vi. The government should ensure that the empowerment of women is
prioritised, especially with regard to increasing women’s participation in the
labour force, politics and increasing the number of women in key decisionmaking positions;
vii. Co-ordination and commitment at all political levels in Malaysia are needed
to effectively suppress trafficking and smuggling of women, regionally and
internationally;
viii. Specific policies need to be developed to accommodate the transgender
community to ensure that their rights to access public services, employment,
healthcare and housing are protected, and their dignity respected and
secured;
ix. The government should ensure that women in every state in Malaysia have
fair and just access to justice in the Syariah Courts; and
x. Vulnerable groups such as migrant workers, asylum seekers, refugees and
also stateless women should be allowed equal access to formal education,
healthcare and employment, as well as the right to live a decent life, free
from poverty and discrimination.
Pursuant to the oral statement delivered, the CEDAW Committee raised the
following issues:
i.
Trafficking of women
The Committee queried on whether there were shelters for victims of
trafficking. In response, the Commission highlighted that one of the main
problems with regard to shelter was budget constraints. In this regard,
specific Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) were being sought to provide
protection for trafficking victims. The CEDAW Committee was also informed
that the Commission had also held consultations with relevant stakeholders
such as the Council for Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of
Migrants (MAPO) under the Ministry of Home Affairs on the issue of trafficking;
however, the progress had been very slow.
ii.
Funding of NHRI and anti-corruption laws
The CEDAW Committee queried on the budget of SUHAKAM and whether
there were anti-corruption laws in Malaysia and their impact on the
government’s efforts to address human rights issues; and if such anticorruption laws existed, whether they were adequate to tackle the problem
of corruption.
16
S UH A KA M A N N UA L R E P O R T 2 0 1 7