is to monitor the implementation of the respective Conventions. These
include the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Committee on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities, United Nations Human Rights Committee,
and Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. As a party to
these treaties, Malaysia would be required to submit regular reports to the
respective Committees outlining the legislative, judicial, policy, and other
measures they have taken to give effect to the Conventions. Therefore,
these monitoring bodies under the CRC, CEDAW, CRPD, ICCPR, and ICERD
create stronger compliance mechanisms to ensure that States adhere to
their obligations to uphold the right to nationality and prevent and reduce
statelessness.
Malaysia must withdraw its reservation on the right to nationality under
Article 7 of the CRC because a child’s right to nationality is seen as an
‘enabler’ right, a key to unlocking other fundamental children’s rights under
the CRC (Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, 2016) In other words,
Malaysia must prioritise the protection of children’s right to a nationality
in order to meet its full obligations under the CRC. Malaysia should use
the General Principles of the CRC to inform its implementation of all
rights in the Convention which are relevant to the problem of childhood
statelessness. These rights include the rights to life, non-discrimination,
survival, and development, as well as the principles of the best interests
of the child, and respect for the views of the child. Besides issuing
recommendations to all State Parties, the CRC Committee is able to
consider individual complaints on any alleged violations of the Convention.
The three themes the Committee has adopted the most recommendations
on are also linked to the right to nationality: to end gender discrimination
in nationality law, to grant nationality to stateless children born in the
territory, and to register all births to prevent statelessness (Institute on
Statelessness and Inclusion, 2018c).
Malaysia must withdraw its reservation under Article 9 of CEDAW because
Article 9 is “central to the object and purpose of the Convention and
that the reservations impact negatively on the enjoyment by women of
their rights,” as recommended by the CEDAW Committee. Besides that,
nationality laws that are discriminatory on the basis of gender are in
conflict with the general obligations of non-discrimination under Article 2.
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