马来西亚

When asked to provide more context about who was particularly unlikely to enjoy their right to education in 2023, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Transgender people, especially young people, are more likely to drop out of school
• LGBTQIA+ youth experiencing homelessness
• Refugees and asylum seekers are not recognised by the government and are often denied their right to education

When asked to provide more context about who was particularly unlikely to enjoy their right to food in 2023, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Refugees and asylum seekers are not recognised by the government and often face difficulties accessing food
• LGBTQIA+ youth experiencing homelessness

Expert respondents did not provide any specific information about who is especially vulnerable to violations of this right.

When asked to provide more context about who was particularly unlikely to enjoy their right to housing in 2023, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Refugees and asylum seekers are not recognised by the government and often face difficulties accessing health care
• LGBTQIA+ youth experiencing homelessness

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to arbitrary or political arrest and detention by government agents in 2023, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Indigenous people advocating for the environment and their ancestral land rights, and peacefully protesting against logging on customary land
• Laws like the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998, the Sedition Act 1948, and the Security Offences Act 2012 are used to arbitrarily arrest protesters and migrant workers
• Migrant workers protesting and advocating for better working conditions
• Migrants risk indefinite detention
• Anyone entering the country irregularly, including victims of trafficking, asylum seekers, refugees, and undocumented migrants, can be charged with a criminal offence
• Malaysian Indians are racially profiled and are at increased risk of arbitrary arrest
• Asylum seekers and refugees are denied legal status and detained; there are reports of over 10,000 people being held in immigration detention centres, including more than 1,000 children
• Asylum seekers and refugees face overcrowding, unhygienic conditions, as well as physical and psychological abuse in immigration detention centres, without judicial oversight
• Asylum seekers and refugees are at increased risk of arbitrary arrest because Malaysia is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention
• LGBTQIA+ people can face severe legal penalties, including up to 20 years in prison and corporal punishment, under the Penal Code and Sharia law
• 171 Bangladeshi workers were arrested for peacefully protesting their employer, who had deceived them into coming to Malaysia with false promises of employment
• The government uses repressive laws to arbitrarily arrest those who protest and silence dissent, particularly the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998, which is ambiguously worded, prone to abuse and often arbitrarily applied
• Police investigated the organisers of a peaceful protest held in conjunction with International Labour Day; there were reports of surveillance of protesters during the march
• Student activist Wong Yan Ke was charged under the penal code for raising a placard during his graduation ceremony and protesting the racist remarks made by the Vice Chancellor at a separate event
• In Kanthan, Perak, land rights activists were arrested and physically assaulted while trying to block a forced eviction by the Perak state government
• Pakistani journalist Syed Fawad Ali Shah was deported and disappeared, despite living in exile in Malaysia with legal refugee status; he was later found to be held in detention in a Peshawar prison on unsubstantiated charges

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to disappearance by government agents in 2023, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Myanmar refugee and activist Thuzar Maung and her family were forcibly disappeared
• Pakistani journalist Syed Fawad Ali Shah was deported and disappeared, despite living in exile in Malaysia with legal refugee status; he was later discovered to be held in detention in a prison in Peshawar, Pakistan, on unsubstantiated charges

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to death penalty executions by government agents in 2023, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• The death penalty remains legal in Malaysia despite recent reforms to abolish its mandatory use

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to extrajudicial killing by government agents in 2023, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• People accused of crimes, including charges under broad and repressive laws, are detained in poor conditions and subjected to torture, ill-treatment, and barriers to the right to health, which occasionally lead to death in custody

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to restrictions on their rights to assembly and association by the government or its agents in 2023, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Indigenous people have specific provisions in the Constitution but full access to their legal and human rights are often denied in practice
• People who identify as non-Muslim or a non-Sunni sect of Islam face legal and social repercussions when advocating for their rights
• People of Indian descent, particularly in Peninsular Malaysia
• People living outside of Peninsular Malaysia, particularly Sabah and Sarawak
• Journalists reporting on human rights issues
• Non-violent protesters advocating for women's rights
• Youth experiencing homelessness
• Women and girls face restrictions on their bodily autonomy, including those imposed by Sharia law

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to restrictions on their rights to opinion and expression by government agents in 2023, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Indigenous people advocating for their land rights and protesting logging on their customary land
• Religious minority groups advocating for LGBTQIA+ rights
• People who identify as non-Muslim or a non-Sunni sect of Islam face legal and social repercussions when advocating for their rights
• Members of opposition political parties
• Human rights advocates engaged in environmental activism
• Human rights advocates speaking out against discrimination
• People advocating for LGBTQIA+ and women's rights
• People who protest and express dissent are silenced by the government through repressive laws like the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998, the Sedition Act 1948, and the Security Offences Act 2012 which are ambiguously worded, prone to abuse and often arbitrarily applied
• Laws like the Film Censorship Act are used to censure themes, such as religious pluralism, in the media
• People working for the government are unable to freely express themselves because of the Public Officers Regulations Act (Conduct and Discipline) 1993
• People of Indian descent, particularly in Peninsular Malaysia
• People who identify as non-Muslim or a non-Sunni sect of Islam
• People living outside Peninsular Malaysia, particularly Sabah and Sarawak
• Journalists reporting on human rights issues
• Non-violent protesters advocating for women's rights
• Men and boys who have left or do not conform to Islam
• LGBTQIA+ people are not recognised in Malaysia
• Single parents who have children outside of marriage
• Youth experiencing homelessness
• The government regularly blocks access to independent and alternative news portals deemed critical of the government or the monarchy
• Independent bookstores are raided, and their books are confiscated by police
• Filmmakers
• Books and other forms of expression containing LGBTQIA+ content are subject to censorship
• The colonial-era Sedition Act is routinely used by authorities to suppress dissent, silence opponents, and stifle discourse concerning racial and ethnic groups, religion, and the monarchy

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to restrictions on their political participation by the government or its agents in 2023, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• People without a legal identity, including stateless people, are prohibited from voting in elections
• People of Indian descent, particularly in Peninsular Malaysia
• People living outside Peninsular Malaysia, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak
• Journalists reporting on human rights issues
• Women and girls face structural barriers preventing them from participating meaningfully in the political process