II. The denial of the right to a nationality and resultant statelessness and human rights challenges faced by communities in Malaysia, such as the maritime community, the Bajau Laut (also known as Sama-Dilaut) and people of Indian origin; III. The denial of every child’s right to a nationality in Malaysia; and IV. The Rohingya and other refugee or populations Malaysia. 3. This submission draws on extensive national and international experience of the co-submitting organisations in research, advocacy, direct service provision and awareness raising on the above issues. Malaysia’s Universal Periodic Review under the Second Cycle 4. In its State Report before its previous UPR in 2013,8 Malaysia only provided one example of action taken to protect stateless persons. Paragraph 63 of the State Report set out as follows: “For vulnerable and at-risk inner-city adolescents and young persons, the Government in collaboration with civil society established the ‘Kuala Lumpur Krash Pad’ (KLKP) in the Chow Kit area in March 2009. KLKP reaches out to all teens and youth including the stateless, refugees and the undocumented. KLKP offers alternatives to risk behaviour that may expose them to gangs, violence, crime, substance abuse and risk of HIV infection”. 5. Malaysia also focused on its cooperation with the Malaysia country offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organisation for Migration, stating at paragraph 124 that: “Malaysia continues to be a transit and destination country for refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and undocumented persons. During the period under review, and while not being party to the 1951 Convention on Refugees, Malaysia continues to cooperate with relevant international organisations including UNHCR Office in Kuala Lumpur and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) on a case-by-case basis to manage the situation of such persons in the country”. 6. Additionally, despite the prevalence of statelessness, gender discriminatory nationality laws and related human rights challenges in the country, these issues were not addressed under the review process. For example, there is no reference in Malaysia’s previous UPR to its gender discriminatory nationality laws and policies, or any reference the need to address statelessness amongst the various affected populations. 7. Only two State Parties, made recommendations as to the need to address statelessness and uphold the right to a nationality in Malaysia. 8. Norway recommended that Malaysia “Take concrete measures to prevent children from becoming stateless and guarantee universal access to free primary education, irrespective of citizenship and immigration status”.9 This recommendation was noted by Malaysia. 8 A/HRC/WG.6/17/MYS/1, 2013 UPR Info responses to recommendations https://www.upr-info.org/sites/default/files/document/malaysia/session_17__october_2013/recommendations_and_pledges_malaysia_2014.pdf 9 3