KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia plans to issue identification cards to refugees who are recognised by the United Nations, allowing them to stay in the country temporarily and avoid arrest as illegal immigrants.
Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Mahmood Adam said the Government would work with the UN refugee agency to issue the cards so that immigration enforcement personnel would recognise and spare UN-designated refugees.
“As long as they are recognised as refugees by the UN, they can stay here temporarily,” he said yesterday.
“They cannot work here, but they can do odd jobs.”
He could not give an exact time-line but said the initiative was in the “final stage.”
According to the UN agency, about 75,600 refugees and asylum-seekers were in Malaysia as of November last year. Most fled persecution in Myanmar.
Yante Ismail, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, welcomed the development.
“Proper documentation for refugees is essential to their protection,” she said.
All of the refugees in Malaysia are waiting to be resettled to a third country that officially accepts refugees. — AP
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