By Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, Former Member of Suhakam
KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia should be proud that it has been voted into the United Nations Human Rights Council, as announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri in a Facebook posting.
It will be represented in the Council for its two-year term from 2022 till 2024.
Malaysia stands ready to advance the global human rights agenda and play its role as a facilitator for conciliation, enabler for cooperation and builder of consensus, as also stated by the Prime Minister.
No doubt, Malaysia’s entry into the Council is also because of the existence of Suhakam, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, which was set up in 2000 which has so far played a crucial and significant role in taking up issues concerning human rights violations in Malaysia.
While we watch the world, in our capacity as a member of the UN Council, we must also be cognisant of the fact that the world will also be watching us.
As such we must continuously set an example in looking after and protecting human rights issues in our country.
We must have a good human rights record before we are in a position to speak up in the United Nations and take others to task against human rights abuses in other parts of the world.
We must lead by example.
And we must be ready to answer if queries are raised regarding our position with regard to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).
