Singapore's
oldest registered political society, the Think Centre, organised a two
hour closed door meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur on Racism, Mr
Githu Muigai on 24 April 2010 to meet with members of Singapore's civil
society.
Singapore's oldest registered political society, the Think Centre, organised a two hour closed door meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur on Racism, Mr Githu Muigai on 24 April 2010 to meet with members of Singapore's civil society.

The Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had earlier contacted the President of Think Centre, Mr Samydorai Sinapan to help meet members of Singapore's civil society in its fact finding mission in the country to identify individuals and organisations in the country to provide inputs in their report to the UN Human Rights Council.

Think Centre presented the visiting panel which comprised of Mr Githu Muigai (UN Special Rapporteur), Ms Anna Wu, a staff from the Office of OHCHR (Asia-Pacific) and Ms Anh Thu Duong, the Associate Human Rights Officer, Special Procedures Division, OHCHR with a report covering a variety of issues that affect Singaporeans. These include

1. Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act

2. Race-based Quotas on Public Housing, Ethnic Quotas on Home Ownership

3. Sedition Act and Undesirable Publications Act

4. Malay-Muslims Community: "Minorities and special position of Malays"

5. Self-Determination of Cultural Identity: The UN Universal Declaration of Cultural  Diversity

6. Problem of Group Representation Constituency (GRC) electoral system

7. Problem of Government-appointed community self-help associations

8. Housing Development Board's policies on single mothers

9. Discrimination of Women: wage gap, single mothers denied 12 weeks of maternity leave, and non recognition of domestic work.

Members of Singapore's Civil Society Group also submitted a 12 page report independent of the Think Centre Report to provide complimentary and additional perspectives on other issues not covered in the Think Centre report.

Mr Muigai thanked Think Centre for its assistance in helping to gather excellent inputs for his report.

Photo soure: UN multimedia.