Rights body Suhakam voices concern over court ruling denying citizenship to children born out of wedlock

While affirming full respect for judicial independence and acknowledging the court’s role in interpreting the Federal Constitution as it stands, Suhakam said the ruling exposes critical gaps in the country’s citizenship framework that could leave vulnerable children at risk of statelessness.

“Every child has the right to acquire a nationality,” Suhakam said in a statement today, citing Article 7 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Malaysia has been a signatory since 1995.

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