Executive Summary
several key events notably the 15th Anniversary of the Commission and the Human Rights
Awards 2015 which was held on 9 September this year. To commemorate the 15th year of the
Commission’s establishment, a panel discussion was held on the topic on “SUHAKAM at 15:
Still a toothless Tiger…?” followed by the Human Rights Awards presentation to 6 recipients.
The Commission had distributed its maiden human rights comic entitled “ATHAM” to 150
schools in Malaysia subsequent to its launched by the Deputy Minister of Education and
Higher Learning II, YB P. Kamalanathan. The Commission plans to translate the comic into
several other languages that are widely spoken locally to reach a wider target group on the
principles of children’s rights as illustrated in the comic.
During the year, the Commission embarked with several campaign partners to advocate
for Malaysia’s accession to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). In addition, the Commission had also entered
a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Monash University Malaysia to enhance
cooperation in the use of ICT to develop promotional tools, awareness-raising activities,
internship and exchange programmes and joint research on human rights.
Throughout the year, the Commission continued to hold dialogue session with relevant
Ministries and Government agencies on the Government’s Responses to the Commission’s
2014 Annual Report, organised outreach programmes such as “SUHAKAM Bersama Masyarakat”
in several states and had engaged with Islamic religious organisations on a project relating
to accessibility for the disabled in mosques. The Commission had also received several
visits by local and foreign delegations and had called on several dignitaries and institutions
to discuss on a wide range of issues to advance the cause of human rights in the country.
The Media Division which serves as the Commission’s central point for all media
communications had issued 48 media statements on human rights issues relating to
economic, social and culture rights and civil and political rights. During the year, in an effort
to raise awareness and to sensitise all stakeholders, the Division had organised and held
media conferences and facilitated face-to face interviews on behalf of the Commission. The
Commission was also actively using Facebook and Twitter as pathways in promoting the
human rights agenda in Malaysia to social media news consumers.
The Training Division in fulfilling the Commission’s mandate to provide human rights education
expanded its Human Rights Best Practices in Schools (HRBPS) programme to 152 schools by
year end. The Commission in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MOE) proposed
to implement the HRBPS programme in 24 schools in Sabah and 31 schools Sarawak by
2016. To prepare for the implementation of the HRBPS programme, two seminars for school
principals have been conducted with a further 2 more planned for school coordinators in
Sabah and Sarawak soon. Workshops on Human Rights Education were also conducted to
religious teachers from Sekolah Agama Rakyat.
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