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Malaysia - Universal Periodic Review

UPR 31, November 8, 2018
Recommendations by Canada

Recommendations

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Mr. President,

Canada thanks Malaysia for its presentation and commends its commitment to ratify all core human rights treaties; repeal and amend laws limiting freedom of expression; protect human rights defenders; and abolish the death penalty.

Canada recommends that Malaysia:

1. Review and repeal laws that directly or indirectly criminalise consensual same-sex sexual activity and take action to prevent violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
2. Review state and federal laws to raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 for everyone in Malaysia and adopt policies to discourage child marriage.
3. Take immediate legislative or administrative measures, including ratifying the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol, to provide legal status to refugees and asylum-seekers to allow them to reside, work and access education and healthcare in Malaysia
4. Criminalize marital rape by amending Section 375 of the Penal Code.

We remain concerned about the lack of legal status for refugees and asylum seekers; the continued practice of child marriage; and lack of protections for the LGBTI community against discrimination, violence and corporal punishment.

Canada kindly requests timelines regarding Malaysia’s stated human rights commitments.

Background

According to UPR Info, a non-governmental organization (NGO) tracking the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, Malaysia  accepted 196 of 399 recommendations received during the first two cycles of the UPR (49% acceptance rate). In previous UPRs, Canada’s recommendations related to sexual orientation and gender identity; women’s rights; rights of the child; freedom of religion or belief; asylum seekers and refugees; migrants; justice; freedom of opinion & expression; and freedom of association & peaceful assembly.

In May 2018, Malaysians elected a federal opposition party for the first time since their independence. The newly elected government made several important commitments to improving the protection of human rights. We encourage Malaysia to move forward with these commitments.

Of note, the new Government has indicated that it would repeal and amend several laws limiting the freedom of expression and the work of human rights defenders, such as the Sedition Act, National Security Council Act, and the Peaceful Assembly Act. On October 10th, the Minister of Laws also announced that Malaysia would abolish the death penalty.

The Government has also committed to increasing gender equality and better protecting the rights of women and girls through women’s economic empowerment, and greater political involvement.  Moreover, the Government has announced that it would ratify the remaining six core human right treaties to which it is not yet party.

While the above initiatives are welcome, several challenges remain. Members of the LGBTI community in Malaysia continue to face serious discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This has included the use of corporal punishment against same sex couples and violence against transgender individuals. Child marriage also continues to be an issue with girls as young as 11 being married to adults and female genital mutilation remains a common practice. While the Government has indicated it would set the minimum age of marriage at 18, important segments of society have vocally opposed this change. Finally, Malaysia hosts over 160,000 UNHCR-registered refugees and asylum-seekers – including over 77,000 Rohingya. Regrettably these individuals generally lack legal status in Malaysia and cannot legally access the job market or public education. The Canadian High Commission in Malaysia has used the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives and other advocacy mechanisms to address human rights concerns.