FORUM-ASIA urgently
calls on the Malaysian government to immediately identify, arrest and
bring to court rapists and sexual rights violators of Penan girls and
women of Baram, Sarawak. The organisation said this is the logical follow-up to the report of the National Task
Force formed by the Cabinet to investigate the alleged sexual abuse
of Penan girls and women by logging camp workers in the said territory. 

The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) urgently
calls on the Malaysian government to immediately identify, arrest and
bring to court rapists and sexual rights violators of Penan girls and
women of Baram, Sarawak. The organisation with 46 members across Asia
said this is the logical follow-up to the report of the National Task
Force formed by the Cabinet to investigate the alleged sexual abuse
of Penan girls and women by logging camp workers in the said territory.  

The Ministry of Women, Family
and Community Affairs took about a year to release the report despite
repeated requests by public and civil society. FORUM-ASIA expressed
shock and deep disappointment that, although as early as September 2008,
indigenous peoples' rights advocates released reports of and campaigned
against the abuses against Penan girls in their own ancestral homes,
it took a month for the government of Malaysia to organise the Task
Force. Despite conducting the investigation one month later, ten months
passed without any report to the public. The delayed responses by the
relevant government authorities are violations of the right of the victims
to justice. 

"We would like to state that
while we appreciate the report of the Task Force, this is only a step
to justice to the victims. More has to be done now that the abuses have
been validated", said Bernice See, the Ethnic Minorities and Indigenous
Peoples Programme Officer of the organisation. 

Malaysian government is obliged
to undertake measures to protect the child from all forms of sexual
exploitation and sexual abuse, according to the Child Right Convention
(CRC) (Art. 34). The government promised the indigenous peoples to take
measures "to ensure that indigenous women and children enjoy the full
protection and guarantees against all forms of violence and discrimination"
(United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Art.
22). 

The appalling condition of
the victims and their communities – poverty, lack of basic services
and access to justice, lack of knowledge of their rights, destruction
of the sources of their subsistence – leads further to violations of
the Penans' human rights. Malaysia has committed to take appropriate
measures to address the particular situation of women who live in rural
areas, including the Penan, like providing access to adequate health
care, social security, education and training, and other such measures
that would allow them to "enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly
in relation to housing, sanitation, electricity and water supply, transport
and communications" (Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
Against Women, Art. 14). Further, it has committed to guard children,
against all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, and
exploitation including sexual abuse (CRC Art. 19) and has assured that
every child has "the right to a standard of living that will enable
her or him to realise her or his total development" (CRC Art. 27).  

FORUM-ASIA urges the Malaysian
government to redress the violations of the human rights of the Penan
girls, women and their communities by bringing to court the perpetrators
of the crimes, rehabilitate the victims, expeditiously investigate the
human and development conditions in Penan communities in Baram and other
logging areas. "The conditions of logging concessions with the substantive
participation of affected communities must be reviewed, allowing them
to live in the spirit and intent of the native customary rights of the
Penan and other indigenous peoples. Further, we urge the Malaysian government
to take measures to ensure the physical, mental integrity and security
of the Penan women and children", See added. 

For inquiries, please contact:

• Yap Swee Seng,
  Executive Director, tel: +66818689178, email: [email protected]
• Bernice See,
  Ethnic Minorities and Indigenous Peoples in Southeast Asia Programme
  Officer, tel: +6626532940-1, email: [email protected]