KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — Malaysia received a total of 348 assessments from 130 countries following its presentation at the Fourth Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva in January.

The Foreign Ministry is currently making efforts to meet and conduct engagement sessions with ministries, related agencies and private sector entities, its minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said.

"Out of the 348 assessments from 130 countries that we received, many also involve the private sector. In June, we will bring our assessment, from what had been raised by these 130 countries, (and) we have to provide feedback to the HRC in Geneva.

"For the record, for the UPR in 2009, we obtained a score of 60.2 per cent, which is considered good as it exceeds 50 per cent. In the second UPR in 2013, we achieved a score of 64.7 per cent, and in the third UPR in 2018, our assessment level increased to 69 per cent,” he said during the question and answer session in Dewan Negara today.

Mohamad was responding to questions from Senator Tan Sri Low Kian Chuan, who wanted to know the government’s commitment to accepting and implementing suggestions put forward by civil society activists from various countries in Malaysia’s fourth UPR at the HRC in Geneva.

To a supplementary question from Senator Rita Sarimah Patrick Insol who asked about issues commonly raised by the countries involved regarding Malaysia, Mohamad said most of the issues touched upon various aspects related to human rights.

They include forced labour, child labour and foreign labour, as well as human rights related to children, women, Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), Orang Asli, family, marriage, improvements made to standards of living, socioeconomics and healthcare.

He said Malaysia has also taken note of and implemented various efforts to address the issues raised during the third UPR in 2018, such as the abolition of the mandatory death penalty.

"Malaysia has also ratified the International Labour Protocol, the Organisation Protocol 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention in 2022, amended the Anti-Trafficking and Anti-Smuggling Act 2007, decriminalised attempted suicide in May 2023 and appointed a Children’s Commissioner under the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

"In addition to this, Malaysia’s improvement in the media index and the establishment of the Parliamentary Special Select Committee. We have also translated human rights instruments from English to Malay to facilitate all parties in understanding what is contained in the UPR,” he added. — Bernama