“Action must be taken to bring the responsible parties to justice,” its president Salim Bashir said in a statement issued in conjunction with Human Rights Day today.

The RCI was led by former chief justice Arifin Zakaria, assisted by panel members Noorbahri Baharuddin, Razali Ismail, Junaidah Abdul Rahman, Nazirah Hussain and Tan Seng Giaw.

Four individuals were charged in court over the matter but critics said these were only small-time traffickers.

More than 100 skeletal remains believed to be those of Rohingya refugees and close to 150 graves were discovered in the hills of the border town in 2015.

Salim also urged Putrajaya to accede to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1990.

“Many of them are vulnerable and easily exploited,” he said, adding that Malaysia hosts more than two million migrant workers.

He said the government should also recognise and protect customary lands, territories and resources that were inhabited and enjoyed by the natives of Sabah and Sarawak, and the Orang Asli in the peninsula.

The Bar also called for Putrajaya to remove laws that impeded freedom of speech, fair trial and to abolish the death penalty.

It urged the government to take constructive action to ensure the effective enforcement of environmental laws that contribute to the adverse effects on the environment, health and safety of all beings.

It also wants the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia’s annual reports to be debated during Parliamentary sittings.