Same-Sex Marriage, War in Ukraine, Child Brides & Equal Citizenship: Human Rights Round-Up 2022
Image description: a composite image of two women getting married, a protest against war in Ukraine, and a group of children. Every December, the world celebrates Human Rights Day. This...
Detention Laws in Malaysia: Parliament Rejects Motion to Extend Security Powers
Image description: Protesters gather at a human rights rally in Malaysia. The Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA) has been subject to serious criticism by human rights organisations and...
Women in Malaysia Can Now Pass on Citizenship to Overseas-Born Children
Image description: A woman with a passport in hand. On 27 September 2021, the Kuala Lumpur High Court in Suraini Kempe & Ors v the Government of Malaysia & Ors...
Christians in Malaysia have the right to use the word “Allah”
On 17 March 2021, the High Court in Malaya at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia delivered a landmark judgment in Jill Ireland’s case, nullifying the 1986 Directive (the impugned Directive) by the...
The Federal Court of Malaysia held state Syariah law criminalising ‘unnatural sex’ void and unconstitutional
On 25 February 2021, the Federal Court of Malaysia delivered a landmark judgment, declaring that Section 28 of the Syariah* Criminal Offences (Selangor) Enactment 1995 (the 1995 Enactment), which criminalises...
The Prospects for the Malaysian Exercise of Universal Jurisdiction over Myanmarese Atrocity Crimes
The ‘clearance operations’ commenced in August 2017 against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim population by the State’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, were beset with criminality. Investigating the campaign led the UN...
#NotMarriedat11: Legal Failures to Protect Children from Child Marriage in Malaysia
With the recent highlighting of yet another case of child marriage in Malaysia, where a 41 year old man married an 11 year old girl, the prevalence of child marriage...
The Legality of Unilateral Child Conversion in Malaysia
For Indira Gandhi, whose husband converted to Islam and attempted to unilaterally convert their daughter as well, a long legal battle came to an end when the Malaysian Federal Court...
Children’s Rights, Illegitimacy and the Rule of Law in Malaysia
In A Child v National Registration Department, 25th July 2017, the Malaysian Court of Appeal held that a Muslim child born out of wedlock should be permitted to take on...
Malaysia’s Dangerous Path Towards “Allah”
The Malaysian Court of Appeal has ruled recently that the word “Allah” falls unreservedly within the Muslim faith, precluding the Catholic Church in the country from using the term in...
Affirmative Action versus Equality in Malaysia
By Dr Dimitrina Petrova The Bumiputera (Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak) continue to benefit from decades-old affirmative action policies that have outlived their legitimacy. Article 153 of the...
