The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) is ready to push for two optional protocols to be ratified, in tandem with its recommendation on removing the government’s eight reservations to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Commissioner Dr Raj Abdul Karim said at a press conference at Suhakam headquarters today that one of the protocols is on child pornography, trafficking of children and child prostitution.

Ratifying it would require the government to pass laws that protect children from being used as subjects of pornography, as well as to prevent them from viewing pornographic materials.

The second optional protocol relates to children caught in armed conflict. Raj said the government should have no objection to ratifying it since the situation is not prevalent in Malaysia.

However, she said the government does need to acknowledge and define ‘child pornography’ in legal terms.

General provisions against pornography are currently found in the Penal Code and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, but these do not make specific mention of children’s involvement.

In this respect, Malaysia is far behind Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand which have specific laws in place to protect children, she said.

With the advance of information and communications technology, there is a serious situation with “children being traded and used for pornography” in Malaysia.

Suhakam’s studies between 1995 and 1996 have shown that children as young as nine are viewing pornographic material while their parents are at work.

Further problems have arisen due to the use of mobile phones which allow for such material to be exchanged via SMS, Raj said.

“We will come up with recommendations and table our suggestions to the government as we must have some basis as to why we want them to look at it,” said Raj.

Suhakam hopes to resolve problems by holding discussions with government agencies such as the Information Ministry, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission and the print media.

Paedophiles to be profiled?

Suguram Bibi Munshi Deen, who heads Bukit Aman’s investigative team for child abuse and sexual crimes, said the police are “trying to put up profiles of perpetrators” for public viewing.

“However, this is still in the pipeline and we are still studying the move,” she said, adding that this could also cover paedophiles.

“In Nurin’s case, for example, there have been no leads up to now,” said Bibi, referring to the murder of nine-year-old Nurin Jazlin.

She had gone missing on Aug 20 last year after going out to a night market alone near her home in Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur.

Her naked body, believed to have been sexually abused , was found stuffed into a sports bag near a shoplot in Petaling Utama a month later.