Waqf As Sustainable Funding For Shelter Homes: Addressing Human Trafficking Victim Protection in Malaysia

Abstract

Human trafficking creates a continuing obligation to protect survivors after rescue yet shelter services in Malaysia remain vulnerable to staffing shortages, delayed disbursements, uneven regional capacity, and dependence on annual public expenditure. This article examines whether waqf, including cash waqf and waqf-linked sukuk, could complement, not replace the government responsibility for victim protection. It uses a qualitative doctrinal and comparative method. Primary materials comprise the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007, constitutional provisions on federal and state powers, selected Malaysian waqf legislation, official anti-trafficking and waqf materials, and policy documents. Secondary materials include peer-reviewed scholarships, NGO documentation, and international reports. The analysis applies a documentary coding framework and compares funding mechanisms according to continuity, principal preservation, beneficiary flexibility, accountability, and vulnerability to fiscal interruption. The article distinguishes documented evidence of service and resource constraints from conceptual propositions about waqf. It proposes a National Anti-Trafficking Waqf Fund (NATWF) with ring-fenced capital, independent Shariah and financial oversight, survivor-informed safeguards, transparent grant-making, and a phased Selangor pilot. The proposal is legally feasible only through structured cooperation between federal anti-trafficking institutions and state Islamic religious authorities. Waqf is therefore presented as a testable institutional complement whose effectiveness must be evaluated empirically before national adoption.