Women's Tribunal Malaysia

A women’s tribunal is a people’s tribunal, which creates a space to hear testimonies regarding injustices experienced by women. It can take various forms, from quasi-judicial hearings to informal sharing sessions.

26 years ago the Malaysian government made a legally binding commitment to protecting, fulfilling and respecting women’s human rights when it ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1995 following the 4th World Conference on Women. However, almost 3 decades later, the commitments towards gender equality remain on paper and have yet to be achieved. Issues faced by women prior to 1995 are still as relevant as they are now.

Hence, the Women’s Tribunal Malaysia serves as a public tool of accountability to assess Malaysia’s compliance with its State obligations and commitments made in accordance with international human rights treaties;  and how far have we progressed, or regressed, towards fulfilling the promise of women’s rights.

Malaysia’s compliance with not only CEDAW, but also human rights treaties such as the CRPD, CRC, BPfA, ICPD, SDG 2030 and numerous ILO conventions, will be assessed through examining the government’s implementation and enactment of laws and policies which were promised during the treaties’ ratifications. Assessing the enforcement of promised policy changes is crucial, as it highlights the gaps in implementation; in which women fall through, constituting the challenges they face.

The Women’s Tribunal gives Malaysian women the key opportunity to interact with the international treaty body system and gauge its direct impact on their demands for equal rights. It serves as an opportunity for Malaysian women to engage with human rights treaties, such as CEDAW, and understand how they establish the grounds of feminist advocacy in Malaysia.

Ultimately, the Tribunal aims to localise human rights treaties, which for too long have seemed distant to the average Malaysian, and illustrate their power to not only hold the State accountable for its shortcomings but as a tool to demand for the actualisation of our rights.

• A Women’s Tribunal is a powerful tool for gaining support for women’s rights and gender equality and keeping these issues visible.
• It creates a space where women’s voices are heard and are amplified as agents of change.
• It also draws attention to the gaps in legal, policy, cultural and institutional structures and the impact they have on women.
• It helps to strengthen advocacy and serves to highlight the State’s obligations in preserving, protecting and fulfilling women’s rights.

The Women’s Tribunal Malaysia is being organised by women’s rights organisations that make up the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG). Out of the 14 organisations in JAG, 13 are represented in the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee is also joined by ENGENDER Consultancy.

The Malaysian Women’s Tribunal will take place online from 27 to 28 Nov 2021.

The Women’s Tribunal will hear testimonies over two days regarding various forms of discrimination against women such as violence against women and inequality in marriage. Each issue will feature direct testimony from a woman/women on how they were affected. Each testimony will be followed by a presentation by an advocate that will provide context to the direct testimony that was given. Such context will include matters such as the State’s international obligations, the legal structure, and underlying political and cultural issues.

A panel of three judges have been selected by the Steering Committee. They fulfil certain predetermined criteria such as having experience with human rights, understanding States’ international obligations, and being able to relate to grassroots issues. The Steering Committee has also endeavored to have adequate diversity and representation amongst the judges.

After hearing the direct testimonies, the judges will deliberate and will provide  written findings and recommendations regarding the State’s performance and obligations under CEDAW and other international human rights standards.

The judges will also provide recommendations on what needs to be done to achieve gender equality and access to justice with regard to the issues that are raised.

While the Women’s Tribunal Malaysia 2021 is not an official sanctioned body, nor does it go through a formal judicial process, we believe that it will have the moral authority consisting of a panel of eminent judges who are experts on human rights and gender equality.

All members of the public are invited to witness the proceedings. Women’s groups from Asia Pacific countries are invited too.  The organisers will also invite representatives from the government, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) and a CEDAW committee member to attend and to respond to the testimonies and presentations. Attendance is online.

In Malaysia, we have never  held a Women’s Tribunal however in 2014 BERSIH 2.0 organised a Peoples’ Tribunal on Malaysia’s 13th General Elections. Globally Women’s Tribunals have been held in Japan, Nairobi and Vienna to name a few. Check out our global map of past tribunals here.

We have assigned an NGO  and a counsellor who will work with witnesses to ensure they are comfortable to share their stories in their own words and without any  pressure. If any witness wishes to be anonymous they have a right to do so, and may choose to give her testimony as a voice recording.

In 1995 Malaysia ratified The Convention on the Elimination on all Forms of Discrimination (CEDAW), an international bill of rights for women. The government therefore has pledged to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights of women. Besides CEDAW our government has also ratified the Convention on Child’s Rights (CRC) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) which both contain provisions to protect girls and women.

Malaysia has also ratified several International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions which spells out women’s labour rights.

Besides these treaties, the Malaysian government has made a global political agreement through the Beijing Platform for Action and the Sustainable Development Goals.

This means that we can hold the government accountable through these binding international  treaties including the political agreements to deliver gender equality. The government of Malaysia has pledged not only to the international community, but to everyone in Malaysia  that it will fulfil its obligations in practicing non-discrimination and upholding gender equality.

By becoming a party to CEDAW and any treaty for that matter with provisions on gender equality, a State is legally obliged to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women and advance gender equality.

One of the major successes of law reform has been the amendment to the equality provision of the Federal Constitution. In September 2001 “gender” was inserted onto Article 8 (2) of the Federal Constitution as one of the prohibited grounds of discrimination.

However, the definition of discrimination was not made explicit in the Federal Constitution, and the government has yet to incorporate the CEDAW Convention into national law. There is no gender equality legislation in place providing for the comprehensive realisation of substantive equality of women with men in both public and private spheres of life. This is unlike the position of children's rights, where the government introduced the Child Act 2001 after Malaysia acceded to the Convention to the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Nevertheless, the government participates in the treaty reporting mechanism and has received several recommendations by Treaty bodies of which some recommendations have been translated to policy reform. Furthermore women organisations are consistently reminding the government to adhere to the standards outlined in these treaties and political agreements that the Malaysian government has a moral obligation to fulfil.

1. Build supporters for women’s rights from the general public.
2. Accelerate advocacy efforts to persuade and pressure the  ruling government to pass laws and policies to protect women.
3. Highlight the continuing violations and to give voice  and to bear witness to women’s experiences.
4. Utilise the findings of the panel of judges, by popularising them through the continued use of social media platforms created especially for the Women’s Tribunal
5. Submit these findings to the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development and other relevant government agencies.
6. To make visible women’s tribunals as good advocacy practice that can be an example to the women’s groups in the region.

On the third day of The Women’s Tribunal and after two days of testimonies, an online arts festival will be held to continue our advocacy for gender justice through performances, poetry, song and dance. Everyone is invited to watch and participate in this online arts festival which promises to leave you energized and empowered. Let’s practice self care and celebrate women through the arts.

Anti-Bullying policy &  Anti - Sexual Harassment Policy

The Women’s Tribunal (WT) is working with a team comprising at least 50 persons. This includes the NGO partners, the Steering Committee, Sub Committees, witnesses, advocates, volunteers, judges, a technical team and three full time staff
The purpose of this policy is to communicate to all members of the WT team that the Steering Committee (SC) of the WT will not in any instance tolerate bullying in any form.
The SC is further  committed to providing a safe environment free from harassment, including sexual harassment.

Definition of bullying

We define bullying as repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more people by one or more perpetrators. It is abusive conduct that includes:

• Threatening, humiliating or intimidating behaviours
• Work interference/sabotage that prevents work from getting done
• Repeated verbal abuse

Definition of sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature which makes a person feel offended, humiliated and/or intimidated. It includes situations where a person is asked to engage in sexual activity as a condition of that person’s employment, as well as situations which create an environment which is hostile, intimidating or humiliating for the recipient. Sexual harassment can involve one or more incidents and actions constituting harassment may be physical, verbal and non-verbal.

How to make a Complaint
Any party who wants to make a complaint can write to: WomensTribunalComplaints@gmail.com