Malaysia passes Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill with very minor amendments, despite widespread criticism

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Malaysia’s Dewan Rakyat (Household of Reps) has passed the Anti-Sexual Harassment Invoice 2021, even with unaddressed fears of sizeable shortcomings in the Bill.

The Invoice was to begin with tabled for its initial studying in December 2021 (Go through our earlier publish: “Malaysia’s Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill tabled in Parliament”). It was then withdrawn from a second looking at previously in 2022, with the govt indicating that it would be significantly reviewed following strong feedback gained from many parties. Sadly, the Invoice which was handed this week only had quite insignificant amendments from the first draft.

Due to the constrained revisions produced from the 1st draft, our summary of the Monthly bill printed in December 2021 is even now typically exact: https://themalaysianlawyer.com/2021/12/15/anti-sexual-harassment-invoice/

These are the substance changes in the updated model of the Invoice:

  1. A new Clause 7(3) is provided, introducing a limitation interval for sexual harassment grievances: “A complaint referred to the Tribunal below this Act is topic to the Limitation Act 1953.”
  2. Though the initial version supplied that get-togethers at the hearing of a sexual harassment criticism can not be represented by an advocate and solicitor, this has been revised [at Clause 13(2)] to give that lawful representation will be authorized if “in the feeling of the Tribunal, the subject in problem will involve complex troubles of law”. The revisions also deliver that if just one occasion is authorized to represented by an advocate and solicitor, then the other party will also be so entitled.

With these incredibly limited alterations, it appears that the worries elevated by various legal rights organisations who had hoped for “a meticulous overview of the Bill” have been still left unheard. Time will notify regardless of whether the new extensive-awaited law will be detailed sufficient to secure the legal rights and wellbeing of sexual harassment victims.

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