‘Spreading awareness of sexual harassment among students through talks’
KUCHING: Talks related to sexual harassment are being held in schools to spread awareness among students of inappropriate behaviours, said federal Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.
She said she was aware of several sexual harassment cases involving student victims happening in Sarawak and she believed many more such cases had gone unreported.
“In reality, the perpetrators in many of these sexual harassment cases are members of the student’s own family and the victims did not know how to seek help,” she said to reporters a er officiating at a ‘Back to School’ programme held at a community hall in Kampung Tanjong Bako here yesterday.
Bearing this in mind, the Santubong MP said her ministry in collaboration with several organisations had been conducting talks on sexual harassment, in 21 schools across her constituency.
Commenting on the recent se ing up of a tribunal for antisexual harassment, Nancy said the body had been operational since the end of last year, with the tribunal temporarily conducting its proceedings at the ministry’s office in Putrajaya, as the main building was under renovation.
“I must say the tribunal offers an alternative for victims of sexual harassment to seek compensation for the ordeal that they experienced.
“Before this, such cases were handled as criminal cases under the Sexual Offences Act,” she said, pointing out sexual harassment would now be treated as a civil case before the tribunal.
In this regard, she added that the relevant officers were currently undergoing training and up-skilling to manage sexual harassment cases.
Nancy also said she had personally requested for one panellist each to be appointed from Sabah and Sarawak when conducting proceedings to ease the management of cases involving the interests of the Borneo states.
On a separate ma er, Nancy said she was working with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof on the return of a Sarawakian and her two children from the Philippines, where the mother’s passport was withheld by the immigration authority a er she failed to pay the penalty for overstaying in the country.