MalayMail-Aug 7
The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) today expressed disappointment over the Court of Appeal’s decision to overturn a High Court ruling allowing mothers to pass on their citizenship to overseas-born children. Suhakam said the decision will negatively impact, not only Malaysian mothers but also their children, particularly in meeting their basic needs including access to medical services, education, citizenship and other rights guaranteed to all Malaysian citizens under Malaysian law. “Suhakam recalls the government’s commitment to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and its commitment to ensuring that domestic legislation should affirm the principles of equality between men and women without any discrimination and to protect and fulfil children’s basic rights.“As a country that has ratified both instruments, Malaysia should implement the principle of bona fide to ensure the principles of the instruments are implemented and applied in Malaysian laws with sincerity in both intention and action, instead of ratifying without any intention to see it through,” the human rights commission said in a statement today. On August 5, the Court of Appeal decided in a majority decision that the overseas-born children of Malaysian mothers cannot automatically be Malaysian citizens. Read more at: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2022/08/07/suhakam-appeals-courts-ruling-of-no-citizenship-for-overseas-born-kids-of-malaysian-mums-unfair-not-in-line-with-keluarga-malaysia-concept/21593
