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34 of the Human Rights Committee (HRC)’s 58 members were warmly welcomed by the co-chairs, Andrew Khoo and Zarizana Abdul Aziz, at the HRC’s inaugural meeting for the 2009-2010 term, held at the Bar Council secretariat last Friday, 24 April 2009.  41 of the members served on the HRC last term, while the remaining 17 are new members.

With several projects already on its plate and more in the pipeline, the HRC clearly has its work for the term cut out for it.  The structure of the Committee has been tweaked (and expanded), and currently comprises 14 Working Groups, with catchy acronyms courtesy of Andrew Khoo’s linguistic talents:

1)    Advocacy and Law Reform (ALARM) – law reform and public relations/ publications and publicity unit.  

2)    Human Rights Education, Advancement, Research and Training (HEART) – education unit.  

3)    Representation and Advice for Persons in Detention (RAPID) – deals with ISA and people in detention without trial.  


4)    Civil and Political Rights (CPR) – deals with civil and political rights, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of information, protection of privacy (including DNA identity).  

5)    Age and Gender (AGENDER) – deals with women, LGBTIQ (sexuality rights), children, gerontology issues.  

6)    International, Regional and Institutional Section (IRIS) – AHRB (ASEAN human rights body), ICC (International Criminal Court), UPR (Universal Periodic Review process of the UN Human Rights Council), ICC/APF of NHRIs (International Coordinating Committee/Asia-Pacific Forum of national human rights institutions), SUHAKAM (Malaysia’s Human Rights Commission). 


7)    Migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and trafficked and exploited persons (MigRATE) – deals with migrant workers, refugees, asylum seekers, survivors of trafficking and other exploited persons (including stateless persons). 

8)    Securing Orang Asli Rights (SOAR) – deals with Orang Asli issues.  

9)    Monitoring And Responding to Contraventions of Human Rights (MARCH) – monitoring and urgent arrest team.


10)    Persons with disabilities (PWD) – deals with persons with disabilities.  

11)    Prisons and Centres of Detention (PriCeDent) – deals with conditions in prisons and detention centres.

12)    SEPULCHRE – social, economic, poverty, urbanisation, labour, culture, health, religious, environment issues.  


The HRC, which is fond of using “MAJU!” as its rallying cry, has now turned even that into an acronym for “Malaysians Advocating Justice and Unity”.

WELCOME to each and every one of the members.  Now let’s get to work!

   
We are seeking members from the Kedah/Perlis and Terengganu Bars to join the HRC so that we have representatives from each of the State Bars.  If you are interested, kindly contact the author (03-2031 6367 or oysim@malaysianbar.org.my)

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Human Rights Committee 2009/2010 members

1.    Adiba Shareen
2.    Allison Ong Lee Fong
3.    Andrew Khoo Chin Hock
4.    Angeline Cheah Yin Leng (Penang)
5.    Ann Chuah Siew Ann
6.    Anthony Chua Yong Giap (Malacca)
7.    Aston Philip Paiva
8.    Augustine Anthony (Perak)
9.    Brendan Navin Siva
10.    Chow Siew Lin
11.    Dara Waheda Bt Mohd Rufin
12.    Deepa Nambiar
13.    Ding Jo-Ann
14.    Dipendra a/l Harshad Rai
15.    Edmund Bon Tai Soon
16.    Farez bin Mohd Ali Jinnah
17.    Gaithri Anbalagan
18.    Harmesh Singh
19.    Jerald Gomez
20.    Jeffri Cheong
21.    Joanna Loy @ Loi Wen Shin
22.    June Low Cheng Yen
23.    Kavitha a/p Sitartha Raja Kumaran
24.    Khaizan Sharizad Bt. Abd. Razak (Sherrie)
25.    Khor Xiou Shan
26.    Lai Chee Hoe
27.    Lee Choi Wan
28.    Lee Swee Seng
29.    Lim Kar Mern
30.    Maria Soosai Raj (Pahang)
31.    Melissa Soon Siew-Li
32.    Mohammad Faizal B. Che Yusof (Kelantan)
33.    K.Mohan a/l K Kumaran (Johor)
34.    Ng Sui May
35.    Nizam Bashir bin Abdul Kariem Bashir (Malacca)
36.    Noor Arianti Bt. Osman
37.    Pushpa Ratnam
38.    Puspanathan S/O Sellam (Negeri Sembilan)
39.    Rachel Vanuja Suppiah
40.    Ragumaren A/L N.Gopal (Gary)
41.    Renuka A/P T.Balasubramaniam
42.    Richard Wee Thiam Seng
43.    Ridzman Abdullah (Negeri Sembilan)
44.    Roger Chan Weng Keng
45.    Saha Deva A/L A.Arunasalam
46.    Seira Sacha Binti Abu Bakar
47.    Shobah A/P Veeraputrhan
48.    Simranjit Kaur Gill
49.    Siti Zabedah Bt. Kasim
50.    Sonya Liew Yee Aun
51.    Soo Siew Mei
52.    Sunil Lopez A/L Ceasar Lopez
53.    Suraeisan S T Mani
54.    Syamsuriatina Bt. Ishak
55.    Thirunavakarasu Vijayan
56.    Usha Kulasegaran
57.    Yang Pei Keng (Johor)
58.    Zarizana Bt Abdul Aziz (Penang)