KUALA LUMPUR – Gender rights group Justice for Sisters (JFS) wants the Johor government to stop its plans for a rehabilitation centre for sexual and religious “deviants”.
JFS co-founder S. Thilaga said the centre, announced by Johor’s executive councillor for Islamic affairs Mohd Fared Mohd Khalid, was discriminatory and the detention of LGBT people amounted to torture.
“Detaining people on the grounds of changing their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIE) undeniably amounts to torture,” Thilaga said in a statement today.
“Establishment of this centre raises serious concerns about the potential violation of human rights including the rights to equality and non-discrimination, privacy, and a life of dignity, free from torture.”
She was responding to Fared’s announcement during the Johor state assembly session yesterday.
The centre, to be established at a cost of RM400,000, is slated to be operational in July next year.
Thilaga added that the centre, as a form of “conversion” practice, went against the findings of global medical and human rights organisations that have discredited and condemned such methods.
“(They are recognised) as not only lacking any scientific basis but also as unethical and extremely harmful to the physical, mental and emotional well-being of individuals involved.
“The World Health Organisation and the Pan American Health Organisation are among the bodies that have called for a ban on conversion practices, and for the media to expose them to promote respect for diversity.
“Based on our survey of LGBT and queer people in Malaysia, these practices result in long-term severe impacts, including negatively impacting their mental health, dropping out of schools and suicidal ideation and attempts,” Thilaga said.
Thilaga added that Malaysia, which is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw), had been called upon by the Cedaw Committee in 2018 to discontinue measures which aim to “correct” or “rehabilitate” lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.
The Cedaw Committee had also urged Malaysia to amend all laws which discriminate against LGBT and intersex women, including provisions in the Penal Code and shariah law.
Thilaga also said a rehabilitation centre for people deemed to be sexual deviants would violate Article 5 of the federal constitution, which safeguards the personal liberty, privacy and dignity of all citizens.
It also violates Article 8, which safeguards equality before the law and prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender.
JFS also called on the Malaysian Human Rights Commission to engage the Johor government on its plans for the rehabilitation centre, and to do a human rights impact assessment of such centres and all state-sponsored programmes to rehabilitate those deemed deviant. – November 30, 2023