Childrens Rights in

Malaysia

What is Convention on the Rights of

the Child? (CRC)
A human rights treaty which sets out the civil,
political, economic, social, health and cultural rights
of children.
The Convention defines a child as any human being
under the age of eighteen, unless the age of majority
is attained earlier under a state's own domestic
legislation.
Compliance is monitored by the UN Committee on
the Rights of the Child, which is composed of
members from countries around the world.

Right to Education
Education in Malaysia is mandatory for children between 6 and 11
years old, and public schools are free. Lessons are taught mainly
in Malay and English. Its also common to have lessons in Chinese
or Tamil.
About 90% of children attend school, but there are huge
disparities between rural and urban regions.

Children in rural

areas (mostly indigenous children) often do not attend school.

And less than a quarter of that 90% finishes junior high.
Also, it is deplorable that non-citizens must pay extra fees in order
to send their children to school.
Finally, girls are sometimes deprived of their right to an education
purely for cultural reasons. Fortunately, educational policies are

Right to Identity
Malaysian authorities forbid children of immigrant or
asylum-seeking parents to be registered.

Some asylum

seekers even risk being arrested as illegal immigrants if

they try to register their children.
In addition, marriages between Muslims and non-Muslims
are not officially recognized. Parents in such a union also
have difficulty registering their children.
Without a birth certificate, children are stateless, and they
are forbidden from enrolling in school. Their rights to an
identity and to an education are violated.

Right towards Nondiscrimination

Freedom on the basis of the child's race, gender, sexual

orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, disability,
color, ethnicity
Fair and square treatment to every child.
Accept every child as they are because every child has their
own specialities and identity.
Malaysias population is comprised of three main ethnicities:
60% Malays, 25% Chinese, and 10% Indians.
Even now, the issues of discrimination of ethnicities is still
happening.

Child Marriage
According to the Islamic religion, the minimum age formarriage

is 18 for boys and 16 for girls. Muslims younger than 16 years of

age must seek permission of a religious tribunal in order to marry.
Every Muslim wishing to marry must undergo a mandatory

premarital HIV/AIDSscreening. The government uses these

screenings to register most children who wish to be married.
The country is currently debating the issue ofchild marriageafter

the public celebration of a young girl of 14 to a teacher of 23 in

December 2010.The Ministry of Women, Family and Community
Development has released a statement calling themarriage of
minorsboth morally and socially unacceptable.