Joint Press Statement

Mapping areas of
human rights concerns in Malaysia:
COMANGO launches its report.
by Coalition of Malaysian NGOs (COMANGO)

8 September 2008

The 56 NGOs comprising the Coalition of Malaysian NGOs in the UPR Process (COMANGO) made public its 10 page report after sending it to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations (OHCHR) in Geneva, Switzerland.

The COMANGO report will form part of the Stakeholders Report which will be used in the universal periodic review (UPR) by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations (HRC). The other reports which will be referred to are the country report by the Government of Malaysia, and the compilation of relevant official documents by the United Nations regarding Malaysia. The HRC will review all 192 members of the United Nations every four years. During the three hour interactive dialogue of the UPR in February 2009 in Geneva, the Government will be able to showcase all that it has done to fulfill its human rights obligations and commitments, and assess the positive developments and challenges it faces.

The COMANGO report began with a national consultation with NGOs working on diverse issues on 15 August 2008. Some members of COMANGO also participated in the consultations called by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM).

The COMANGO report highlights:

1. politicisation of race and religion;
2. discrimination in the areas of health, sexuality, women, students and youth, children, persons with disabilities, non-citizens and indigenous peoples;
3. the restrictions of freedom of expression, information and assembly;
4. the housing woes of the urban poor; and
5. detention without trial, the need for an Independent Complaints and Misconduct Commission for the Police, the impunity of human rights abusers, and the imposition of corporal and capital punishment.

The main recommendations of COMANGO are for the Government to:

1. amend Articles 8, 9, 10, 121(1) and Part III of the Federal Constitution;
2. review with a view to amend or repeal: the Federal Constitution; the Internal Security Act; the Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordinance, the Restricted Residence Act and the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act, the Sedition Act; the Official Secrets Act, Sections 377A, B, and D of the Penal Code; the Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Societies Act, UUCA, OSA, and the Police Act;
3. enact laws pertaining to anti-discrimination, and for the freedom of information;
4. train Judges, prosecutors, the Police and other law enforcement agencies regularly on human rights, non-discrimination and the legally binding nature of international laws;.
5. provide a comprehensive universal access to health for all within its borders;
6. implement in full the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which Malaysia has ratified. All reservations on both the CEDAW and CRC should be removed, and the concluding comments of both the CEDAW and CRC Committees should be carried out;
7. ratify the core human rights conventions and all its Optional Protocols; and
8. issue a standing invitation to the Special Representatives, Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts, and members of the Special Working Groups of the United Nations who can assist the Government to fulfill its obligations as the promoter and protector of human rights.

Aside from the COMANGO report coordinated by Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (EMPOWER) and Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), the Migration Working Group, the Bar Council of Malaysia, and Jaringan Orang Asal Se-Malaysia (JOAS) are also submitting their reports on more thematic issues. International NGOs such as Amnesty International Malaysia, International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and Human Rights Watch have also submitted reports on Malaysia.

By participating in the UPR process at the international level Malaysian NGOs aspire to strengthen national advocacy by critically engaging with the Malaysian government to bring home universal human rights standards as guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the other core human rights conventions of the United Nations.

Following the submission of the NGO reports, the plans are to disseminate the reports as fully as possible to the public, have dialogues with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SUHAKAM, brief the diplomatic missions in Malaysia, and to be present and intervene during the processes in Geneva, Switzerland in 2009.

Malaysian NGOs acknowledge the government’s efforts to fulfill its human rights obligations and pledges but there still remain many challenges and gaps in our human rights record that need the immediate attention and action by the Malaysian government.

From tomorrow, the COMANGO report will also be available on the websites of:

• EMPOWER at www.empowermalaysia.org
• SUARAM at www.suaram.net and
• WAO at www.wao.org.my

For further details, please contact John Liu of SUARAM at 03-7784 3525 or john.yntynn@gmail.com; or Honey Tan of EMPOWER at honeytan@gmail.com

Click here to download the COMANGO report (.pdf format)

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