KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s win at the UN Human Rights Council for two years should not be seen as a reward for good conduct, but as an opportunity to work on the country’s “unacceptable human rights record”.
Klang MP Charles Santiago said he is “baffled” by the win but others in the council, such as China, Venezuela, Cameroon, the United Arab Emirates, Eritrea and Russia have themselves received global condemnation over their grave human rights violations.
“The council has long been criticised for including countries with appalling human rights records. Just ahead of the vote, Human Rights Watch warned that a non-competitive election virtually guarantees seats for countries with abysmal rights records.”
He added that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob “must be reminded that this victory is not an acknowledgment of good conduct”, and if anything, Malaysia should “try to live up to its reform promises”.
“The freedom of expression, rights to free speech and peaceful assembly have taken a huge whack since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, where opposition politicians, activists, journalists and bloggers were targeted for exercising their fundamental rights.
“We have yet to ban child marriages; we continue to see custodial deaths; we are yet to do away with the death penalty; and, we criminalise homosexuality.
“Immigration raids are continuing and target migrant workers, who are then detained in horrendous conditions. The government, however, has no political will to go after unscrupulous labour agents or Malaysian employers.
“My mind also wanders to Malaysia’s appeal of the high court verdict on automatic citizenship for children born overseas to Malaysian mothers.”
The DAP lawmaker also took the government to task over its refusal to set up an independent oversight body to monitor the police force, which has come under heavy scrutiny for abuse of power and corruption.
He also included the refusal to recognise the rights of refugees in the country.
“They are often subject to abuse by authorities and denied the right to work, education and affordable healthcare.
“Immigration and police raids have also made it tough for migrants, refugees and stateless persons to access vaccinations against Covid-19.”
His damning remarks comes after Malaysia won one of 18 seats in the UN council for the 2022-2024 term with 183 votes.
Ismail Sabri had said in a Facebook post that: “Malaysia’s success in taking a seat in the UN Human Rights Council is a great achievement and recognition of the status of human rights.”
“Malaysia will work closely with UN member states to advance the global human rights agenda, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” – The Vibes, October 15, 2021
