One of the main recommendations is that Malaysia should not make any reservation to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Even though Malaysia is one of the signatories of CRC, reservations have been made on Articles 1, 2, 7, 13, 14, 15, 28 and 37 of the CRC, which has 54 articles.
Some provisions in the Child Act 2001 even contravene to the CRC. The most obvious contravention can be seen where the Act allows whipping and imprisonment of children who are found guilty of an offence. These provisions significantly contravene Art. 37 of CRC which prohibits the cruel punishment to the children. It is recommended that the children who break the law should be send to Henry Gurney School instead of to be send to jail. This is due to the fact that Henry Gurney School is a better place which can provides the children a better education and instills good moral values to the children as compared to jail.
If Malaysia signs CRC without making those reservations, it can ensure the provisions in CRC to be fully compliance. Such full compliance can further extend and enhance the children rights in our country.
Another recommendation to the Malaysia government is that the law should be reviewed gradually. This is to ensure that the law develops on the same pace with the current social development.
In Ontario, child welfare is protected by the Child, Youth and Family Services Act (CYFSA). Every five years, the Act will be reviewed by The Minister of Children and Youth Services and the review will later be reported back to the public . In 2015, the legislation has made several improvements to the Act . These changes were the results from the feedback received via the 2015 review of CFSA.
In Malaysia, it is suggested that the Ministry can collaborate with the legislature to review the current children protection law gradually and make improvements to the outdated provisions. The government can also obtain feedback from the public regarding the current children protection legislation. The Child Act (Amendment) 2016 which contains four main amendments indicates a good start for such review approach.
Another important recommendation is regarding to the birth registration. All children have the right to a legally registered name and the right to a nationality . Children have the right to an identity . Birth registration is one of the most critical ways to ensure that the children can enjoy those fundamental rights. Without a birth certificate, a child will be excluded from vital rights such as rights to education and rights to health care. Every child has the right to be registered at birth without discrimination . A child’s rights can only be guaranteed after he or she has an official identity. Without having an official identity, a child would become a victim in child labour, armed forces, child marriage and trafficking.
In Canada, birth registration is one of the key element listed in Canada’s National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking to prevent children from being trafficked. The collaboration between Government of Canada and UNICEF in the first phase of a new national birth registration system for under-fives in Tanzania has achieved a great success by using mobile technology to make it easier and faster to register births .
The UNICEF’s new report released Dec. 11, Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and Trends in Birth Registration indicates that one-third of all children under five in the world do not officially exist .
Even though our national government has taking measures in protecting the children’s rights, the domestic effort alone is not effective enough in combating the violation on children’s rights. Therefore, Malaysian government should take the Canadian government as a role model in collaborating with the international organization such as UNICEF. Our birth registration system seems to be comprehensive. However, there are still some improvements which can be done. For example, the registration can be done by a computerized system which can function more efficiently instead of hand-written forms. The Malaysian government can work together with UNICEF in enhancing the birth registration system and facilitating the process which officially recognizes the identity of a child.
One of the main recommendations is that the Malaysian government should work together with the legislature in clarifying the uncertainty in the issue of child marriage.
The Malaysian law sets 18 as the minimum age of marriage . However, it is not absolute since there are exceptional circumstances in the law which allow a person to enter into a marriage at a younger age . On the other hand, there is no minimum marriage age imposed by Islamic law and Muslims can enter into a marriage once they attain puberty and display physical signs of such maturity .
A drastic statistics which has been revealed by the Deputy Minister for Women in 2010 indicated that nearly 15,000 girls below the age of 15 were in a marriage . In Malaysia, some communities accept child marriage as a traditional practice. National Fatwa Council once declared that child marriage was not a “healthy” practice . Many ill consequences, such as high-risk pregnancies and disrupted education, can be resulted from child marriages . Malaysian Child Rights Coalition pointed out that since the rights of a child victim are seriously violated by the early marriage, the rights of the child must not be superseded by such practices .
The issue of child marriage has gained more attention from the public when there is an involvement of element of child marriage with the rapist. For example, in a high-profile case where a 40-year-old man took a 13-year-old girl that he had raped as a second wife after bribing her parents.
It is undeniable that passing the Sexual Offences against Children Bill 2017 is a good beginning to protect children from sexual abuse. Furthermore, another merit for the new bill is that it has extra-territorial jurisdiction. The new law does not only protecting Malaysian children from local and foreign offenders, but also making Malaysians liable to prosecution for committing similar offenses abroad. However, it does not extend to criminalization of child marriage.
According to Musa Awang, the president of the Shariah Lawyers Association of Malaysia (PGSM), Shariah courts should give their approval in child marriages based on "consent" but not "compulsion". However, to what extent the consent should be given and how to show that there is a real and actual consent is still in ambiguity.
It is recommended that the government should work together with the legislature to putting a certainty in the minimum age of marriage and the requirements to prove the consent. Several rights groups, including Islamic feminist groups, have been critically suggesting the minimum marriage age to be set in line with the Child Act 2001 which is at the age of 18 years regardless of gender and religion. Once the ambiguities were solved, the problem of child marriage can also be combated and this will enhance the protection of children rights.