COMMENT | The Coalition of Malaysian NGOs for the UPR Process (Comango) is “cautiously optimistic” that the Malaysian government will accept all the recommendations proposed by fellow member states during the Fourth Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) for Malaysia which took place on Jan 25 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The UPR is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights record of all 193 UN member states conducted every five years.

It is a process that encourages the country under review to improve the human rights situation through recommendations by their fellow member states.

During the fourth review, the Malaysian government was commended by the international community for some of its efforts to promote human rights on the ground such as the abolishment of the mandatory death penalty and its continuous multi-stakeholder engagement to further improve the tracking of the UPR recommendations.

Comango believes that the government’s actions and efforts to fulfil its obligations to implement the UPR recommendations proposed are a positive step to facilitate better protection and promotion of human rights on the ground.

We are hopeful that the Malaysian government would accept the recommendations proposed by the 134 member states which cover several key themes...