New law needed to protect human rights defenders, reforms committee told

Gan Pei Ling Updated 4 years ago · Published on 4 Jun 2018 1:23PM · 0 Comments

The three activists who held a meeting with the Committee on Institutional Reforms in Kuala Lumpur today. They made recommendations on institutional reforms to uphold the freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and the media. – The Malaysian Insight pic, June 4, 2018.

IN the new Malaysia, the state must recognise the need to protect human rights defenders and stop treating them as troublemakers, activists told the Committee on Institutional Reforms (IRC).

“Human rights defenders face threats from police and non-state actors like companies for speaking up for human rights, doing their job,” Josef Benedict, from Johannesburg-based global non-profit Civicus Alliance, told reporters after a meeting at Ilham Tower in Kuala Lumpur today.