Chapter 3 - Report of the Research and Policy Development Group (ii) CRC The Government is late in submitting the 2nd, 3rd and 4th State Reports to the CRC Committee. Nonetheless, the Commission has drafted its Parallel Report based on monitoring the Government’s progress in implementing the CRC Committee’s comments and recommendations in the 2007 Concluding Observations. The draft Parallel Report highlights issues of concern, including the Commission’s call to the Government to withdraw its remaining reservations to the CRC; to consider acceding to the third Optional Protocol on the CRC on a Communications Procedure; to bring laws in line with international standards in respect of protecting children against corporal punishment; and to safeguard the rights of children in vulnerable groups (including children with disabilities, indigenous children, asylum-seeking and refugee children, and stateless children) to education, health and restorative justice. (iii) CRPD Since its accession to the treaty in 2010, Malaysia has not submitted its initial State Report, which was due in 2012, to the CRPD Committee. At the time of writing, the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development was still preparing the State Report. Meanwhile, the Commission has begun drafting its Parallel Report based on its observation of the implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities (PWD) in relation to the Persons with Disabilities Act 2008; powers of the National Council for PWD; registration of PWD; access to public buildings and public transport; and rights to information, healthcare, housing and employment. In the final document, the Commission will reiterate its call for the Government to withdraw the remaining reservations to the CRPD and to ratify the Optional Protocol. (b) Ratification of/Accession to International Treaties The Commission has been consistent in urging the Government to accede to international human rights treaties. To date, however, Malaysia has only acceded to three of the nine core UN human rights treaties. To move the process forward, the Commission organised separate discussions on the feasibility of accession to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). The discussions were to provide an overview of the treaties and obligations; analyse challenges and issues, including laws and policies that impede accession; and formulate practicable recommendations toward accession. Each discussion was divided into two sessions, respectively for civil society groups and the relevant government agencies. (i) ICCPR discussion The Commission met with civil society groups on 18 April and with government agencies on 22 August, in Kuala Lumpur. 87