Malaysia is only one of 16 countries not to have ratified the UN Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.
COMMENT
By Denison Jayasooria
On March 21, the global community celebrates the International Day for the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination set apart by the United Nations.
On that day in 1960, police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville, South Africa, against the apartheid “pass laws”.
The General Assembly which proclaimed the Day in 1966, called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination. It is also important to note that the UN has built an international framework namely the UN Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.
175 countries of the world are parties to this convention. There are only 16 countries which have not signed or ratified the convention. Malaysia is one alongside Angola, North Korea, Myanmar & Singapore.
Why has Malaysia not ratified the convention? Why is Malaysia not among the major Asean or Asian countries or not among the OIC countries or Muslim majority countries?
All the major OIC countries are party to this convention. For example Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, Kuwait & United Arab Emirates.
Therefore this convention being inconsistent with Islam cannot really hold water as these leading Islamic countries are already party to this convention
In the case of Asean countries – Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, even Cambodia and Laos are parties to it.
At the Asian level, India and China are parties to this convention. Many countries which have ratified have specific reservations and the UN system allows for this provision too.
Special measures
Could the issue of affirmative action policies of Malaysia of article 153 of the federal constitution be a hurdle for Malaysia? This however is a missunderstanding as the UN Convention makes specific provision in article 4 for ‘special measures’.
The UN went further to issue a General Recommendation No 32 (August 2009) to explain “the meaning and scope of special measures”.
India which is a party to the convention has constitutional provisions of affirmative action to schedule caste and tribal groups. In a similar way the United States have special affirmative action policies for the blacks.
Therefore there is no logical reason why Malaysia has not ratified the convention. Malaysia has now reached a status in the global community as member of the Human Rights Council and therefore we must be a shining example by not only ratifying the convention but role modelling as a progressive moderate nation.
Being a party to the UN Convention is a clear indication of our seriousness of the 1Malaysia slogan.
Failure to do so or any further delay indicates our non-committal approach for structural transformation is fostering a truly Malaysian nation
By way of a concrete action on March 21, please email the PM a short message urging him to ratify the UN Convention for the elimination of all forms of Racial discrimination on March 21- email: press@1malaysia.com.my and admin@1malaysia.com.my
Dr Denison Jayasooria is a Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnic Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Exco member of Proham, a human rights advocacy group established by former Suhakam members.
COMMENT
By Denison JayasooriaOn March 21, the global community celebrates the International Day for the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination set apart by the United Nations.
On that day in 1960, police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville, South Africa, against the apartheid “pass laws”.
The General Assembly which proclaimed the Day in 1966, called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination. It is also important to note that the UN has built an international framework namely the UN Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.
175 countries of the world are parties to this convention. There are only 16 countries which have not signed or ratified the convention. Malaysia is one alongside Angola, North Korea, Myanmar & Singapore.
Why has Malaysia not ratified the convention? Why is Malaysia not among the major Asean or Asian countries or not among the OIC countries or Muslim majority countries?
All the major OIC countries are party to this convention. For example Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, Kuwait & United Arab Emirates.
Therefore this convention being inconsistent with Islam cannot really hold water as these leading Islamic countries are already party to this convention
In the case of Asean countries – Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, even Cambodia and Laos are parties to it.
At the Asian level, India and China are parties to this convention. Many countries which have ratified have specific reservations and the UN system allows for this provision too.
Special measures
Could the issue of affirmative action policies of Malaysia of article 153 of the federal constitution be a hurdle for Malaysia? This however is a missunderstanding as the UN Convention makes specific provision in article 4 for ‘special measures’.
The UN went further to issue a General Recommendation No 32 (August 2009) to explain “the meaning and scope of special measures”.
India which is a party to the convention has constitutional provisions of affirmative action to schedule caste and tribal groups. In a similar way the United States have special affirmative action policies for the blacks.
Therefore there is no logical reason why Malaysia has not ratified the convention. Malaysia has now reached a status in the global community as member of the Human Rights Council and therefore we must be a shining example by not only ratifying the convention but role modelling as a progressive moderate nation.
Being a party to the UN Convention is a clear indication of our seriousness of the 1Malaysia slogan.
Failure to do so or any further delay indicates our non-committal approach for structural transformation is fostering a truly Malaysian nation
By way of a concrete action on March 21, please email the PM a short message urging him to ratify the UN Convention for the elimination of all forms of Racial discrimination on March 21- email: press@1malaysia.com.my and admin@1malaysia.com.my
Dr Denison Jayasooria is a Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnic Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Exco member of Proham, a human rights advocacy group established by former Suhakam members.
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