The Malaysian Bar - UNICEF New York meets Bar Council during its assessment of the Malaysia country office

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UNICEF New York meets Bar Council during its assessment of the Malaysia country office

Contributed by Lim Kar Mern (Human Rights Committee), with photos by Sumitha Shaanthinni (Executive Officer, Bar Council)

On 29 May 2009, three United Nations Children's Fund (“UNICEF”) representatives from New York – Janie Eriksen (Senior Evaluation Specialist), Harold Randall (Programme Guidance Specialist) and Xavier Foulquier (Programme Officer) – met with Malaysian Bar Council Vice-President, Lim Chee Wee. Four members of the Human Rights Committee (“HRC”) – Renuka T. Balasubramaniam (co-chair of the HRC Working Group on migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and trafficked and exploited persons, MigRATE), Sunita Sankey, Simranjit Kaur Gill (co-chair of the Age and Gender Working Group, AGENDER) and Lim Kar Mern – also attended the meeting.

The UNICEF representatives are on a mission to five countries in the South-East Asian region to conduct a Programme Performance Assessment (“PPA”) of its country offices. Malaysia is amongst the chosen five to be assessed from 28 May to 5 June 2009. The PPA is a joint exercise between the New York based Evaluation Office and the Office of Internal Audit to assess Government-UNICEF programmes of cooperation with an aspiration to improve the fulfilment of rights and well-being of children and women.

The PPA’s aim is to assist ongoing programme performance by the respective country offices. With respect to Malaysia, it was therefore crucial for UNICEF to consider the perspectives of major local stakeholders, including that of the Bar Council.

Janie Eriksen explained in greater detail the main objectives of their visit, which include:

1.	to assess the strategic approaches applied to position UNICEF in support of national development policies and practice;
2.	to assess the relevance and efficiency of UNICEF's partnership and alliances with government, other development partners and NGOs; and
3.	to assess to what extent the applied strategic management practices are efficient in supporting government advisory work and to fulfil children's rights.

The issues raised by the HRC members pertained to the Government’s lack of attention and action, especially in the area of corporal punishments in schools, the denial of education and access to healthcare faced by undocumented migrant children without birth certificates, and public schools that do not cater to children with disabilities. The HRC also drew attention to the problems in Malaysia’s birth registration process whereby Malaysian children without birth certificates are deemed stateless and thus denied public education, the treatment of children within the criminal justice system, including juvenile detention, the incidence of child abuse nationwide, the increasingly severe incidence of trafficking in persons, and the problems faced by street children in Sabah, particularly in relation to access to education and healthcare.

It was an expressed concern that there has not been an interface with UNICEF in any of these matters.

In response, Harold Randall explained that the extent of UNICEF's involvement in Malaysia is:

1.	to participate in coordination groups of civil society organisations;
2.	to convene civil society organisations and other stakeholders with government and international partners to stimulate attention to important issues associated with children and women;
3.	to advocate with government and other international partners; and
4.	to provide analysis and information on the situation of children.

Both parties agreed that the country office needs to be more firmly engaged with civil society groups that are actively advocating for child rights.

The HRC is currently working with NGOs in the preparation of the Shadow Report to the Government's report pursuant to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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