43. The Immigration detention of asylum seekers and refugees – including Rohingya – is a serious concern. Detention conditions are regularly reported to be inhumane, and between 2015 and 2017, the UN recorded at least 22 deaths in custody.29 Consequences of Statelessness in Malaysia 44. There are significant consequences for individuals and communities that are stateless or at risk of statelessness in Malaysia. For example, they face heightened risk of exploitation, human trafficking, arrest and arbitrary detention because they have difficulty proving who they are or links to a country of origin. Statelessness populations and populations at risk of statelessness also face barriers in accessing education, housing, secure and safe employment and health services.30 Typically, such populations also face barriers in obtaining identity documentation (further entrenching difficulties faced in providing evidence of their identity and links to a State); increased risk of arbitrary arrest and indefinite detention; deportation; barriers to accessing affordable healthcare including sexual and reproductive healthcare; discrimination, marginality and xenophobia; displacement; and barriers to accessing natural resources, traditional livelihoods and justice. 45. In January 2018, at the beginning of the school year, stateless persons claimed that the Immigration Department in Malaysia started requesting all students to submit a passport of any nationality in order to enrol in public schools.31 Also in 2018, the Malaysian Government enacted a policy which enables stateless children to enrol in Government funded schooling if their citizenship application is under consideration and, at least one of their parents is a Malaysian citizen.32 46. However, there are serious challenges regarding access to education for other populations of stateless children who do not have pending citizenship applications. For example, abandoned children and foundlings often do not have information as to their parent’s citizenship status and are typically undocumented. Therefore, abandoned children and foundlings are not likely to access education through these abovementioned policy changes. Recommendations 47. Based on the above information, the co-submitting organisations urge reviewing States to make the following recommendations to Malaysia: I. Withdraw all reservations to the CRC, CEDAW and CRPD, particularly in relation to the right to a nationality, and accede to all relevant human rights, refugee and statelessness instruments. II. Repeal gender discriminatory nationality laws and policies. In particular, amend the Federal Constitution to allow for: a. a child born to a Malaysian citizen to automatically acquire Malaysian citizenship, irrespective of the gender of the Malaysian citizen parent and whether the child is born in or outside of Malaysia; and 29 The Guardian, Refugees describe death and despair in Malaysian detention centres, 16 May 2017, available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/16/dozens-of-refugees-have-died-in-malaysian-detention-centres-un-reveals 30 http://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/imvisible-malaysia/ 31 See for example: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/in-selangor-another-stateless-child-awaits-citizenshipto-attend-school; http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2018/01/12/more-stateless-children-turned-away-fromschool/; https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2018/01/324090/stateless-children-can-attend-government-schools-if-citizenship 32 http://www.thesundaily.my/news/2018/01/10/govt-red-tape-stops-stateless-children-attending-school-updated 10