The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child chairperson Jaap Doek called on the Malaysian government to submit its country report on the status of children's rights.

"I don't know why the Malaysian government did not submit the report. They should have submitted it nine years ago. But I don't think the Malaysian government wants to hide anything," he said when met after a luncheon for media editors in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said Malaysia is one of the eight out of 192 signatories of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which has not submitted the report.

The CRC is an international treaty that recognizes the human rights of children, ensuring that all children without discrimination in any form benefit from special protection measures and assistance and have access to services such as education and health care.

Malaysia has ratified the CRC in 1995 and thus obliged to submit regular reports to the committee.

The committee will then review and comment on the reports and encourages governments to take special measures to develop special institution for the promotion and protection of children's rights.

Children trafficking

Doek said he understands that the report is now with Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail's office and will be submitted soon.

Compared to the other 192 countries, Doek said that Malaysia is in good standing as the country has performed well in terms of health and education programmes for the children.

In his keynote address earlier, he said children trafficking is a cross-border business and thus requires co-operations between countries in the region.

"Police forces, prosecutors will have to work together. Good cooperation is necessary," he added.