[4] Malaysia has not acceded to the CRC’s third Optional Protocol, adopted by the United Nations in 2011, relating to communication of complaints.
These government reports must outline the situation of children in the country and explain the measures taken to realise and protect their rights.
[9] In 2007, the Committee on the Rights of the Child submitted its Concluding Observations to the Government of Malaysia following the country's submission of its first CRC report.
The Concluding Observations included the following recommendations:[9] Malaysia has a legislative, administrative and policy framework to cater for the protection and needs of children and the promotion of their physical, mental, intellectual and emotional development.
[11] In terms of administration of juvenile justice, Act 611 provides for a procedure before the Court for Children, which is child-friendly taking into account the mental and emotional maturity of a child.
At the international level, Malaysia has signed the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) in 2002 and ratified it in 2004.
Malaysia is currently in the process of acceding to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons especially Women and Children, supplementing UNTOC.
In addition, those who work in rural areas are sometimes not able to travel to the national registration authority to apply for the birth certificate.
[16] Children without a birth certificate can be denied access to healthcare and other basic social services which expose them to exploitation and poor health.
[17] For Malaysian children, a lack of a birth certificate can also affect their chances of applying for a MyKad when they reach 12 years of age.
Crucially, exceptions can be made for girls or boys to marry at a much younger age as long as they obtain Islamic courts’ consent.