Malaysia : Publication of a mission report on Human Rights Defenders

PRESS RELEASE

MALAYSIA
Publication of an international investigative mission report

“The Boa Constrictor”
Silencing Human Rights Defenders


To download the report, please click here



Paris-Geneva, 2nd April 2003 – The Malaysian human rights organisation SUARAM, jointly with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), publishes a report on an international inquiry mission on the situation of human rights defenders in Malaysia.

This report is the result of an inquiry mission mandated by the Observatory for the protection of Human Rights Defenders (a joint program of the FIDH and the OMCT), in March 2002 and shows the sophistication of the methods used by the Malaysian authorities to muzzle human rights defenders.

This reports put the emphasis on :
- The purposeful use of a wide array of extremely stringent legislation - first and foremost the Internal Security Act ;
- The inculcation of a culture of fear through various means of pressure, intimidation and coercion, which has in turn led to widespread self-censorship.

This situation further deteriorated in 2002. Malaysia and several other governments of the region have indeed interpreted the new alliance against terrorism as carte blanche for repression of elements they consider subversive or detrimental to national security.