Draw up laws against child pornography, underage marriage: Suhakam

KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) urges the government to introduce special provisions on child pornography and underage marriage in any existing laws in the country.
Its chairman, Tan Sri Hasmy Agam, said this was because, right now, there was no specific criminal law in the country to holistically address the issue of child pornography or to ban marriage under the age of 18.
"The commission urges the government to consider introducing special provisions either under the Children Act 1989 or the Penal Code to tackle the issue of child pornography.
"This takes into account Malaysia's obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Optional Protocol on the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography 2000.
"The commission also urges the government to amend all local laws to raise the age of legal marriage of all to 18 years, in line with the adherence to the Children Act 1989 which defined children as below 18 years," he said in a media statement here today.
Suhakam also lauded the comprehensive amendment to the Child Act 2001, which among others replaced caning for male children with community service.
However, the commission expressed worries about the retention of caning in school as contained in the amendment to the act which was approved in the Dewan Rakyat recently.
"Caning is not only a cruel punishment, but also flouts the right of the children and contravened the CRC principle which demands member nations to protect the children from treatment or punishment which are cruel, inhuman and damaging to dignity," the statement added. — Bernama