Global Progress Towards Ending the Sexual Exploitation of Children
A global problem requires truly global solutions to address the sexual exploitation of children.
Indicators
Age of Consent
No
The age of sexual consent is set at 16 for girls only. The age of sexual consent has not been defined for boys. The national legislation does not provide for a close-in-age exemption.
ECO Malaysia, 2019
Extraterritoriality & Extradition
Partial
Legislation provides for active extraterritoriality (including by Malaysian residents) of all SEC crimes committed abroad. Passive extraterritoriality only applies to SEC offences that account for organized crime.
Extradition requires double criminality and must be for an offence punished with no less than a year of imprisonment (including attempts, and conspiracy to commit an offence).
ECO Malaysia, 2019
CSAM Definition
No
The national legislation does not provide a definition of CSAM which is in line with international standards. The definition provided does not include depictions of the sexual parts of a child’s body for primarily sexual purposes. Positively, the definition includes materials depicting a person appearing to be a child as well as computer/digitally generated CSAM.
DH Legal Analysis Malaysia, 2021
Background Check Required
No
There are no mandatory legal provisions for criminal background checks nor legislation prohibiting convicted sex offenders to hold positions involving or facilitating contact with children. However, the sex offenders’ registry allows people to verify if an individual has committed any sexual offense against children by filling in a form and stating their relationship to the individual at the department’s state office, or the department district office.
DH Legal Analysis Malaysia, 2020
National Commitments
Partial
Malaysia has ratified the CRC, the OPSC, the Trafficking Protocol and the ILO Convention No. 182.
Malaysia has not ratified the OPIC, the UNWTO Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics and the Council of Europe's Lanzarote and Budapest Conventions.
ECO Malaysia, 2019
Child Advocacy Centers
Partial
Initiatives similar to a Child Advocacy Centre have been established in Malaysia such as the Victim Care Centre and Child Interview Centres in every state under the Sexual Crime and Children Division (D11) to provide emotional support for the child while collecting evidence to be used in court.
No information found on whether these centres are currently and effectively functioning.
ECO Malaysia, 2019
SEC Police Unit
Partial
The main police unit including SEC in its mandate is the Sexual Crime and Children Division, also called D11 which also includes the Internet Crime Against Children Investigations Unit (MICAC).
It is unclear whether both offences under national and extra-territorial jurisdiction are able to be addressed by these units.
DH Desk-based research Malaysia, 2020
Protection Standards Travel and Tourism
No
There are no child protection standards for the travel and tourism industry in place.
SECTT Legal Checklist Malaysia, 2020
Public SEC Case Data
No
Data on SEC cases is not publicly available.
ECO Malaysia, 2019
Age of Consent Law is Appropriate
The age of sexual consent for both males and females is 18 and a close in age exemption (up to 3 years) is provided for consensual sexual relationships between adolescents.
The age of sexual consent is the legally defined age at which a person is considered mature enough to agree to sexual activity. The age of sexual consent varies across jurisdictions around the world and there is no international legal instrument establishing it, however various forms of advocacy have encouraged States to establish a minimum age under which engaging in sexual contact is considered a criminal offence. This is intended to prevent sexual contact with children and to prevent argument that the child consented as a defence.
Often national provisions related to the age of sexual consent include an exception, known as a close-in-age exemption, making consensual sexual activities between young people lawful if the partners are of similar ages and the age difference is not higher than a certain number of years.
To ensure that cases of child sexual exploitation do not go unpunished, ECPAT advocates for the age of sexual consent to be set at 18 for both males and females with a close-in-age exemption of 2-3 years provided in order to ensure young people are not penalised for consensual sexual acts with peers. The age from which the exemption applies should be established by States but may begin for young people somewhere between 12 and 16 years of age.
Yes The national legislation explicitly indicates that the age of sexual consent unequivocally is 18 for both males and females, with a close-in-age exemption for sexual acts between peers (of up to 3 years) is provided by law.