Activities of Tonino PICULA related to 2022/0221M(NLE)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT containing a motion for a non-legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Framework Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Government of Malaysia, of the other part
Amendments (12)
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9 a (new)
Citation 9 a (new)
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
K a. whereas, as reiterated in previous European Parliament resolution, “the EU's foreign human rights policy requires it to lead by example in order to avoid undermining its credibility” and therefore the EU institutions and bodies, including the European External Action Service (EEAS) must “ensure that the EU’s and Member States’ human rights obligations are consistently implemented in the EU’s common foreign and security policy”;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas Malaysia’s Sedition Act and Communications and Multimedia Act have been used to prosecute critical speech, also against Parliamentary Members; whereas freedom of expression and assembly in Malaysia are currently under attack, aided by the existence of broad and vaguely worded laws, including the Sedition Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act, and sections 504 and 505 (b) of the penal code which criminalize speech that leads to breach of “public tranquillity”; whereas according to different Human Rights Defenders’ reports, Malaysian authorities are increasingly using criminal investigations to harass journalists, civil society activists, academics and ordinary citizens using social media;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M a (new)
Recital M a (new)
M a. whereas migrant workers constitute approximately 20–30% of the country’s workforce and are often victims of forced labour and human rights abuses such as passport confiscation, inhumane living conditions, and physical abuse; whereas refugees, asylum seekers and stateless people also face a high risk of forced labour as they are denied access to legal employment due to their unrecognised status, being therefore forced to earn a living through informal and often exploitative work arrangements, which are unregulated and unprotected by labour laws; whereas recent evidences of the existence of forced labour and child labour were found in Malaysia’s palm oil and rubber manufacturing sectors prompted international bans on imports as well as the downgrading of the country in Tier 3 in the US Trafficking in Persons Report;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M b (new)
Recital M b (new)
M b. whereas Malaysian women outperform Malaysian men in education but female labour participation still remains low compared with peer countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam or Singapore; whereas Malaysia has the one of the biggest gender gap in South-east Asia;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M c (new)
Recital M c (new)
M c. whereas Malaysia’s Muslim population, which accounts to 60% of the total, is subject to State Sharia laws, enforced by state Islamic religious departments; whereas some of the State Sharia laws are gender biased and discriminate against women and LGBTI people; whereas the federal penal code also criminalizes consensual same-sex relations, imposing a sentence of 20 years in prison and mandatory whipping; whereas by June 2021, the government reported that 1,733 individuals had been sent to government “rehabilitation” camps run by the Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) with the aim of changing the “lifestyle” and “sexual orientation” of LGBTI people;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 – point 1 (new)
Paragraph 8 – point 1 (new)
(1) Calls on the Parties to commit to support the implementation and enforcement of domestic legislation on corporate due diligence and corporate accountability and to agree on more specific obligations in the light of sustainable impact assessments; calls also on the Parties to exchange information on the number of investigations, checks and enforcement actions respectively taken for the implementation and enforcement of their domestic legislation on corporate due diligence and corporate accountability; encourages the Parties to provide trainings or technical assistance companies in order to increase their awareness on corporate due diligence and corporate accountability;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 – point 2 (new)
Paragraph 8 – point 2 (new)
(2) Calls on the Malaysia’s Government to promptly ratify and implement all fundamental ILO conventions, including on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (No. 87), on Discrimination (No. 111), and on Occupational Safety and Health (No. 155);
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 – point 3 (new)
Paragraph 8 – point 3 (new)
(3) Urges the Malaysian Government to resolutely act against forced labour, including domestic worker abuses, and prohibiting employers from retaining passports without employees’ consent; welcomes its commitment to ratify the ILO 2014 Forced Labour Protocol, which engages the country to develop and implement a national action plan on forced labour; Encourages the Malaysian authorities to increase efforts to identify trafficking victims among People’s Republic of China (PRC) workers on PRC government-affiliated infrastructure projects; invites the Malaysian authorities to expand cooperation with trade unions and NGOs providing assistance to victims;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 – point 1 (new)
Paragraph 9 – point 1 (new)
(1) Strongly condemns the human rights violations, including discrimination, stigmatisation, detention, whipping and “rehabilitation” camps that LGBTI persons in Malaysia continue to face;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 – point 2 (new)
Paragraph 9 – point 2 (new)
(2) Calls on the Malaysian authorities to take effective actions to challenge the gender ideologies that make very difficult for Malaysian women to enter the world of work and to tackle the discrimination against women in the workplace, including discrimination in access to employment opportunities, treatment, the absence of maternity leave and unequal wages between males and females;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Reiterates its call on the Malaysian authorities to repeal the Sedition Act and revise the Printing Presses and Publications Act and the penal code, in order to effectively guarantee media freedom and ensure freedom of expression and assembly, and to bring all legislation, including the Communications and Multimedia Act, in line with international standards on freedom of expression and the protection of human rights;