We write in advance of the 100th Pre-Session Working Group of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and its review of Malaysia to highlight areas of concern regarding the Malaysian government’s compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This submission addresses abuses against migrant, refugee, and stateless children and discrimination against children on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Abuses against Migrant, Refugee, and Stateless Children (articles 7, 9, 22, 24, 28, 37)
More than 190,000 refugees and asylum seekers are registered with the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, in Malaysia, including about 54,000 children. Even with UNHCR recognition, refugees and asylum seekers have no legal status under Malaysian law, leaving them unable to enroll in government schools or to work legally. None of the 41,000 UNHCR-registered school-aged children have access to formal education; only 34 percent have access to informal education through alternative learning centers.
Malaysia’s Immigration Act 1959/63, the country’s primary immigration legislation, does not differentiate among refugees, asylum seekers, trafficking victims, and undocumented migrants, nor between adults and children. All those without valid entry permits or passes are considered “illegal immigrants,” or PATI (pendatang asing tanpa izin), and subject to arrest, detention, and deportation.
Anti-migrant policies and practices as well as xenophobic rhetoric have risen in Malaysia in recent years. Immigration officials regularly conduct raids on migrant and refugee communities. Often whole families are arrested together, including children. On August 4, 2023, authorities arrested 425 migrants and refugees, including children as young as 8, in a raid on apartment buildings in Kuala Lumpur. An 18-year-old woman told Human Rights Watch she was arrested in a raid on a trafficker’s house with children ages 5, 10, and 13.
Malaysian authorities have summarily deported child asylum seekers to Myanmar, in violation of the international principle of nonrefoulement, which prohibits states from returning anyone to a country where they may face the threat of persecution, torture, or other serious harm. In February 2021, immigration authorities violated a temporary stay of deportation granted by the High Court for 1,200 Myanmar nationals, including at least 17 children with one or more parent in Malaysia, transferring 1,086 of them to the Myanmar navy’s custody hours after the order. The deportations followed the Myanmar military’s February 2021 coup, which resulted in an ongoing nationwide campaign of war crimes and crimes against humanity. In January 2023, a month after the temporary stay was lifted, authorities deported the remaining 114 people, including at least 8 children.
Malaysian authorities have pushed back to sea or refused to assist boats of Rohingya refugees seeking asylum. Growing numbers of Rohingya, particularly women and girls, are undertaking high-risk sea voyages to escape increasing restrictions in the refugee camps in Bangladesh and unending oppression and violence in Myanmar. These dangerous voyages entail weeks or months on unseaworthy boats while subject to abuse by unscrupulous smugglers and traffickers. Since 2023, approximately 36 percent of Rohingya embarking on sea journeys have been children.
Immigration Detention of Children
The Malaysian government arbitrarily and indefinitely detains children in immigration detention centers in violation of international law, which recognizes that immigration detention of children, alone or with their families, is never in their best interests and is a violation of children’s rights.
As of February 2024, 1,257 children were held across all immigration detention centers, including 549 girls and 698 boys, out of a total of 13,326 detainees. About two-thirds of them were unaccompanied children, while the others were detained with a parent or guardian. Ad hoc figures from the past 10 years indicate an average of about 1,300 children are detained at any one time. However, government tallies are likely underreported given that detainees above age 12 are often considered adults and age is determined based on appearance.
Young children are often detained with women, while teenage boys are generally detained with men. Children who appear to reach a certain age may be separated from their family members and transferred to blocks based on their gender. In one case, an 8-year-old boy was separated from his mother and moved to the male block. Women have given birth at the depots, without the support of medical professionals, and remained detained for months with their newborn children. Upon arrest, children are sometimes separated from their parents and deported alone.
Children frequently face the same abuses as adult detainees, including beatings, inadequate food, and denial of medical care. Seven children died in immigration detention in 2022, according to the Home Ministry. The Malaysian government’s use of immigration detention threatens children’s health and well-being and imperils their development. Prolonged detention in filthy, overcrowded cells without adequate nutrition, education, or exercise space deprives children of the capacity to physically and mentally grow and thrive.
Fatimah, a migrant worker from Indonesia, had lived in Malaysia for 35 years when she was arrested for the second time in January 2020 during an immigration raid. She and her two daughters, ages 13 and 16, were detained for three years at the Menggatal detention center. Her daughters had been born in Malaysia but had no identity documents due to her immigration status. She and her daughters all suffered from scabies while in detention. “Pity the children that are detained,” Fatimah said. “There are some that are paralyzed. Many have died as well while in detention. They may have died due to hunger or being sick. I am not always sure of the reasons.”
A number of other families were being held indefinitely at the Menggatal detention center for years, including a Filipino woman and her children who had been detained for more than five years.
Former detainees described the additional challenges of gathering supplies for babies and toddlers when little to none is provided, including diapers, baby clothes, formula milk, medicine, blankets, and mattresses. Some mothers were punished for their children crying.
One detainee said that the children in his block lost weight due to malnutrition from being underfed: “Boys, girls, they are starving, they all become thin. But if they ask for more food, they get beaten by the authorities. One boy, about 9-years-old, was very hungry. He asked for a little more bread and the officers hit him hard. ‘You, this isn’t your father’s country,’ they yelled. ‘Why do you think you can eat more?’” The man asked the officers to stop beating the boy, for which he was held in the water tank and tortured.
Another refugee said he witnessed officers beat a child asylum seeker 300 times with rattan at the Belantik detention center because the boy asked when UNHCR would visit: “He was beaten until his feet were red and he couldn’t walk. He had to use his hands to move. Even going to the toilet was difficult for him.” The authorities have denied UNHCR access to immigration detention centers since August 2019, leaving the agency unable to assess refugee claims of those in detention or assist detainees with UNHCR cards.
In April 2022, more than 520 Rohingya refugees escaped from the Sungai Bakap temporary immigration detention center in Penang, where they had been held for over two years. Six of them, including two children, were killed by vehicles while fleeing across a highway.
The Malaysian government’s immigration detention of children contravenes the growing consensus that the practice is a violation of international law and stands in opposition to global efforts toward its full elimination.
In 2019, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Children in the Context of Migration. A corresponding 10-year regional action plan launched in 2021 calls on members to “enhance the availability and implementation of clean and safe noncustodial, community-based alternatives to child immigration detention, that promote the best interests of the child, including through ensuring that children are kept together with their families, where possible.” Malaysia’s weak implementation has been easily outpaced by its neighbors Thailand and Indonesia.
For more than a decade, Malaysian officials have engaged in dialogue about alternatives to detention, particularly for children, with little action. In February 2022, the government launched a small-scale pilot program targeting unaccompanied and separated children, to be led by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development and the Ministry of Home Affairs. The project was referenced in Malaysia’s pledges and commitments for its 2022-2024 candidacy at the UN Human Rights Council. Yet in its final year of Council membership, little to no progress has been made.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail made statements in February and April 2023 expressing his support for releasing children from immigration detention and indicating that plans were underway to do so. Instead, in September 2023 he introduced the Baitul Mahabbah program, which fails to provide detained migrant children with noncustodial, community-based alternatives. Under the program, children ages 10 and younger are being moved to new centers where they remain under guard of immigration officials and the People’s Volunteer Corps (Jabatan Sukarelawan Malaysia or RELA) until their deportation. Mahi Ramakrishnan, activist and founder of the nongovernmental organization Beyond Borders Malaysia, said of the Baitul Mahabbah centers: “When this shelter is guarded by RELA, it is still like a semi-detention center. As I have often said before, ‘a golden cage is still a cage.’ This does not look like [what was promised] at all.”
As of July 2024, there were reportedly 170 children, some unaccompanied, in Baitul Mahabbah centers. The Malaysian government does not allow UNHCR access to Baitul Mahabbah centers to examine refugee claims. The home minister has announced plans to open six centers by the end of 2024 and at least six more in 2025.
Statelessness
Malaysia is home to many children who do not have Malaysian citizenship or a Malaysian parent. While some of those children have citizenship in another country, many are effectively stateless, particularly in the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak. These children face significant barriers to education, as most are not permitted to attend government schools and cannot afford the cost of traditional private schools.
In October 2024, parliament passed a bill of constitutional amendments on citizenship. While the amendments grant Malaysian women equal rights to pass down citizenship to children born abroad, they also contain provisions that will perpetuate statelessness.
Sabah hosts a significant migrant population, primarily from Indonesia and the Philippines, working largely on oil palm plantations and timber concessions, but also in construction and other industries. Under Malaysia’s immigration laws, low-skilled foreign migrant workers are prohibited from bringing their family with them when coming to work. They are also prohibited from marrying or having children throughout the duration of their contract. When such workers give birth, they generally do not attempt to register the birth with the Malaysian government. While in some cases Indonesian or Filipino migrant workers are able to obtain birth certificates through their respective embassies, many children end up with no form of documentation.
Sabah also hosts a significant number of irregular migrants, primarily from Indonesia and the Philippines, and their children. Most of these children do not have birth certificates because they were born at home. The two factors most often cited for giving birth at home were the cost of hospital visits for non-Malaysians and fear that the hospital will report them to the immigration authorities.
The Bajau Laut, sometimes referred to as “sea nomads,” traditionally moved between Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, living on their boats. Many have no documents from any country and are considered stateless. The Bajau are believed to be the second-largest ethnic group in Sabah, although their exact numbers are unknown, and live largely in stilt villages with limited access to education and other services. In June 2024, Sabah authorities demolished hundreds of stilt houses, forcibly evicting the Bajau who lived there.
Primary education has been free and compulsory in Malaysia since 2002, but only for children who are citizens of Malaysia. Children of Malaysian parents who lack documents to prove their citizenship have been barred from Malaysian schools. Children of certain non-citizens, particularly permanent residents, can attend government primary schools but must pay fees that are unaffordable for many. Undocumented children, including children of irregular migrant workers, children born in Malaysia to migrant workers, and children of refugees and asylum seekers, are also barred from government schools.
For those with no access to government schools and insufficient income to afford private schools, the only options are informal alternative learning centers (ALCs), many of which are unlicensed and under frequent risk of closure. While alternative learning centers in peninsular Malaysia can register with the federal Ministry of Education if they meet certain, fairly stringent, criteria, most centers in Sabah cannot. With no policy permitting the registration of alternative learning centers, the Sabah state education department treats the ALCs as unregistered “private schools” that do not meet the requirements for such institutions under Malaysia’s Education Act.
For children of Indonesian citizens working on Sabah’s palm oil plantations, the Indonesian government has stepped in to try to ensure they receive a basic education. Under a memorandum of understanding with the Malaysian government, the Indonesian government supports “community learning centers” located on plantations that teach children the Indonesian curriculum.
Human Rights Watch recommends the Committee call upon the government of Malaysia to:
- Immediately cease detaining child refugees, trafficking victims, and other vulnerable migrant children for immigration-related reasons, and establish safe screening processes to identify and release such at-risk detainees.
- Enact legislation and implement policies to abolish the immigration detention of children and families, regardless of nationality or citizenship status. Until family detention is ended, avoid separating family members.
- Adopt alternatives to detention that fulfill the best interests of the child and allow children to remain with their family members or guardians in noncustodial, community-based settings.
- Until children are no longer detained, ensure that their detention is neither arbitrary nor indefinite, and that they are able to challenge their detention in a timely manner.
- Ensure detained children are not commingled with unrelated adults.
- Provide appropriate, age-specific education to all children being held in detention facilities until alternatives to child detention are in place.
- Ensure all children can access free public primary and secondary education on an equal basis with Malaysian children, regardless of their migration or refugee status.
- Ensure access to education does not impose burdensome and bureaucratic measures, including requirements to provide certificates and other official documentation.
- Ensure older adolescents and children of secondary school age who have been out of school for prolonged periods of time have access to adequate formal and non-formal education programs, including technical and vocational education and certified accelerated learning programs.
- Withdraw all reservations to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and amend national laws to conform with the treaty. Specifically, revoke reservations to articles 7, 28(1)(a), and 37, relating to birth registration, universal primary education, and detention of children.
- Ensure that all children born in Malaysia, regardless of nationality, are registered upon birth and provided with birth registration documents.
- Ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention, its 1967 Protocol, and the 1990 Migrant Workers Convention.
Anti-LGBT Discrimination and Violence (articles 2, 28, 29)
Malaysian government officials have fostered a hostile climate in which lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and gender diverse people, including children, face discrimination and punishment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Officials under successive Malaysian governments have typically coded their approach to sexual and gender diversity in a logic of “prevention” and “rehabilitation,” backed by the threat of punishment.
State religious officials have provided workshops to educational institutions and parents on preventing homosexuality and transgender expression. Raymond Tai of the nongovernmental organization PT Foundation said: “School textbooks list homosexuality as bad behavior, and messages from religious officials reinforce that. You grow up learning what you are is a sin. You get out of school feeling that what you are is an abomination.”
Bern Chua, an academic who conducted research among Malay Muslim men, said that many of his interviewees had received anti-LGBT religious teachings from a young age: “They told me when they were young, when they attend any religious classes, one of the lessons will cover sodomy, the story of the prophet Lot. So that becomes part of the early socialization of homosexuality being obscene. And it’s being reinforced by the mainstream government discourses.”
At both public and private secondary schools, transgender people reported being called in for “counseling” sessions, where school counselors subjected them to efforts to change their gender identity or expression.
Discrimination, including through school-based programs that discourage free expression of sexual orientation and gender identity, limit LGBT students’ abilities to attend or finish school. Nadia, a trans woman in Sungai Petani, said former schoolmates pressured her to “return to how she was” in school. She said: “But they don’t understand. When I was in school, I was like that because of the laws and regulations. You weren’t allowed to be yourself. You had to have short hair, wear the uniform. If I had the opportunity, I would have transitioned in school.”
In accordance with the belief that LGBT people should be “rehabilitated,” the federal Islamic Affairs Department (JAKIM) and various state Islamic departments run camps, known as mukhayyam, which include sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts, also known as “conversion” practices, targeting Muslim LGBT people.
Some Christian churches also advance anti-LGBT narratives and conduct conversion practices. Darren Tan, a 28-year-old gay man from Johor, said that at age 15 he underwent repeated exorcisms in two churches over a period of months: “I was shamed. I was told that I will turn into a pedophile [and] grow up to have sex with young boys. And that my spirit was weak. It was very traumatic. I was pinned down and people were praying over me, cupping the side of my head, [they] shouted at me to get the demons of possession out of me. I was shaking and thought it was working.” After a lack of “progress,” Darren’s mother tried another church, where the exorcisms continued. At this point, Darren said, “I thought to myself if God let me die, I will happily take it.” He began to experience suicidal ideation.
Linda, a trans woman in her early twenties, described how her parents took her to a seminar offered by ex-trans pastor Edmund Smith in May 2016: “A lot of queer kids were there, dragged there by their parents. The parents were clinging to every word he said, and the kids were just crying…. He kept portraying LGBT as a lifestyle, how he’s sick and tired of the ‘lifestyle,’ emphasizing queer people get HIV, gays have sex in parks.… At the end, he brought up a program for healing us. He also emphasized a connection between queerness and sexual abuse and made lots of biblical references. He said, ‘When God comes in, your queerness goes out.’ There was a lot of guilt, a lot of shame. I was terrified.”
Some families begin pushing conversion practices on LGBT or gender nonconforming children early on. The PT Foundation’s Raymond Tai said, “We get calls from parents who want to get psychiatric help to straighten their gay child.” Vizla Kumaresan, one of the few LGBT-affirming therapists in Malaysia known to activists, said parents sometimes approach her with the assumption that she can “fix” something that is wrong with their child.
The UN special rapporteur on the right to health expressed concern about conversion practices aimed at children in Malaysia, noting that they “are not only unacceptable from a human rights perspective but they are also against scientific evidence, and have a serious negative impact on the mental health and well-being of adolescents.”
Human Rights Watch recommends the Committee call upon the government of Malaysia to:
- Publicly affirm the equality and dignity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and gender-diverse people in Malaysia and condemn conversion practices, discrimination, and violence that target them on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.
- Prohibit educators and other school staff at all levels from employing conversion practices.
- Adopt anti-bullying projects and programming in schools that are inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity.
- Repeal sections 377A and 377B of the Penal Code, which criminalize “carnal intercourse against the order of nature,” and 377D, which criminalizes “gross indecency.”
- Repeal all legislation that criminalizes gender diversity, including all laws that prohibit “a male person posing as a woman” and “a female person posing as a man.”
- End the practice of police raids and arrests based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), “Figures at a glance in Malaysia,” https://www.unhcr.org/my/what-we-do/figures-glance-malaysia.
UNICEF, “UNICEF’s statement on access to education for refugee and stateless children,” June 20, 2024.
Immigration Act 1959/63 (Act 155).
“Immigration rounds up over 400 undocumented migrants,” Free Malaysia Today, August 5, 2023, https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2023/08/05/immigration-rounds-up-over-400-undocumented-migrants/.
Human Rights Watch interview with Minah, Butterworth, January 27, 2023.
“Malaysia: Investigate Return of 1,086 Myanmar Nationals,” Human Rights Watch, February 24, 2021, https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/24/malaysia-investigate-return-1086-myanmar-nationals.
“Myanmar: Year of Brutality in Coup’s Wake,” Human Rights Watch, January 28, 2022, https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/01/28/myanmar-year-brutality-coups-wake.
“Amnesty International Malaysia condemns deportation of more Myanmar nationals, including children,” Amnesty International, February 23, 2023, https://www.amnesty.my/2023/02/23/amnesty-international-malaysia-condemns-deportation-of-more-myanmar-nationals-including-children/.
“Future Bleak for Rohingya in Bangladesh, Myanmar,” Human Rights Watch, August 20, 2023, https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/08/20/future-bleak-rohingya-bangladesh-myanmar.
UNHCR, Operational Data Portal: Myanmar Situation, https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/myanmar.
Human Rights Watch, “We Can’t See the Sun”: Malaysia’s Arbitrary Detention of Migrants and Refugees, March 2024.
Pemberitahuan Pertanyaan Lisan Dewan Negara, Mesyuarat Pertama 2024, Penggal Ketiga, Parlimen Kelima Belas, April 3, 2024.
“Home Ministry to table paper on shifting children from immigration detention centres,” Malay Mail, April 15, 2023, https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2023/04/15/home-ministry-to-table-paper-on-shifting-children-from-immigration-detention-centres/64895; Dewan Rakyat, Jawapan Lisan, Mesyuarat Pertama, Penggal Kedua, Parlimen Kelima Belas, March 20, 2023.
Human Rights Watch interview with humanitarian staff (details withheld), January 2023; Joshua Low, “‘Don’t Come Back, Soldiers Are Here’: Children in Malaysia’s Immigration Detention Centres,” New Naratif, July 13, 2023, https://newnaratif.com/children-in-malaysias-immigration-detention-centres/.
Human Rights Watch interviews with NGO staff (details withheld), February 2023.
Dewan Rakyat, Jawapan Lisan, Mesyuarat Pertama, Penggal Kedua, Parlimen Kelima Belas, February 21, 2023.
Human Rights Watch interview with Fatimah, Nunukan, March 2, 2023.
Ibid.
Human Rights Watch interviews with former detainees, January-March 2023.
Human Rights Watch interview with Ali, Butterworth, January 27, 2023.
Human Rights Watch interview with Hussien, Selangor, January 25, 2023.
UNHCR, “UNHCR shocked by reported deaths of asylum-seekers after riot at immigration depot in Malaysia,” April 21, 2022, https://www.unhcr.org/asia/news/speeches-and-statements/unhcr-shocked-reported-deaths-asylum-seekers-after-riot-immigration.
“Detainees who escaped were refugees, held there for two years,” Malaysiakini, April 21, 2022, https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/618740.
ASEAN Declaration on the Rights of Children in the Context of Migration, November 2019, https://asean.org/asean-declaration-on-the-rights-of-children-in-the-context-of-migration/.
Regional Plan of Action on Implementing the ASEAN Declaration on the Rights of Children in the Context of Migration, November 2021, https://asean.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/5.-ASEAN-RPA-on-CCM_Final.pdf.
Human Rights Watch, “We Can’t See the Sun”: Malaysia’s Arbitrary Detention of Migrants and Refugees, March 2024.
SUHAKAM, “Roundtable on Alternatives to Immigration Detention,” December 2013, http://www.suhakam.org.my/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Report-on-Roundtable-on-ATD-Malaysia.pdf.
“IDC & ECDN Welcomes Launch of ATD Pilot in Malaysia,” International Detention Coalition, March 15, 2022, https://idcoalition.org/news/ecdn-welcomes-launch-of-atd-pilot-in-malaysia/.
Permanent Mission of Malaysia to the UN, “Malaysia’s Candidature to the Human Rights Council Term 2022-2024 Voluntary Pledges & Commitments,” June 2021, https://www.kln.gov.my/web/usa_un-new-york/news-from-mission/-/blogs/malaysia-s-candidature-to-the-human-rights-council-term-2022-2024-voluntary-commitments-and-pledges.
Joshua Low, “‘The Political Decision is to Release Them’: The 12-Year Struggle to End Child Immigration Detention in Malaysia,” New Naratif, July 19, 2023, https://newnaratif.com/the-12-year-struggle-to-end-child-immigration-detention-in-malaysia/.
Martin Carvalho, Rahimy Rahim, and Tarrence Tan, “Children do not belong in Immigration depots, says Saifuddin,” The Star, February 16, 2023, https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2023/02/16/children-do-not-belong-in-immigration-depots-says-saifuddin; “Moving children from detention depots can help reduce the trauma they face, says Children’s Commissioner,” The Star, April 18, 2023, https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2023/04/18/moving-children-from-detention-depots-can-help-reduce-the-trauma-they-face-says-children039s-commissioner.
“Two more Baitul Mahabbah to be established next year – Saifuddin,” Malaysiakini, December 15, 2023, https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/690196.
Iman Muttaqin Yusof, “Experts: Malaysian govt’s new child-friendly shelter for migrant kids a ‘golden cage,’” BenarNews, September 7, 2023, https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/malaysian/center-for-migrant-children-inadequate-activists-say-09072023112017.html.
End Detention Network, “One year on: Baitul Mahabbah centres still detain children with no end in sight,” Malay Mail, September 4, 2024, https://www.malaymail.com/news/what-you-think/2024/09/04/one-year-on-baitul-mahabbah-centres-still-detain-children-with-no-end-in-sight-end-detention-network/149202.
Alyaa Alhadjri, Ili Aqilah, and Shakira Buang, “206 vs 1: Dewan Rakyat passes citizenship rights bill,” Malaysiakini, October 17, 2024, https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/722969; Eric Paulsen, “MPs must reject catastrophic constitutional amendment bill,” MalaysiaNow, October 15, 2024, https://www.malaysianow.com/opinion/2024/10/16/mps-must-reject-catastrophic-constitutional-amendment-bill.
Jennifer Pak, “The plight of children of immigrants in Malaysia,” BBC News, May 12, 2015, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-32687113. There are potential exceptions to this rule for plantation workers who have been legally in the country for a period of time. Such children may be given a “non-citizen” birth certificate if the parents register the marriage, but since the birth is technically a violation of their contract, most choose not to do so.
Details of these conditions for foreign workers as imposed by the Malaysian immigration department are available at http://www.imi.gov.my/index.php/en/main-services/foreign-workers.html.
Interviewees said it costs RM3,800 (US$900) to give birth in a hospital where both parents hold IMM13 passes. IMM13 passes were issued to refugees who fled from the southern Philippines in the 1970s. Tharani Loganathan et al., “Migrant Women’s Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Malaysia,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 17, no. 15 (2020); UNHCR, “Submission by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Compilation Report, Universal Periodic Review: 3rd Cycle, 31st Session,” July 2018.
UNICEF, “Mapping Alternative Learning Approaches, Programmes and Stakeholders in Malaysia,” November 2015, https://www.slideshare.net/preetikannan/mapping-alternative-learning-unicef, p. 67.
Benjamin YH Loh, Sarah Ali and Vilashini Somiah, “Bajau Laut Evictions and Home Demolitions in Sabah, Malaysia: Polarised Streams of Online Opinion,” ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, no. 24 (2024), https://www.iseas.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/ISEAS_Perspective_2024_84.pdf.
Mazura Md Saman and Nor Hafizah Mohd Badrol Affandi, “Honouring Primary Education For Stateless Children: Analysis Of Malaysian Legal Perspective And Current Practice,” International Journal for Studies on Children, Women, Elderly And Disabled, vol. 3 (2018).
Tharani Loganathan et al., “Barriers and facilitators to education access for marginalised non-citizen children in Malaysia: A qualitative study,” PLOS One, vol. 18, no. 6 (2023).
Human Rights Watch interview with Krishna Djelain, Indonesia Consul General, Kota Kinabalu, January 30, 2020.
Human Rights Watch, “I Don’t Want to Change Myself”: Anti-LGBT Conversion Practices, Discrimination, and Violence in Malaysia, August 2022.
Human Rights Watch interview with Raymond Tai, Kuala Lumpur, March 30, 2018.
Human Rights Watch and Justice for Sisters interview with Bern Chua, George Town, April 2, 2018.
Justice for Sisters interviews with Eva, Kelantan, 2018, with Sherry, location withheld, 2018; Human Rights Watch and Justice for Sisters interview with Hezreen Sheikh Daud, George Town, April 5, 2018.
Human Rights Watch and Justice for Sisters interview with Nadia (pseudonym), Sungai Petani, April 5, 2018.
Justice for Sisters interview with Darren Tan, 28, location withheld, 2018.
Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Linda by video link, March 31, 2018.
Human Rights Watch interview with Raymond Tai, Kuala Lumpur, March 30, 2018.
Human Rights Watch interview with Vizla Kumaresan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 31, 2018.
UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Dainius Pūras, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/29/33/Add.1, May 1, 2015, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G15/087/06/PDF/G1508706.pdf?OpenElement, para. 90.
