A/HRC/44/40/Add.1 and withdraw its reservation to article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, pertaining to deprivation of liberty. Children 66. The child poverty rate in Malaysia is three times the national poverty rate,98 yet there is no adequate support system for addressing the problem. The children’s financial assistance scheme run by the Department of Social Welfare is particularly inadequate, with coverage declining since 2013 to just 69,000 children in 2019 out of 160,000 below the national poverty line and 1.8 million who would be considered poor under a contextually appropriate poverty line.99 67. Stunting is a key marker of malnutrition and a problem that has dramatic consequences, yet one in five Malaysian children under the age of five are stunted, a higher level than in countries with a similar GDP.100 Children born into lower-income families appear to have a higher likelihood of being underweight or stunted.101 A study in Kelantan found that children in food-insecure households were three times more likely to be stunted102 and a UNICEF survey of low-income flats in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, carried out in 2018, found 15 per cent of children under 5 were underweight and 22 per cent were stunted.103 68. Child labour is also a problem in Malaysia, including on palm oil plantations where an oppressive quota system drives families to bring their children to work as unpaid labourers.104 69. Malaysia has registered about 15,000 marriages involving children over the past decade, with Muslim girls allowed to marry before the age of 16 with permission from a syariah (sharia) court judge. 105 Poverty is a widely recognized driver of child marriage, which is used as a coping mechanism for poor families and in turn has severe implications for children, including elevated risks of health problems and loss of education.106 Gender 70. Women in Malaysia shoulder a disproportionate share of housework, have an exceptionally low rate of workforce participation, are disproportionally stuck in lower-level jobs and are paid less than men.107 In 2017, only 53.5 per cent of women participated in the labour force compared to 77.7 per cent of men108 and as of 2018, 60.2 per cent of women outside the labour force cited housework as the main reason, compared to 3.6 per cent of men.109 The Khazanah Research Institute estimates that raising women’s employment level by 30 per cent could increase GDP by up to 12 per cent.110 71. As of 2018, women constituted just 22.2 per cent of legislators, senior officials and managers, and occupied just 11 per cent of elected parliamentary seats and 8.6 per cent of ministerial positions.111 The gender pay gap was 6.2 per cent in 2017 and although women 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 Submission by UNICEF Malaysia, p. 1. Ibid., p. 2. World Bank, Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2018: Realizing Human Potential, p. 11. Submission by UNICEF Malaysia, p. 2. World Bank, Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2018: Realizing Human Potential, p. 60. UNICEF Malaysia, “Children without: a study of urban child poverty and deprivation in low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur”, p. 52. Oliver Pye and others, “Workers in the palm oil industry: exploitation, resistance and transnational solidarity”, Stiftung Asienhaus (March 2016), p. 4. National Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, Annual Report 2018, p. 103. Submission by UNICEF Malaysia, p. 2. UNDP, Malaysia Human Development Report 2013: Redesigning an Inclusive Future, p. xviii. Khazanah Research Institute, The State of Households 2018: Different Realities, p. 78. According to the Government, 55.2 per cent of women participated in the labour force as of December 2018. World Bank, Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2019: Making Ends Meet, p. 51. Khazanah Research Institute, The State of Households 2018: Different Realities, p. 3. Department of Statistics, “Statistics on women empowerment in selected domains, Malaysia, 2018”. 15