ERA Consumer Malaysia is a voluntary, non-profit and non-political organisation registered under the Societies Act of Malaysia 1966. It was founded in the state of Perak in 1985 as a research, education and consumer and human rights advocacy group and subsequently expanded into a national organisation, now based in Kuala Lumpur.

ERA Consumer’s early success was getting the national Consumer Protection Act passed. However our evolving work in this area, and our increasing capabilities to train and conduct community trainings, naturally led ERA Consumer to an expanded portfolio of programs. This includes sustained human rights education programs.

ERA Consumer is the only organisation in the country to have translated various United Nations (UN) instruments on human rights into the national language, Bahasa Malaysia or the Malay language. These documents have been disseminated to all the public libraries in the country, the libraries of colleges and universities, foreign diplomatic missions, to a number of foreign NGOs and to the resource centres of local political parties so that they have access to these documents in the language that is most widely used in Malaysia.

In 1999, together with the Canadian Human Rights Foundation, ERA Consumer organised a workshop on a training program for NGOs in supporting the investigative functions of the SUHAKAM. The following year, soon after Parliament passed an Act to establish SUHAKAM, we organised a workshop involving NGO’s on “Understanding the HRC Act”.   Subsequently, ERA has held National Consultations annually to assess the performance of SUHAKAM.

For the year 2003, ERA has continued with its efforts to educate the public on human rights. Continuous human rights training programs targeting women and youth have been conducted all over the country. To date ERA have trained 8,000 members of the public on human rights since 1998.  Many of whom are members of political parties that we are certain will share the information that been provided to them with the other members of their party. Besides that ERA has also organised further training for participants paying emphasis on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Training programs are ongoing projects for ERA and it is conducted throughout the year.

Besides education and awareness programs, ERA is also involved in grass root level community projects. We at ERA recognise the need to empower community members of the ethnic minority. We have been selected by the European Union to carry out the setting up of community centres to empower and educate the Indian community in the rural areas. In the course of this project, we have built linkages with community leaders, the grass root community members as well as lesser-known NGO’s.

ERA Consumer is also a member of the Working Group for the ASIAN Human Rights Mechanism. This Working Group is an informal coalition of individuals and groups within the ASIAN region who are working with government institutions and NGOs in the field of human rights. The Working Group’s primary objective is the establishment of an inter-governmental human rights mechanism in Southeast Asia.

On an International level, ERA Consumer is a member of Forum Asia. ERA also works with the Canadian Human Rights Foundation and AsiaDHRRA (Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas, a coalition of South and East Asian NGOs working in the area of farmer’s rights), Consumer International, South East Asian Council for Food Security and Fair Trade, on food security and trade issues at a regional level.

In the area of standards, ERA Consumer acts as the consumer watchdog on the government panel working on the adoption of standards set by the International Standards Organisation. On Consumer protection issues, ERA Consumer collaborates with the Federation of Malaysian Consumer Association (FOMCA), the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs and the Regional Office of the United Nations Development Program on environmental issues.

ERA Consumer Malaysia – Human Rights Desk

Human Rights Desk of ERA Consumer Malaysia focuses on following values;

• participation

• empowerment of youth, community leaders, political leaders and indigenous people

• respect for human rights – diversity and mutual respect

Mission
To promote and raise human rights awareness towards building empowered communities who are able to assert confidently and participate effectively in issues related to their daily lives.

Vision
A society that demands for accountable governance and social justice

Focus

ERA Consumer Malaysia’s programs are designed and implemented to nurture alternative people centered development initiatives at the community level through participatory accountable governance, socio-economic, sustainable agriculture and ecological endeavors to facilitate access and management of resources for people to develop their full potentials and expand their choices in accordance with their needs and interests.

ERA Consumer’s focus has been:

• Research

It is a community based think tank to generate knowledge, information and innovation to support consumer information, education, protection and sustainable people centred development process.

• Advocacy

Campaigns through policy inputs, seminars and media dissemination for consumer protection legislation, strengthening the position of women and children and sustaining the environment.

• Empowerment

Developing projects in partnership with vulnerable communities such as workers, farmers, indigenous, children and women. Our current empowerment agenda focuses on The Self Reliant Community Project for rural poor farmers, consumers, indigenous communities on sustainable livelihood and consumption with equitable access to basic needs through health, consumer education programs.

• Networking

ERA CONSUMER MALAYSIA networks with a wide range of organizations at the local, national, regional and international level to build and enhance solidarity in the social development arena.

• Documentation

Publication of books, reports and articles relating to Consumer Laws, Trade, Food Security, Accountable Governance and Human Rights to be used as reference and lobbying tools.

• Sustainable Practices

Promoting sustainable lifestyles through sustainable livelihood and consumption of rural and vulnerable communities to strengthen access to credit, adequate, safe and nutritious food and able to manage natural resources in a sustainable manner.

ERA Consumer Malaysia – Education & Research Association For Consumers Malaysia