International Bridges to Justice is delighted to congratulate JusticeMakers Fellow Yasmeen Muhammad Shariff, as she becomes the first Malaysian to be elected to the United Nations’ Committee of the Rights of the Child (CRC) on Tuesday.

Yasmeen, who has been involved in improving the juvenile justice system by introducing alternatives to custody, conducting legal aid clinics for children in conflict with the law at prisons and remand centers, became a JusticeMakers Fellow in 2010. Since then, IBJ has been able to support her work in bringing reform to the Criminal Justice System in Malaysia.

Yasmeen, 55, is the principal and managing partner of Yasmeen Hajar & Hairudin. She garnered an overwhelming 150 votes from 189 State Parties present at the meeting.

Yasmeen hails from Kuala Lumpur and has a masters degree in Comparative Law from International Islamic University and Bachelor of Law from United Kingdom’s University of Buckingham. She has a vast experience in Syariah and Civil law.

The 2010 JusticeMakers Fellow is also a trained and certified full-fledged family mediator from the United States University of Florida, has been appointed by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry as a member of the National Advisory of Consultative Council on Children, National Coordination Council for The Protection of Children since 2006, National Women’s Advisory Council (2001- 2013) and Special Committee on Child Friendly Place of Detention (2010-2012).