Malaysia participates in the frameworks of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Regional Action Framework on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) in Asia and the Pacific to pursue the goals relating to universal birth registration and accomplish them by 2030. Birth registration is a permanent record of a child's existence and an important source of legal identity, population statistics and policy planning, including on public health. From the perspective of children’s health, early and complete birth registration will ensure that children can access health, nutrition and welfare programmes from the start. It also facilitates the collection and compilation of fertility and mortality data. However, the majority of countries in Asia and the Pacific do not have universal and responsive CRVS systems that meet relevant international standards. Using the method of desk review, this study will investigate relevant gaps pertaining to completeness of birth registration in Malaysia using primarily published data and statistics issued by Department of Statistic Malaysia (DOSM) and The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Following the analysis, the study will provide a number of recommendations to ensure that the targets that Malaysia commits to achieve in the context of completeness of birth registration could be met for better progress on the rights and welfare of children.

Access to birth registration among the refugees, migrants, and undocumented or stateless individuals in Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia remains hindered largely due to their lack of legal status. This study identifies the barriers to birth registration faced by these communities, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, and explores the extent to which digital technologies may overcome or amplify these barriers. Findings are reported from a review of literature, websites, and media articles and semi-structured interviews with community-based organisations and community leaders representing the communities. The themes for the questions were structured based on Plan International's (2015) Step-by-step Guide for Identifying and Addressing the Risks to Children in Digitised birth registration systems. We identified that the digitalisation of birth registration poses more risks of exclusion than benefits to the marginalised communities without a secure and inclusive operating environment. Subject to an inequality assessment to evaluate and address the existing inequalities, a hybrid system that factors in the role of citizen facilitation hubs would be ideal for ensuring no one gets “left behind”.

For Muslims living in non-Muslim majority states, professing their religion is one thing and having religious freedom and their religious law and institution being legally recognized is quite another. While the former may be legally guaranteed, the mere mention let alone debate on the latter seems to spark outrage amongst the non-Muslim local and international communities. The absence of such recognition in those countries leaves the minority Muslims with their endless struggle and fight to have their religious rights and obligations legally enforced according to the demand of their religion. This paper attempts to analyze this issue and its implications in the context of Australia, being a secular multi-cultural country with a rising Muslim population. The main question to be addressed is "is it feasible to establish a Sharia court in Australia and how will it work?" This inquiry is further confined to the relevance of the system in tackling Muslim personal and family laws as opposed to the overall spectrum of Sharia. The investigation will cover a number of angles namely the feasibilities and challenges from the legal, political, social and economic perspectives of the country. It will then proceed to explore the alternative legal means that could be considered by the Muslims in Australia in lieu of a Sharia court system. This paper will conclude that the idea of having a Sharia court could not federally materialize under the present constitutional law in Australia. At the state level, various impediments against the thought exist from the legal, social, political and economic perspectives. Except for voluntary contractual agreements on settlement of disputes between Muslim subjects, it seems that the alternatives explored are also bound to be thwarted by similar obstacles.

Kedatangan pelarian dan pencari suaka ke Malaysia dari beberapa negara untuk mendapatkan perlindungan yang berpunca daripada penganiayaan telah mendorong Malaysia untuk memberikan perlindungan yang sewajarnya kepada golongan ini atas dasar kemanusiaan, secara dasarnya kerajaan tidak mengiktiraf mereka sebagai pelarian kerana Malaysia bukan negara yang terikat kepada Konvensyen Status Pelarian 1951 atau Protokol Status Pelarian 1967. Kajian ini memberi tumpuan kepada sejarah kedatangan pelarian dan pencari suaka ke Malaysia dan perkembangan perundangan yang mengatur pergerakan mereka. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah kualitatif melalui kajian kepustakaan seperti buku, jurnal, artikel dan surat khabar. Penulisan ini mengadaptasi corak penyelidikan kualitatif yang berdasarkan sejarah. Tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk mengetahui sejarah pelarian di Malaysia dan keperluan undang-undang yang tepat dan kukuh untuk mereka, ia bagi memastikan mereka diperlakukan secara manusiawi dan tidak dizalimi dengan apa-apa cara, atau bentuk sekalipun. Penerapan dasar berasaskan maqāṣid syariah yang dicadang kerajaan dilihat sebagai satu alternatif yang baik dalam menangani dan menyelesaikan beberapa isu berkaitan pelarian di Malaysia secara amnya. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa terdapat banyak krisis dan masalah mengenai pelarian yang tidak hanya mempengaruhi mereka secara individu tetapi juga secara tidak langsung mempengaruhi ekonomi Malaysia. Peranan penting untuk mengenal pasti dasar atau undang-undang yang tepat berkaitan pelarian di Malaysia, sejauh mana pengamalannya memenuhi kehendak maqāṣid syariah dan juga keperluan untuk merancang kerangka dasar atau undang-undang yang kukuh dan sesuai bagi memastikan negara tidak menghadapi masalah dalam menerima pelarian pada masa akan datang

Migration has been a socio-political hallmark in Southeast Asia, more so in recent times as the region advances towards an ASEAN community by 2015. With its steady economic growth and internal political stability, Malaysia receives the most number of migrants aside from Thailand and Singapore. Statelessness and its risk look set to continue in the long run both as a cause and implication of cross-border movement of persons. A considerable number of such migrants share one striking attribute, i.e. their irregular status in the host country, and hence, the lack of protections of their basic rights both from the source and host countries. Going on the premise that there is a strong underexplored nexus between migration and statelessness, this article unravels the interconnections between these two scenarios. Beginning with the crucial introduction of the term 'statelessness' and its causes and consequences, this article subsequently embarks on exploring the manner in which modern patterns of migration expose several groups of vulnerable persons of a migratory background to the risk and limbo of statelessness in Malaysia. Central to the analysis are how the identified groups of persons are impacted by both concepts of de jure and de facto statelessness, the unique interplay between migration and statelessness, the many facets of disenfranchisement of rights saddled upon them by their irregular status, and the underlying challenges behind such anomaly. The article adopts international law as the main framework to guide the overall discussion. � Universiti Putra Malaysia Press.

Kekurangan kerangka dasar dan peraturan bagi mengurus tadbir dan mengiktiraf institusi perkahwinan khususnya dalam kalangan pelarian Rohingya di Malaysia menimbulkan pelbagai kesan perundangan dan sosial, ketidakpatuhan hukum syariah dan kesulitan dalam proses penempatan semula pelarian ke negara ketiga. Kajian ini bertujuan membincangkan isu dan permasalahan ini serta kesannya dari sudut undang-undang sivil dan syariah terhadap masyarakat Rohingya di Malaysia. Kajian ini menggunakan metodologi kualitatif melalui kaedah kajian kepustakaan dan temu bual separa berstruktur terhadap beberapa responden kajian yang dipilih secara bertujuan daripada Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur dan Negeri Sembilan. Negeri-negeri ini dipilih berdasarkan persekitaran sosioekonomi dan peluang pekerjaan yang lebih baik sekali gus menjadi tumpuan pendatang asing dan pelarian dari pelbagai negara. Kajian mendapati status pelarian yang tidak diiktiraf menyebabkan perkahwinan pelarian Rohingya sukar didaftarkan di negara ini. Selain itu, kuasa autonomi setiap negeri dalam penetapan dasar, perundangan dan garis panduan berhubung isu pendaftaran perkahwinan dan perceraian masyarakat pelarian Islam di Malaysia menyebabkan timbul perbezaan dalam kaedah pengurusan perkahwinan tersebut. Suatu bentuk garis panduan yang selaras dan terperinci wajar dimuktamadkan antara negeri dan agensi kerajaan yang berkaitan agar perkahwinan pelarian Muslim di negara ini, termasuklah pelarian Rohingya, dapat dikawal urus secara lebih teratur agar hak pelarian dan perundangan Islam dapat dipelihara.

The Malaysian government has implemented numerous policies and laws to regulate and monitor the employment of foreign workers in the country. This study examines key issues related to relevant labour laws in Malaysia addressing the welfare and rights of foreign workers, primarily workers’ wages and deductions, levy and repatriation costs, insurance and medical benefits, passport retention, discrimination by employers and access to complaint mechanisms. Secondly, this study draws on several survey findings that indicate the existence of forced labour indicators that may amplify the vulnerability of foreign workers to abuse and exploitation. A survey was conducted to obtain perspectives on the rights and welfare of foreign workers in Peninsular Malaysia using a convenience sampling approach to collect relevant data. The study was undertaken among foreign workers with Visitor’s Pass (Temporary Employment) (Pas Lawatan Kerja Sementara, or PLKS) and employers of PLKS holders. The survey findings suggest that several aspects of foreign workers’ rights and welfare are not effectively protected, with some indicating the presence of forced labour indicators. In addition, two other findings are highlighted to indicate further the areas in which there is a lack of protection for the rights and welfare of foreign workers. The study provides several recommendations and suggests further qualitative studies to gather in-depth perspectives of foreign workers and employers. The findings can help develop effective policy and legal intervention strategies to improve the rights and welfare of foreign workers in Malaysia.

This article peruses statelessness in the heterogenous Myanmar and Malaysia, depicting how its dynamics continue to act as fodder for exclusion, conflict, marginalisation, and at times, Holocaust-like persecution. The stories of statelessness in these two ex-British colonies with dissimilar political, religious and cultural systems potently juxtapose the ontology of ‘the haves’ and ‘the have nots’ — and of a public milieu where claims to rightfulness are recognised, and the extreme form of loss of such realm, thus condemning everyone who falls into its hollow, or, ‘shadow’ — to indignity, insecurity, and worthlessness. Among others, they demonstrate that statelessness or the lack of an established legal identity explicitly or implicitly flies in the face of customary norms of non-discrimination on the basis of race, religion, nationality and other grounds. Further enabling its manifestation is the logic of sovereignty that allocates space for rejection of sovereignty-conflicting or eroding norms, as well as the exploitation of normative holes in the relevant frameworks.

Despite the aspiration of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) which aims to provide inclusive and quality education for all, refugees remain to be left behind. Therefore, a support mechanism for this group of people is necessary. A baseline literacy study was conducted with 15 Rohingya youth refugees using a snowball sampling technique. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection instruments were used: baseline tests, interviews, and guided questionnaires. Following the findings, a framework emerged and was used as a guide for module development. The Ref-LitPsy Module aims to help youth refugees, specifically the Rohingyas, to function better in Malaysia as their host country. This research based module comprises two main components: a) Literacy and b) Psychospiritual. The former addresses basic English literacy specifically for non-Roman alphabetical background refugees while the latter assists refugees to cope with stress and losses associated with migration, and also to groom them in helping their community. This paper focuses on the first component, Literacy. The Ref-LitPsy module is divided into twelve structured units that are applied in psychospiritual counselling approach. The Ref-LitPsy module is beneficial for the long-term resettlement success of refugees by grooming social navigators to help themselves and the refugee community.

This paper mainly explores the concept of refugee from the Islamic perspective. The discussion encapsulates the definitions of ‘refugee’, the position of refugees under international law and how Islam views refugees and the treatment they deserve. This article adopts a qualitative analysis via an exploratory approach, mainly employing library research of the primary and secondary sources of reference on the subject, and findings from an engagement with an Islamic authority in Malaysia conducted on 13th October 2020. This paper are divided into three parts, the first part differentiates perceptions of refugees from the Islamic and Western worldviews, including the international law that applies to refugees. The second part explains the definition and provides an overview of history of refugee acceptance in Malaysia. The third part explains the crisis and problem arising among the refugees in Malaysia, which call for a paradigm shift in the way such groups are positioned and treated within the local framework of laws and policy. It is hoped that by enlightening some responsibilities of the State which has agreed to provide refuge for these people on humanitarian basis, the leaders and the host community would treat them in a better right-respecting way.

The arrivals and protracted presence of asylum seekers and refugees in Malaysia have been met with policies largely shaped by humanitarian approaches leading to inconsistent responses and impasse in achieving durable solutions to refugee dilemmas. This qualitative study using the method of desk review of materials such as books, journals and newspaper articles identifies the human rights protection framework for asylum seekers and refugees and the problematic implications and challenges for both refugees and the host country, Malaysia, due to the absence of a formal refugee protection framework at the national level. Despite gaps in and outdated nature of the 1951 Refugee Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, it calls for refugee legal protections to be based on a legal and governance framework rather than non-binding aspirations and ad hoc approaches. The latter has proved adverse to both the interests of the host state and refugee communities. The findings indicate that the impacts on denial and violation of the rights and protections of refugees across political, social and economic terrains are accompanied by risks to Malaysia’s public security and interests. The study concludes with several early recommendations on the need to firstly recognise the legal status of refugees in Malaysia and the urgency to design an adequate protection and governance framework complemented with a system of shared responsibility to protect and manage refugees who have been in protracted limbo for an average of 20 years, if not more, without durable solutions to their plight.

Migration policy is an essential component in the country’s national security agenda. History shows that internal security and threats to security are the primary logic that informs foreign worker policy in Malaysia. This article looks into the security implications of the employment and presence of foreign workers holding the Visit Pass (Temporary Employment) or ‘PLKS’ holders in Peninsular Malaysia. This study is part of an overarching research that reevaluates a number of employment policies applicable to PLKS holders and assesses the impact of employment policies and practices that concern this category of workers from both public order and human security perspectives. It used qualitative methods such as desk review, focus group discussions (FGD) and round table discussions (RTD), and is based on the Security and Public Order Policy (DKKA 2019) and the intent to develop a comprehensive foreign worker policy. Areas assessed include the involvement of foreign workers in crimes, the phenomenon of irregularity, terrorism, corruption, infectious diseases, drug abuse and drug trafficking.

The protection of civilians is one of the most integral aspects of international humanitarian law. Civilians are defined in the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War to include persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those considered hors de combat by virtue of sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause. According to international law, civilians shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria. It is however a growing concern in international humanitarian law as military forces claim that certain attacks on civilians are justified, be it due to „military advantage‟, or that the civilians themselves have in one way or another, participated in the warfare. In such situations, both the armed forces and the law would have to determine whether the “civilians” are still civilians at the point of attack, or "civilians" who have lost their characteristics as civilians. This paper will discuss on the demarcation between the legal status of a civilian and the justifications of the claim to lift civilian characteristics from civilians in different situations, as well as issues of „active‟, „direct‟ and „sympathetic‟ involvement of civilians in hostilities. In doing so, both the international law and Islamic law point of view will comparatively be examined. Key Words: International humanitarian law, civilian, protection, unlawful combatant, Islamic law, military, treatment.