Human Rights And Statelessness I N P E N I N S U L AR M AL AYS I A Islamic law. Another way a child can be adopted is under the Registration of Adoptions Act 1952. Adoption under this Act does not change the status of the adopted child but only shows proof that an adoption has taken place. This Act is applicable to both Muslims and non-Muslims as it does not contravene Islamic law. Many Muslim countries recognize and confer citizenship status to an abandoned child born in their jurisdiction. Countries such as Iraq, United Arab Emirates, and Sudan recognise and confer citizenship to abandoned children born in their territory under Islamic law. There are provisions allowing such a child to be claimed; i.e. a declaration or acknowledgement (al-iqrar) that a child of unknown identity is a child of somebody. This acknowledgement is subject to conditions a person must fulfil which includes declaring they are of unknown status, their parentage is not yet established by another person, they have not been claimed as illegitimate, and they have attained the age of seven years (mumayyiz). For example, Section 114 of the Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) Act 1984 recognises the acknowledgement of paternity (but not maternity) of an abandoned child after the above conditions are fulfilled. Islamic law also recognises adoption or foster care only under the Registration of Adoptions Act 1952, based on the principle of enjoining good deeds (al-’amr bi al ma’ruf) (Azizah Mohd, 2011). Section 19B of Part III of the Second Schedule provides that “any new born child found exposed in any place shall be presumed, until the contrary is shown, to have been born there of a mother permanently resident there.” This provision, when read together with Section 1(e) of Part II of the Second Schedule, recognises that children born in Malaysia, regardless of their status (legitimate or illegitimate, abandoned or otherwise), qualify for Malaysian citizenship by operation of law. However, this only applies if the child is born in Malaysia and if the child is a new born child. If the abandoned child is a grown child or born outside of Malaysia, the child is rendered stateless due to the unknown parentage of the child (Azizah Mohd, 2011). Furthermore, “new born child” is not clearly defined and as discussed in Section 3.5.1, there are no existing administrative guidelines or procedures by the relevant government agencies (KDN, JPN, RegistarGeneral of Births and Deaths) to implement this safeguard. 76