airport with illicit drugs concealed on or within their person or luggage.
Only a small proportion of women were arrested outside of an airport.
These women face the death penalty. Despite the introduction of reforms to the mandatory death sentence for drug traf]cking cases in
Malaysia in 2017, in practice, capital punishment is a fairly certain outcome if convicted on these charges. During sentencing, there is little if no
room for consideration of mitigating factors, including economic drivers that place women in situations whereby traf]cking drugs is one of the
few viable jobs with a worthwhile payoff.
The impact of economic insecurity on women traf]cking drugs
As COVID-19 cases surged globally in mid-March 2020, I was in the midst of conducting my empirical ]eldwork, researching the pathways to
offending of women sentenced to death for drug traf]cking in Malaysia. The emerging ]ndings from my research interviews show that
economic factors are major drivers behind women’s participation in the smuggling of drugs. However, the circumstances driving women to
engage in the illicit economy are not only situations of abject poverty, but are often more nuanced. I heard time and time again that women
engage in drug traf]cking in order to ‘make quick money’. This is an indictment of the wider forces of neoliberalism and the postcolonial global
economic order, leading to an increasingly precarious work force – the effects of which are felt most acutely by women, and by those in the
Global South. According to the Asia Paci]c Forum on Women, Law and Development, one in four employees in Malaysia are in precarious work,
and this disproportionately affects women due to the burden of care and the gendered division of labour.
The empty Singapore-Malaysia causeway during the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020
Photo credit: Lionel Lim via Flickr (Licensed under Creative Commons BY 2.0)
Travel restrictions are not slowing the jow of drugs
During the COVID era, travel restrictions present a barrier to the smuggling of drugs through airports. According to the UN Of]ce on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC), synthetic drugs are most often traf]cked by air, unlike other drug types which are generally transported overland or by sea.
Therefore, it is reasonable to presume that the jow of methamphetamines, and thereby the number of women engaged in airborne traf]cking,
to countries in Southeast Asia will be impacted by COVID.
However, there is evidence that drug traf]cking networks have already adapted and prevailed. The UNODC reports that in the Golden Triangle
region, a drug production hub where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet, the supply of drugs has continued to surge despite the
pandemic, as indicated by the fact that the price of methamphetamine has remained stable. Other evidence of persistent drug traf]cking
comes from the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department in Malaysia, which reports that during the heart of the country’s ‘Movement Control
Order’ lockdown (between 18 March-16 April 2020) as many as 3,923 people were detained for drug offences. Of this total, 208 were arrested for
drug traf]cking and RM7.5 million worth of drugs were seized. More recently in July 2020, Thai authorities intercepted a vehicle containing a
shipment of 1.42 metric tons of crystal methamphetamine, worth approximately $9.1 million, headed to Malaysia.
So, while travel restrictions may temporarily reduce the number of airport arrests and resulting capital sentences during this pandemic era, this
may be a short-term trend. In the long term, if economic austerity policies are adopted globally, personal ]nancial insecurity will increase, and
there will be a greater need for many women to turn to criminalised activities – such as drug traf]cking – to account for the shortfall. As such, it
is an important time to address the gender inequities and underlying drivers that result in women facing capital punishment.
Lucy Harry is a DPhil Candidate at the University of Oxford Centre for Criminology and Death Penalty Research Unit.
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