UN rep to visit Malaysia and focus on child marriage issue

UN Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, will be in Malaysia from Sept 24 to Oct 1.

Her visit will focus on discussing various issues of child exploitation, including child marriages.

In a statement today, Boer-Buquicchio said that during the visit, she will examine to what extent, and how, Malaysia is engaged in preventing and combating these issues.

"I will seek to help the government of Malaysia promote and protect the rights of children and evaluate the risks and forms of exploitation, along with the measures already adopted, to fight the problem and examine the challenges that remain.

"I will also meet child victims of abuse, violence and exploitation, and children in vulnerable situations, such as refugees, to make sure their opinions are duly taken into account in my recommendations to the government and other concerned parties," she added.

Boer-Buquicchio's mission will be to, among others, zoom in on issues such as sexual exploitation of children through information and communication technologies and the sale of children through illegal adoptions.

She will also pay particular attention to the issue of child marriage, which of late has become a contentious subject in Malaysia.

The special rapporteur will travel to Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu during her eight-day visit, and meet government representatives, members of the judiciary and local authorities, as well as NGOs.

Boer-Buquicchio will then share her preliminary findings in a press conference at the end of her visit - at the JW Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, on the afternoon of Oct 1.

A comprehensive report on her visit will be presented at a UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, the statement added. - Mkini