The concept of globalisation is commonly discussed as an issue in international law. However, little attention is paid to its influence in domestic family law. As a result of the growing trend of globalisation, legal and cultural norms of the host culture and the foreign culture are fused, thereby, leading to cultural homogenisation or cultural hybridisation, depending on the level of accommodation of the foreign norm by the host norm. One of the areas where hybridisation or homogenisation of cultural and legal norms manifests, especially in African countries including Nigeria, is in the marriage system, particularly in the conclusion of marriage contracts. In Nigeria, one of the impacts of cultural hybridisation is the evolvement of multi-tiered marriage, where a couple combines marriages under the statute law, customary law and religious law, especially Islamic law. This paper is an exploratory study of how globalisation impacts on how and why multi-tiered marriage is contracted in contemporary Nigeria. The paper also briefly discusses how the combination of marriages as a response to globalisation affects the operation of family law rules in Nigeria as well as the rights of the parties involved, especially the women.

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This article is a study on human trafficking, which is the second most lucrative and profitable transnational organized crime in the world after drug trafficking. This crime is also known as a form of modern slavery, where humans are used as commodities to generate profit, and victims are prevented from accessing their fundamental rights. The victims of this crime are women, men, and children; however, the repercussions are far more serious when involving children. Human trafficking devastates the prospects of the future generation, where children are often forced into sexual exploitation, forced labour, illegal adoption and child marriage. In addition, such crime not only impacts the social, politic, economic and national security of a country but is also a grave violation of the child victims’ human rights. The main objective of the present article is to address the adequacy of Malaysian law in dealing with child trafficking and to see whether it is in line with international standards. The study suggests that many gaps exist in the current legislation dealing with human trafficking. These gaps need to be addressed especially those dealing with child trafficking. A qualitative approach was utilized in this study, where it involved library research to analyze the protection given by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the extent of its implementation into domestic legislation, in order to combat child trafficking in Malaysia. This study found that Malaysia’s existing laws are inadequate to protect child victims of trafficking in Malaysia and need to meet the current standards and protection for victims, which include the identification of identity, appointment of a guardian, providing interim care protection, durable solution, and access to justice.

Malaysia has enacted the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants 2007 (ATIPSOM) Act in regulating the crime of human trafficking in Malaysia. The Act has to be read together with other relevant legislations, for instance, the Child Act 2001, Immigration Act 1956/63, and Child and Young Person (Employment) Act 1966 (Amendment) 2019. Additionally, since Malaysia is a signatory of the international instrument related to human trafficking, the implementation of the laws is required to observe the international standard.  Such as, international instruments include the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons especially Women and Children, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Optional Protocol for the Sale of Children, Child Pornography, and Child Prostitution. This paper aims to analyse the challenges in implementing the existing laws to combat child trafficking in Malaysia. Therefore, this study adopted a qualitative approach that applies the doctrinal and non-doctrinal components by utilising library-based resources and conducting semi-structured interviews with relevant agencies. The findings indicate that there are loopholes in enforcing several domestic laws to comply with the international standards and necessitates improvements in terms of criminalizing child trafficking cases, demand and supply of a child for sexual exploitation, child adoption process, and the status of refugee children.

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