I call on Hamid Albar to respect human rights and make public the National Human Rights Commission Bill to allow the civil society at least two weeks to give feedback before debate and passage of the bill in Parliament.
In Parliament last December, I had asked why the Malaysian government had opted out of the United Nations human rights mechanism to review progress made in implementing the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights 1993 on its fifth anniversary, as Malaysia was one of the countries which had failed to respond to the United Nations request to submit contributions to the review process.
The then Foreign Minister, Datuk Abdullah Badawi expressed surprise at my query, as he did not seem to know about the matter, though he promised to look into it.
The establishment of a National Human Rights Commission should be a major step in promoting and protecting human rights in Malaysia, and not be a part of "cosmetic" diplomacy to legitimise human rights violations as is the case in many other countries.
An important test as to whether the Human Rights Commission would be a major advance for human rights is whether the government would fully involve the civil society in the formulation and operation of the Commission, in particular whether the National Human Rights Commission would be set up in accordance with the Paris Principles on the status of national human rights institutions approved by the General Assembly in 1993 to ensure that it is not an "alibi" institution to legitimise human rights violations.
The United Nations General Assembly resolution 48/134 of 20 December
1993, entitled "National institutions for the promotion and protection
of human rights", reaffirmed the importance of developing, in accordance
with national legislation, effective national institutions for the promotion
and protection of human rights and of ensuring the pluralism of their membership
and their
independence.
In this resolution, the General Assembly adopted the principles on the
status of national human rights institutions developed at the first International
Workshop on National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection
of Human Rights held in Paris in October 1991, to avoid the danger of the
establishment of "alibi" national institutions. Whether these national
institutions are consultative or
jurisdictional, they must be based on the highest possible legal
standard, which assured their legitimacy, so that they would be able to
ensure the synergy between the State and civil society. In addition, national
institutions must be forums for constructive dialogue and mediation, limiting
controversy and confrontation, without thereby concealing possible substantive
disagreements.
Under the Paris Principles, the mandate of a national institution
must be as broad as possible and must be established by the Constitution
or by a legislative instrument. It must have the power to carry out investigations,
on its own initiative or at the request of the authorities, into all human
rights
violations committed in the country concerned and to receive and hear
individual complaints lodged in this respect. It must have the responsibility
for promoting human rights and must be free to meet on a regular basis
and as often as necessary and to circulate and publish its conclusions
and recommendations.
The Malaysian government would be negating the Paris Principles in refusing to make public the National Human Rights Commission Bill and involve the civil society in its enactment - which will be a very bad start for the Malaysian National Human Rights Commission.
(2/7/99)