Appoint Suhakam Commissioner For Stateless Persons Bar Tells Govt

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The government is expected to table a series of amendments to citizenship laws in the current Parliament session, including replacing automatic citizenship for foundlings. (Putri Purnama Sugua pic)PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Bar has urged the government to appoint a commissioner within the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) dedicated to stateless persons.
It said this would be similar to Suhakam’s children’s commissioner, which was established with the goal of tackling child abuse and other social ills affecting minors.
The Bar also urged the government to set up an ombudsman office to look into the status of stateless children and ensure they will not remain stateless.
It demanded that Putrajaya fast-track citizenship applications so that decisions would take no more than nine months, and called for greater transparency regarding the application process.
“To carry out these functions, (the Malaysian Bar demands the government) appoint a commissioner for stateless persons within Suhakam through the necessary amendments to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act 1999,” it said in a statement after its annual general meeting today.
The Bar also urged the government to defer the proposed amendments to the citizenship laws, particularly the amendments which would remove foundlings’ automatic right to citizenship.
Foundlings are infants who were abandoned by their parents and later cared for by others.
The government is expected to table a series of amendments to citizenship laws in the current Parliament session, including replacing automatic citizenship for foundlings with the home minister’s discretionary powers to decide on such matters.
The proposal has been criticised by civil society and Suhakam, which said it was regressive and would create “problems in terms of approval”.
Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, however, said the door to citizenship for foundlings will not be closed, as long as their births were promptly registered upon discovery. - FMT

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