M'sian Commissioner In IPHRC Champions Women, Children's Rights

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya JAKARTA, Feb 23 (Bernama) -- The selection of Assoc Prof Dr Raihanah Abdullah from University of Malaya (UM) as one of the first group of 18 commissioners of the OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) hails a new era in the promotion of human rights in Islamic countries. Raihanah, who is from the Department of Syariah and Law, Academy of Islamic Studies, UM, said the formation of the IPHRC marked an important development in the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) amid a negative worldview on human rights record in Islamic countries in accordance with international standards. "Today, Muslim countries are saddled with many human rights issues and the international community harped on alleged violations of human rights in certain OIC countries. "International bodies are watching the IPHRC and they want to know whether it can play a leading role in promoting and protecting human rights in OIC countries," she said in an interview with Bernama. Raihanah, who is also UM director of the Civilization Dialogue, is optimistic that the IPHRC could disprove a perception of certain quarters that the OIC was a merely coffee-shop talk centre. She said IPHRC commissioners, which was holding their first formal meeting for five days until Friday here, after a preparatory meeting in Jeddah at the end of last year, showed determination in painting a positive image of the OIC through the commission. For Malaysia, she said its contributions in the field of human rights was not something strange as it was spurred by the formation of the Human Rights Commission Malaysia (Suhakam) besides playing a role in the Asean Intergovernmental Commission for Human Rights (AICHR). "At the IPHRC, Islamic principles and values supersede values enshrined in the universal declaration of human rights. "In this context, I can play a role on issues affecting women and children rights, which are not given due attention in several countries, prompting the international community to claim that Islam does not care about the rights of women and children," she said. Raihanah said hence, she would stress on the importance of making women and children's rights a specific agenda in the IPHRC and not categorised as social and cultural rights as they were major issues other than political issues like the Palestine statehood. "As we do not want women and children issues to be cast aside, the IPHRC needs women commissioners as they could espouse different perspectives on pressing matters," he said. -- BERNAMA