LETTERS: On Oct 14, an election to select members to the United Nations Human Rights Council was held at the 76th United Nations General Assembly.
Malaysia won 183 votes, granting it a seat in the UN Human Rights Council for the 2022-2024 term.
The council is an intergovernmental body that has the responsibility of global promotion and protection of human rights.
Malaysia has given its voluntary pledges and commitments, including to implement initiatives to improve the livelihoods of indigenous communities. This is consistent with the preparation of a blueprint national development policy for the indigenous people, which focuses on economy and culture.
This is also in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples 2017 and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Human rights are a set of basic rights granted to all living beings, which include intellectual property rights.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation, intellectual property refers to the "creation of minds such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce".
The World Trade Organisation states that intellectual property rights are "the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds. They usually give the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creation for a certain period of time".
For the indigenous communities in Malaysia, their intellectual property rights include traditional knowledge and cultural expressions, according to Article 27(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
They also have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions.
In the context of protection of intellectual property rights as human rights in Malaysia, safeguard to the rights to property has been established by way of Article 13(1) of the Federal Constitution, which states that "no person shall be deprived of property save in accordance with the law".
Article 13(2) of the Constitution states that "no law shall provide for the compulsory acquisition or use of property without adequate compensation".
The success of Malaysia in gaining a seat in the UN Human Rights Council marks another milestone in the commitment of the country in pursuing the protection of human rights.
For the indigenous communities that are regarded as the vulnerable groups, international standards concerning the protection of their rights are present, including the protection of their intellectual property rights.
Malaysia is home to a number of indigenous communities. These include the sea nomadic community of Bajau Laut, currently categorised as "stateless" by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for the Human Rights, Malaysia.
The community resides in a maritime area of Semporna, Sabah, and in other parts of the said area between Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia.
According to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, intellectual property rights of a stateless person are recognised in the context of "industrial property, such as inventions, designs or models, trade marks, trade names, and of rights in literary, artistic and scientific works". (Article 14 of the convention).
However, as Malaysia is not a state party to this convention, it has no legal obligation to enforce this provision.
It is hoped that with its election as a member of the UN Human Rights Commission, Malaysia is ready to embrace continuing obligations in the promotion and protection of the human rights in the country and worldwide.
DR DIYANA SULAIMAN
Faculty of Law,
Universiti Teknologi Mara
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times