Malaysia: UN human rights expert
visits to assess poverty
GENEVA (8 August 2019) – The UN
Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, will
undertake a fact-finding visit to Malaysia from 13 to 23 August 2019.
“Malaysia can point to a very
strong track record on reducing poverty, yet parts of the population have been
left behind, and there are important questions about how the country is
measuring poverty and what might be overlooked,” said Alston.
“This administration made a range
of laudable commitments to people affected by poverty when it came to power 15
months ago, and my visit provides an opportunity to assess how those promises
have translated into action.”
Malaysia’s national poverty rate
fell from nearly 50 percent in 1970 to 0.4 percent in 2016 and official figures
suggest that poverty has been virtually eradicated. Yet, poverty is
persistently higher for certain groups including children and indigenous
peoples, and independent analysis has suggested that if Malaysia’s poverty line
were aligned with comparable countries, the poverty rate would be significantly
higher.
Alston will travel to Kuala Lumpur,
Selangor, Sarawak, Sabah, Kelantan and Putrajaya. He will meet with government
officials and individuals affected by poverty, as well as representatives of
civil society organisations, international organisations, activists and
academics.
“I plan to examine the impact of
poverty on people’s capacity to enjoy their civil and political rights, as well
as the impact of development strategies, gaps in the social protection system,
including access to social support, education and healthcare, and the situation
of other groups disproportionately impacted by poverty,” Alston said.
“I will look at the precarious
situation of foreign workers, who play an important role in Malaysia’s economy
but are excluded from official poverty statistics, and often work for low pay
in difficult conditions.”
The visit by the Special Rapporteur
will be grounded in extensive input and research in advance of the mission,
including a thorough review of public information, more than 70 advance phone
calls and written submissions from people affected by poverty, civil society,
academics and others. The submissions made public with the authors’ consent are
available here.
The Special Rapporteur will share
his preliminary observations and recommendations at a news conference in Kuala
Lumpur at the end of his mission on 23 August 2019 at 10:30am local time. The
Special Rapporteur’s final report on his visit to Malaysia will be presented to
the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in June 2020.
ENDS
Note: Before and during the visit,
the Special Rapporteur’s engagement with the media will be limited to
commenting on the scope of the visit, the areas he will be visiting, and other
logistical aspects. Only at the press conference and thereafter will he be in a
position to discuss his findings and conclusions.
Mr. Philip Alston (Australia) took
up his functions as the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights in
June 2014. As a Special Rapporteur, he
is part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.
Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human
Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding
and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or
thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on
a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their
work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in
their individual capacity.
UN human rights, Country Page —
Malaysia
For more information and media
requests, please contact: Ms Juana Sotomayor (+41 794443702;
jsotomayor@ohchr.org) and Ms. Rebecca Riddell (+1 512 663 6614;
rebecca.riddell@nyu.edu )
For media inquiries related to
other UN independent experts please contact: Mr. Jeremy Laurence, UN Human
Rights – Media Unit (+41 22 917 9383 / jlaurence@ohchr.org
Follow the Special Rapporteur on Twitter @Alston_UNSR
and Facebook at www.facebook.com/AlstonUNSR
Nema komentara:
Objavi komentar