Society must cooperate with government to curb child sexual crimes - Suhakam

The society must be willing to give their cooperation to the government and not to leave it to the government alone to curb child sexual crimes, says Suhakam Chairman Tan Sri Razali Ismail.

He said the government's move to table the Child Sexual Offences Bill 2017 to specially address child sexual crimes in the current session of Parliament, should not also stop there without participation from the society.

Razali said no one could deny or hide the reality that child sexual crimes exist in the country, but the society shouldn't have tolerated it or be too afraid or too embarrassed to report such a crime.

"The society must help or try to help the government in this matter," he said at the special session of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission of Human Rights (AICHR) Judicial Colloquium titled "Rule of Law and Human Rights - Challenges & Opportunities" here today.

Razali also welcomed the effort by Kedah state government in allowing a seven-year-old stateless boy to attend public school in the state.

He said this move had given a new perspective on human rights through the education system and anyone should not discriminate any citizen when it comes to education.

Razali further said that there were many stateless children in the country who had been denied access to education as Education Act 1996 only allows the citizens of Malaysia of priority to education.

Seven-year-old Tan Yao Chun was initially unable to attend school as his Malaysian father did not register his birth with the Malaysian Embassy in Thailand. - BERNAMA