Executive Summary REPORT FROM THE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP The International Coordination Division is tasked to manage and facilitate the Commission’s participation in relevant forums and establishing relations at the regional and international levels in advancing the promotion and protection of human rights in the country. During the year, the Commission assumed the chairmanships of the Commonwealth Forum of NHRIs (CFNHRIs) and Southeast Asia NHRIs Forum (SEANF). The Commission as an active member of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF) had participated in several capacity building programmes organised by APF this year. It has also strengthened its engagement with AICHR through the Malaysian representative by agreeable to co-host two programmes – Symposium on the Judiciary, Rule of Law and Human Rights and Workshop on the Role of Youth in Promoting Human Rights. Due to the haze situation, the former was postponed indefinitely while the latter was co-organised together with several other partners and attended by 80 youths from ASEAN countries. The Commission’s accreditation as an ‘A’ status NHRI has been recommended by the ICCSCA to be retained which the ICC Bureau will need to endorse at its meeting scheduled in March 2016. In its recommendation, the ICC-SCA had raised concerns regarding the selection, appointment and guarantee of tenure of Commissioners, adequate funding, cooperation with human rights bodies, tabling and debating of the Commission’s Annual report and Special reports in Parliament. As an ‘A’ status NHRI, the Commission is accorded the right to speak in the Human Rights Council (HRC) which it did through 3 video statements - the Abolition of the Death Penalty and Reports of the Visit to Malaysia by the Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Health and Trafficking in Persons especially on Women and Children respectively. The visits by UN Special Procedures Mandate Holders to the country should be welcome by the Government to allow human rights issues to be assessed objectively to improve the human rights situation in the country from the findings and recommendations by the experts. At the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the UN reaffirmed the importance of NHRIs’ role in the promotion and protection of human rights. A total of 90 countries co-sponsored the resolution. Whilst Malaysia was not a co-sponsor, nevertheless it supported the resolution by joining the consensus in adopting the resolution. As part of the Commission’s effort to follow-up on Malaysia second UPR, the Commission had organised a consultation in Kuala Lumpur involving Government agencies and CSOs to identify strategies that would allow stakeholders to work together to implement the 150 recommendations accepted by Malaysia during its second UPR. Similar sessions would also be organised in other parts of the country early next year. The Promotion and Public Relations Division responsible in raising public awareness on human rights and enhancing the Commission’s relationship with various stakeholders organised 12 BOOK-ANR2016-01-latest.indb 12 08/04/2016 3:32 PM