Thursday 23 September 2010

Human Rights Council considers indigenous issues

A statement by Malaysian representative at the UN Human Rights Council regarding the Penan rape issues.

JOHAN ARIFF ABDUL RAZAK (Malaysia) said that the delay in communications mentioned in the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people was due to the fact that the Working Group had just been established and had been undertaking its own investigation on sexual violence against Penan women and children. Since achieving independence, most members of the Penan community had chosen settled life, while others who remained nomads were at great risk of human rights violations including sexual abuse. Additional measures to ensure the respect of the rights of the Penan, particularly their land rights, were included in the provisional Constitution. The Government remained committed to ensuring that the Penan were enjoying the same rights and other members of the society and regretted that the issue of the Penan was exploited at both national and international level.

Read the full news report on UN Human Rights Council website here.

Read the news on Malaysian government denying Penan rights here.

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