KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Human Rights Commission ((Suhakam) is crying foul over the potential downgrading of its Grade A status by an international committee.
Suhakam vice-chairman Tan Sri Simon Sipaun said the potential downgrading was unjustified as they had improved qualitatively and quantitatively since 2002 and were free to make statements independently without government pressure.
The International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (ICC), had asked Suhakam to reply in writing within a year on why it should not be downgraded from Grade A to Grade B for not being fully compliant with the Paris Principles.
The ICC sub-committee, which recently reviewed Suhakam's accreditation and human rights compliance, had also received a report jointly made by two non-governmental organisations, which Suhakam said they were not given a copy of.
Fellow Commissioner Datuk Dr Chiam Heng Keng said it was unfair for the ICC to rely on one NGO report and to judge their performance from a distance.
"The ICC should get the complete picture by coming down to the ground to see us at work. All we were asked to fill in was a form with basic questions on the commission.
"They should also look in totality at the Paris Principles ," she said Sunday when met at the NGO meeting on Engagement with National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), held on the sidelines of the 13th Asia Pacific Forum on NHRIs that begins Monday.
Sipaun, who was also present, said Suhakam hardly interacted with ICC and felt more at home with APF where it enjoyed good networking and training.
"We have also asked for the laws to be amended, for our reports to be debated in Parliament and for a special committee to be set up to appoint Commissioners, years before NGOs suggested it.
"The NGOs should push the government to amend the laws and not aim the barrel at us when they are aiming for the government."
FLORENCE A. SAMY & NURBAITI HAMDAN
Star Online
27/07/08
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