Dr Farah Nini Dusuki is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya and has been a faculty member since December 2007. Prior to that she had served the Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws, International Islamic University for 15 years, since having obtained her LL.B and Masters of Comparative Laws. She obtained her PhD from Cardiff University, Wales, United Kingdom in 2002 with a thesis on the socio-legal analysis on protecting children from child abuse and neglect. Her wider research interest includes, and is not limited to criminal justice, child justice, protection of adolescents in sexual reproductive health issues and the implementation and enforcement of children’s rights in Malaysia. Her background in both civil and Islamic law has put her in good stead in approaching child-related issues from both perspectives. Her recent works, both unpublished and published relates to the rights of children in more specific issues such child abuse and neglect, stateless children, corporal punishment, child marriage, teenage pregnancies and abortion and alternatives to custodial orders for children in conflict with the law, particularly diversion and restorative justice approaches.

Dr Farah has experience in securing and conducting both medium and small-scale funded research projects and consultancy projects, both locally and internationally. She was the key local legal consultant in the Malaysian Social Work Reform Project (2009-2011) and produced the first draft of the Profession of Social Work Bill. Since 2004 she has been involved in the various reform efforts to the Child Act 2001 with the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development which led to the passing of the Child (Amendment) Act 2016. She was appointed by the British Institute of Comparative and Criminal Law (BICCL) as the National Rapporteur for the Comparative Research on the Rights of the Child in Muslim States (May-July 2009) and was invited to present the outcome in London in 2010. She has been a registered consultant with UNICEF Malaysia since 2006 and was responsible in not less than seven consultancy projects so far, the most recent being the National Consultant for the Country Led Evaluation of Child Justice Reform:The Diversion Pilot. Regionally, she was appointed as the National Researcher for the Baseline Study on the Status of Child Participation in the ASEAN and the Member States (2017) and the National Specialist for the drafting of the Guidelines for the Protection of TIP Victims of ASEAN and the Member States (2017-2018). Her appointment (by the Prime Minister) to the Special Committee on the Study on Alternative Punishment to the Mandatory Death Sentence has led to the drafting of the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Bill.

Her mastery of theoretical components of child law is largely complemented by both international and industry linkages. Dr Farah is a member of the Asia Pacific Council on Juvenile Justice Observatory, based in Belgium. She was a member of the National Advisory and Consultative Council for Child Protection, Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development since 2007 (now renamed as the National Council for Children) and a member of numerous other committees with the same Ministry, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education. Notably, she sits on the National Technical Committee on Adolescent Health and contributed to the drafting on two important documents, one, a manual on the Management of Sexual Reproductive Health of Adolescents (2009-2012) and two, the National Plan of Action for Adolescent Health. She has been working closely with the police, prison authorities and the Division for Children of the Ministry with a view to improve the child justice system. In 2012 Dr. Farah had collaborated with Voice of Children (funded by Khazanah Nasional) in developing training manuals and conducting specialised trainings of lawyers, magistrates and judges. In September 2015, by the appointment by the Federal Court Registry, she had trained 40 Magistrates of the country on Child Justice System and in November 2015, she conducted a higher-level training of the Sessions Court judges on the same area, albeit with different emphasis owing to the different jurisdiction possessed by the latter. In October 2017, she was appointed by the Office of the Federal Court to be part of the Working Committee to draft the Inter-Agency Guidelines for the Management of Child Sexual Abuse Cases.

She is an enthusiastic teacher and has teaching experience in a wide variety of subjects such as Criminal Procedure, Child Justice System, Administration of Criminal Justice, Child Law, Law of Contract, Remedies, Malaysian Legal System and Legal Method. She was awarded the Excellent Teacher’s Award from the International Islamic University Malaysia in 2004. She introduced Child Law as an elective to the undergraduates upon joining UM. Keen to enhance the quality of the teaching and learning experience for both learners and instructors, Dr Farah has undergone various trainings on the area and frequently invited by the other law schools in the country, initially on problem-based learning and more recently on aspects of active learning and assessment to satisfy the Outcome-Based Education requirements. To improve the legal skills for the undergraduates, Dr Farah was the co-leader of a team to introduce Legal Method in its current practical form to the first year students in AIKOL and subsequently introduced the same at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya. She had completed six PhD supervisions between 2009 till 2022 and as an external examiner, had examined eight PhD theses on both criminal justice and child law.

In summary, Dr Farah’s journey spanning over 30 years both academically and as a staunch child advocate is indicative of her passion to bring about change for children in the corridors of knowledge and governance.  She has contributed richly and passionately in various fields of legal studies, particularly in the areas of child law, criminal justice and the advancement of teaching and learning the law and has led to her being a sought after speaker throughout the country on these areas. As a specialist in many matters pertaining to children and criminal justice, she is honoured to be assisting four Ministries, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry for Women, Family and Community Development, the Ministry of Education and most recently the Prime Minister’s Office. These involvements provide the dual advantage of effecting policy and legislative change at the highest levels, as well as provide opportunities to train key official stakeholders on children's rights/issues.