with SUHAKAM Commissioner, Prof. Dato’ Dr Aishah Bidin, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences (UNIMAS), Associate Prof. Dr Neilson Ilan Mersat, SUHAKAM Commissioner, Francis Johen and the participants of Human Rights Day 2017 at PITAS in UNIMAS, Kota Samarahan. PHOTO: COURTESY OF UNIMAS
KOTA SAMARAHAN: The state Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) had organised the Human Rights Day 2017 in collaboration with the Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS), UNIMAS (Universiti Malaysia Sarawak) at PITAS (Pusat Islam Tun Abang Salahuddin) here yesterday.
The event was held to commemorate the Human Rights Day which is celebrated annually on December 10.
According to Francis (SUHAKAM Commissioner), the event was a platform to introduce the commission to the students. “It is also to promote and protect human rights in Malaysia, besides educating the students about human rights.
As part of the society’s duties, we encourage students to be aware of human rights,” he added. The event featured talks by the SUHAKAM Commissioners with topics such as “What is Human Rights?” and “Youth and Human Rights”. The talks were followed by a forum which was moderated by the Deputy Dean for Research and Postgraduate of FSS, Dr Arnold Puyok.
The highlight of the event was the exchange of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between FSS and SUHAKAM to further enhance the collaboration on human rights education and research.
When asked on the human trafficking issues in Sarawak, Francis disclosed that the issue was not serious. “Last year, we organised a talk with the Police Department as part of our effort to disseminate the information of human trafficking in Sarawak,” he said.
He added that the human rights issues faced in Sarawak were the Nat ive Customar y Rights (NCR) Land and the nationality status of children whereby one of the parents is non-Malaysian. Also present at the event were UNIMAS Deputy Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and Alumni, Prof. Mohd Fadzil Abdul Rahman, Dean of FSS, Associate Prof. Dr Neilson Ilan Mersat, SUHAKAM Commissioners, Prof. Dato’ Dr Aishah Bidin and Francis Johen, SUHAKAM Sarawak Assistant Secretary, Sophian Osman and participants of the event.
