The actual work starts now. Malaysia’s win at the UN Human Rights Council for two years beginning 2022 means Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob must respect freedom of expression, rights to free speech and peaceful assembly.
These 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.
I must admit that I am baffled by the win given Malaysia’s unacceptable human rights record.
As I gather my thoughts, my mind wanders to Malaysia’s appeal of the High Court verdict over automatic citizenship for children born overseas to Malaysian mothers.
The country’s judicial independence has been compromised by meddling by the executive. While former Prime Minister, Najib Razak’s guilty verdict last year signalled a semblance of independence, other politicians charged for corruption have been acquitted.
Besides this, we are yet to ban child marriages; we continue to see custodial deaths; we are yet to do away with death penalty and we criminalise homosexuality, resulting in violence against the LGBT community.
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.
The government also adamantly refuses to set-up an independent oversight body to monitor the police force, which has come under heavy scrutiny for abuse of powers and corruption.
Malaysia practices double standards by championing the Palestinian cause, but is yet to recognise the rights of refugees in the country. They are often subjected 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.
There are currently 47 members in the UN Human Rights Council including China, Venezuela, Cameroon, United Arab Emirates, Eritrea and Russia, which have received global condemnations for their grave human rights violations.
The Council has long been criticised for including countries with appalling human rights record. Just ahead of Thursday’s vote, Human Rights Watch had warned that a noncompetitive election “virtually guarantees seats for countries with abysmal rights records”.
In announcing the country’s victory on Facebook, our Prime Minister said “Malaysia’s success in taking a seat at the UN Human Rights Council is a great achievement and recognition on the status of human rights,”.
Ismail must be reminded that this victory isn’t an acknowledgment of good conduct.
If anything, I hope Malaysia will buck up and try to live up to its reform promises.