Resources

OVERCOMING ACCESS TO JUSTICE BARRIERS THROUGH GRASSROOTS COMMUNITIES' PARTICIPATION AND COLLECTIVE ACTION

In Malaysia, where statelessness is a burgeoning perennial issue, Development of Human Resources of Rural Areas (DHRRA) Malaysia has emerged as the pioneer in adopting legal empowerment approaches to empower and address the multifaceted challenges faced by stateless individuals in the country. DHRRA successfully supported and assisted over 15,000 thousand stateless individuals in accessing justice for their various predicaments. DHRRA employed a three-pronged legal empowerment approach, namely paralegal development, legal reform initiatives and strategic litigation in achieving this.

STATELESSNESS IN MALAYSIA

Citizenship is a fundamental human right guaranteed by Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yet, not everyone born in the world is accorded the right. It is estimated that every 10 minutes a stateless child is born somewhere in the world1. In addition to being forced to carry the tag of a “non-citizen” and the struggles attached to it, often the onus is placed on the children and their families to prove that they possess all the required qualifications to be to be granted the citizenship of a country. Until then, the only recognition they will be entitled to is that of a stateless person, and the only life they are entitled to is a life deprived of all the fundamental rights associated with citizenship including the rights to education, healthcare, employment and mobility.

Pendidikan bagi kanak kanak tanpa negara

Pendidikan yang berkualiti adalah hak asasi manusia. Setiap individu, berhak mendapat pendidikan tanpa mengira latar belakangnya. Walaubagaimanapun, kebanyakan kanak-kanak dipinggirkan terutamanya disebabkan oleh situasi yang di luar jangkaan mereka. Ketiadaan pendidikan rasmi meningkatkan lagi pelbagai rintangan yang dihadapi oleh remaja dan kanak-kanak tanpa kewarganegaraan. Di Malaysia, kanak-kanak tanpa kewarganegaraan telah dihalang daripada memasuki bilik darjah atau dikenakan yuran yang jauh lebih tinggi sama seperti yang dikenakan kepada warga asing, dan menyebabkan mereka tidak mampu untuk membiayai pendidikan. Selain itu, ada juga situasi dimana kanak-kanak tanpa kewarganegaraan tidak dibenarkan untuk menduduki peperiksaan akhir tahun; atau diploma dan juga sijil graduasi mereka ditahan, mengakibatkan mereka tidak dapat meneruskan pembelajaran ke taraf yang lebih tinggi dan memperolehi peluang kerjaya yang lebih baik.

Understanding Stateless in Malaysia

Ending statelessness requires a higher intensity of collaboration between a wide range of actors including the stateless people themselves. DHRRA’s registration and community-based legal aid services established the full scope of this problem and will continue to drive for advocacy efforts to find durable solutions for stateless persons in Malaysia. Part of our efforts includes publishing the awareness handbook in two series:

I. Awareness Handbook: Understanding Statelessness in Malaysia
II. Resolution Handbook: Resolving Statelessness in Malaysia

Resolving Statelessness in Malaysia

Ending statelessness requires a higher intensity of collaboration between a wide range of actors including the stateless people themselves. DHRRA’s registration and community-based legal aid services established the full scope of this problem and will continue to drive for advocacy efforts to find durable solutions for stateless persons in Malaysia. Part of our efforts includes publishing the awareness handbook in two series:

I. Awareness Handbook: Understanding Statelessness in Malaysia
II. Resolution Handbook: Resolving Statelessness in Malaysia

Gender Equal Nationality Law

DHRRA Malaysia seeks to support the government by providing data and recommendations to address gender inequality in access to nationality. It has embarked on an initiative entitled “Empowering Community Paralegals in Engaging Government Agencies to Address Statelessness caused by Gender Inequality Practices” supported by the Commonwealth Foundation. Our commitment in addressing statelessness cause by gender inequality practices through the initiative includes the publishing of the Gender Equal Nationality Law / Reducing Statelessness in Malaysia Awareness Handbook. The handbook is developed to create better understanding and awareness among the policymakers and the general public on statelessness arising from gender inequality policies and practices in the nationality law. In addition, we intend to combat discrimination and promote equality through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Journey of a Decade 2003 to 2013

Having successfully impacted 151,012 individuals and their families in these 10 years, DHRRA Malaysia envisions furthering community development initiative to make difference in more lives. Inspired by determination of the community and overwhelmed with the support received for out endeavor, our energy to continuing our dedication Is strong as ever.

DHRRA UPR Submission Malaysia

Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (DHRRA) Malaysia, Voice of the Children (VoC), Yayasan Chow Kit (YCK), the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights (GCENR), the Statelessness
Network Asia Pacific (SNAP) and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (the Institute) make this joint submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on the human rights challenges pertaining to statelessness and gender discrimination in the nationality law and policies of Malaysia.

Strategic Plan Resolving Statelessness in Malaysia

In order for civil society and Government agencies alike to identify effective policy solutions, this limitation needed to be overcome. In mid-2014, we set out to address statelessness in West Malaysia. Understanding the scale of statelessness, its causes and consequences was the obviously necessary step to addressing the problem itself. This was an ambitious goal particularly because identification of statelessness was the major challenge.

Recommendation on Statelessness & Documentation Issues

Whilst citizenship is a fundamental human right guaranteed by Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, children continue to be born stateless all around the world, and forced to live a life deprived of all the fundamental rights associated with citizenship including the rights to education, healthcare, employment and mobility. In Malaysia, despite the issue garnering increasing attention from public makers and public alike in recent times, the incidences of childhood statelessness continue to escalate.