2.5. Death Penalty SUHAKAM was part of a Special Committee to Review Alternative Sentences to the Mandatory Death Penalty, established by the Government in 2019. In 2018, the Government placed a moratorium on the death penalty and in 2023, the Parliament passed two bills in relation to abolition of the mandatory death penalty: ● Abolition on Mandatory Death Penalty Bill 2023; ● Revision of Sentence of death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Bill 2023. Recommendations: ● Replace the death penalty with life imprisonment of 30 years in respect of the most serious crimes. 2.6. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment UNCATiii is considered as a “low hanging fruit” in Malaysia, yet there remains resistance to treaty accession. Among the reasons for non-accession to UNCAT is because Malaysia’s domestic laws allow for the implementation of corporal punishment in all settings and the imposition of the death penalty. Recommendations: ● Emulate other countries’ best practices to identify ways to reconcile domestic civil and religious legal systems with UNCAT. ● Abolish corporal punishment such as whipping and caning in custodial and educational institutions. 3. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 3.1. Poverty Eradication and Raising Standard of Living SUHAKAM acknowledge that the absolute Poverty Line Income (PLI) was revised in 2020 to better reflect household consumption patterns and cost of living. However, the raise of the PLI from RM980.00 to RM2,208.00 in 2019 resulted in the rise of the country’s poverty rate. Incidence of poverty persists among those who are economically and socially vulnerable. The COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the lack of a comprehensive social protection system exacerbated the insecurity and vulnerability of these groups and caused the rate of absolute poverty to increase further to 8.4% in 2020 iv. 4