TY - JOUR
T1 - Testing the mettle of National Human Rights Institutions : a case study of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia
AU - Renshaw, Catherine
AU - Byrnes, Andrew
AU - Durbach, Andrea
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - In April 2008, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) was informed of the possible downgrading of its "A" status within the UN system, due to its apparent failure to comply with the Paris Principles relating to the status of national human rights institutions. This article explores this threat to downgrade SUHAKAM and the actions which it stimulated on the part of the Malaysian government and SUHAKAM itself. It argues that despite expectations by government and civil society at the time of its establishment, SUHAKAM has directly challenged government on major human rights issues on a number of occasions. At the same time, it has had difficulty persuading government to give effect to its recommendations and has as a consequence drawn strong criticism from civil society for failing to protect human rights that are within the government's power to rectify.
AB - In April 2008, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) was informed of the possible downgrading of its "A" status within the UN system, due to its apparent failure to comply with the Paris Principles relating to the status of national human rights institutions. This article explores this threat to downgrade SUHAKAM and the actions which it stimulated on the part of the Malaysian government and SUHAKAM itself. It argues that despite expectations by government and civil society at the time of its establishment, SUHAKAM has directly challenged government on major human rights issues on a number of occasions. At the same time, it has had difficulty persuading government to give effect to its recommendations and has as a consequence drawn strong criticism from civil society for failing to protect human rights that are within the government's power to rectify.
UR - http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/563317
U2 - 10.1017/S204425131000038X
DO - 10.1017/S204425131000038X
M3 - Article
SN - 2044-2513
VL - 1
SP - 165
EP - 198
JO - Asian Journal of International Law
JF - Asian Journal of International Law
IS - 1
ER -