Amnesty to Malaysia: Protect refugees from torture

Human rights group Amnesty International on Wednesday urged Malaysia to protect refugees from arrest, detention, extortion and torture, saying they should be allowed to live in dignity while waiting for resettlement.

The appeal came as the Malaysian government said it has shelved a plan to issue identification cards to refugees, which would have spared them from arrest and detention.
Almost 90,000 refugees, mainly from military-run Myanmar, live in Malaysia after fleeing persecution in their countries, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Malaysia has refused to recognize them and has not signed the U.N. convention on refugees for fear of attracting a flood of migrants.
Although Malaysia recently agreed in principle to let refugees stay in the country temporarily, the lack of a proper verification system often leads to refugees being arrested, even if briefly. Asylum seekers, who have not yet been assessed by the U.N., are treated as illegal immigrants.
London-based Amnesty said in a report that Malaysia should stop criminalizing refugees and asylum-seekers, who can be arrested and convicted of immigration offenses to face prison terms and up to six strokes with a rattan cane that leaves scars.
"Refugees should be able to live in dignity while they are in Malaysia. The government should move immediately to issue refugees official ID cards and grant them the right to work," said Chris Nash, head of refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty.
Earlier this year, Malaysia said it will allow refugees to stay in the country temporarily until the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees can resettle them in third countries where they would have the right to work and education.
But such resettlement takes years with some 8,000 being relocated annually.
"Despite recent government promises, they face the daily prospect of being arrested, detained in squalid conditions, and tortured and otherwise ill-treated, including by caning," said the 20-page report titled "Abused and Abandoned: Refugees Denied Rights in Malaysia."
The report is based on research during visits to Malaysia in July 2009 and March 2010.
Refugees say they often pay off authorities, who refuse to recognize their U.N.-issued cards, to avoid getting arrested.
"The police have stopped me very often, and have robbed me also. ... But if we can pay them money, they will let us go. Sometimes they check all out pockets. What we have, they take," the report quoted an unidentified male refugee as saying.
Another unidentified woman said she feared her 12-year-old daughter would be sexually harassed.
"Local men have tried to take her twice already. ... I went to the police but they have done nothing. How can I protect my daughter?" she said in the report.
Senior Home Ministry official Raja Azahar Raja Abdul Manap said his office had heard of cases of extortion but did not receive enough details to investigate.
He said it was not clear if such cases involved authorities or people posing as law enforcers. "If we have some lead, we are going to investigate. ... We take immediate action," he told The Associated Press.
Raja Azahar also said the government shelved the plan to issue ID cards to refugees because that would be against the law. He did not say why the government did not realize this when it announced earlier this year that it would give IDs to U.N.-recognized refugees.
He said the government was, however, considering allowing them to work but no time frame has been set.
"We know that these refugees, they have to live ... (but) we don't want this to become a pull factor," he said. He acknowledged that refugees forced to work illegally to eek out a living were in danger of being exploited.

Amnesty Calls for Refugee Rights in Malaysia

International human rights group Amnesty International (AI) on Tuesday called on the Malaysian government to provide better rights to the country's refugees—most of whom are Burmese.

In a report titled “Abused and Abandoned: Refugees Denied Rights in Malaysia,” released ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20, the London-based organization said that refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia are frequently subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention in appalling conditions, caning, extortion, human trafficking and deportation back to the persecution that they fled.

An invitation to participate in World Refugee Day on Sunday in Chiang Mai.

The report documents the plight of refugees and asylum seekers who have reached Malaysia, where they are refused legal recognition, basic protection and the right to work by the Malaysian authorities.

“Refugees should be able to live with dignity while they are in Malaysia,” said Chris Nash, the head of refugee and migrant rights at AI. “The government should move immediately to issue refugees official ID cards and grant them the right to work.”

In February, Malaysian Home Secretary Hishammuddin Hussein proposed the introduction of government ID cards for UN-recognized refugees, and stated that refugees should be able to take on “odd jobs,”' though not be entitled to full rights to work. However, no concrete steps have been taken to introduce the ID cards since then, the rights group pointed out.

Malaysian government ID cards would give refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia some immediate protection from arbitrary detention, harassment and extortion by police and the People's Volunteer Corps (RELA), who routinely refuse to recognize cards issued by the UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR.

“There is a long way to go for Malaysia on refugee rights, but government-issued ID cards are a start,” said Nash. “This is the right time for Malaysia to take this very simple, but concrete and positive step that will make a huge difference to the lives of tens of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers in the country.”

A media officer who works voluntarily with the China Refugee Center in Malaysia said that arrests, detentions and extortion are daily problems for refugees because they are not officially recognized by the Malaysian government which is not a signatory to the UN's 1951 Refugee Convention.

“If the government signs the Refugee Convention, the refugees can fully receive their rights,” he added.

Aung Naing Thu, a Burmese activist in Malaysia, said that Burmese opposition members and activists who stay in Malaysia face difficulties in organizing political activities.

“We have to ask the Malaysian government for permission if we want to hold an event,” he said. “If we try to stage an event without their permission we will be arrested.”

Kyaw Kyaw, the chairman of the National League for Democracy-Liberation Area (NLD-LA) in Malaysia, said a special crackdown against illegal aliens that was launched by the Malaysian immigration, police and RELA is the most dangerous predicament for illegal Burmese refugees, migrant workers and activists who say raids can be launched anywhere and at any time. RELA continues to operate in a climate of impunity, despite recent Malaysian government assurances that the organization will cease to be involved in immigration enforcement, said AI.

While Malaysia accepts the presence of hundreds of thousands of Burmese and other migrants within the workforce, persons identified as refugees and asylum seekers on their way to a third country are viewed as threats to national security, according to a report titled “Trafficking and Extortion of Burmese Migrants in Malaysia and Southern Thailand” released by the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

In addition, a report released this week by the US Department of State titled “Trafficking in Persons” also confirmed that RELA arbitrarily detains refugees and asylum-seekers, and is involved in trafficking.

Refugees were particularly vulnerable to trafficking and there was limited progress in convicting traffickers despite government efforts, said the report.
In an interview with The New York Times, RELA's Director-General Zaidon Asmuni said, “We have no more Communists at the moment, but we are now facing illegal immigrants. As you know, in Malaysia, illegal immigrants are enemy No.

There are 84,200 refugees and asylum seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia, while there are at least 500,000 unregistered migrants. More than 90 percent of the registered refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia are from Burma, according to AI.

Many of the approximately 40,000 Burmese refugees who have resettled in the United States since 1995 have come via Malaysia, according to the report by the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

AI also called on third countries to increase their resettlement of refugees currently in Malaysia.

Resettlement provides a small number of refugees with the opportunity to rebuild their lives in countries such as Australia, Canada, the United States and in Europe. However, there has been a notable lack of resettlement of the Muslim Rohingya people who are from Burma, said the rights group.

Meanwhile, rights groups in Chiang Mai, Thailand, will hold an event to mark World Refugee Day on June 20, which will include a World Refugee Day film and a short discussion about refugees and migrant workers in Thailand.

Burmese refugees in Thailand are mostly ethnic Karen who fled from their hometown in Karen State due to human rights abuses suffered at the hands of the Burmese army.

According to the most recent figures from Thailand-based Karen Human Rights Group, more than 60,000 villagers remain displaced and in hiding in the jungle in Karen State as combined troops from Burma's government forces and the breakaway Karen rebels, Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, become have become more active in southern Papun District and northern Pa-an District since May 2009. 

Malaysia: Refugees arrested, abused and denied right to work

The Malaysian government should give refugees in the country the right to work, Amnesty International said today as it revealed a litany of abuses suffered by refugees in Malaysia, the vast majority of whom are from Burma.

Released ahead of World Refugee Day on 20 June, the report ‘Abused and Abandoned: Refugees Denied Rights in Malaysia’ documents the plight of refugees and asylum-seekers who have reached Malaysia, where they are refused legal recognition, protection, or the right to work.

“Refugees should be able to live with dignity while they are in Malaysia. The government should move immediately to issue refugees official ID cards and grant them the right to work,” said Chris Nash, Head of Refugee and Migrant Rights at Amnesty International.

Refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia are subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention in appalling conditions, caning, extortion, human trafficking and deportation back to the persecution that they fled.

In February, Malaysian Home Secretary Hishamuddin Hussein proposed the introduction of government ID cards for UN-recognised refugees, and stated that refugees should be able to take on ‘odd jobs’ but not have the full right to work. However, no concrete steps have been taken to introduce the ID cards since then.

Government ID cards would give refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia some immediate protection from arbitrary detention, harassment and extortion by police and the People’s Volunteer Corps (RELA), who routinely refuse to recognise cards issued by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The Malaysian volunteer police force RELA continues to operate in a climate of impunity, despite recent government assurances that the organisation would cease to be involved in immigration enforcement.

The US Department of State 2010 ‘Trafficking in Persons’ report confirmed this week that RELA arbitrarily detains refugees and asylum-seekers, that “refugees were particularly vulnerable to trafficking”, and that despite government efforts, there was limited progress in convicting traffickers.

Amnesty International acknowledges that in the last year Malaysian officials have stopped handing refugees and asylum seekers to human traffickers operating on the Thai-Malaysian border.

“There is a long way to go for Malaysia on refugee rights, but government-issued ID cards are a start. This is the right time for Malaysia to take this very simple, but concrete and positive step that will make a huge difference to the lives of tens of thousands of refugees and asylum-seekers in the country,” said Chris Nash.

Amnesty International is urging the government to continue to improve refugee policies, including by building on its cooperation with the UNHCR instructing law enforcement agencies to stop detaining UNHCR card-holders.

It also urges other countries to increase their resettlement of refugees currently in Malaysia.

Resettlement provides a small number of refugees with the opportunity to rebuild their lives in countries such as Australia, Canada, the United States and in Europe. However, there has been a notable lack of resettlement of the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority from Burma.

Background

Malaysia has not ratified the Refugee Convention, and refugees and asylum seekers are treated as irregular or undocumented workers under Malaysian law. UNHCR is the only authority in the country that recognises refugees and offers them any assistance.

There are 84,200 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia, although the numbers of unregistered people in similar circumstances are estimated to be over twice that.

Over 90% of registered refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia are from Burma.

Burmese ‘second highest’ asylum seekers

Date: 21 Jun 2010

By FRANCIS WADE
Nearly 50,000 Burmese nationals last year applied for asylum with the UN refugee agency, around three-quarters of these in Malaysia alone.
The figures released by the UN's refugee agency rank Burma as the world's second-highest country in terms of the number of people who sought asylum in 2008-2009. Zimbabwe was by far the highest, with 158,200, while Burma counted 48,600, Eritrea 43,300 and Ethiopia 42,500.
Malaysia received the largest number of new requests from any nationality, with 40,000 people last year lodging asylum claims. Of these, 37,600 people were from Burma. Burmese nationals also had one of the highest Total Recognition Rates (TRR), with 80 to 90 percent of asylum claims granted out of a world total of 47 percent.
At the end of 2009, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) counted 496,542 Burmese nationals of a 50 million-strong population as "people of concern", 42 percent of which are refugees documented by the UN. The UN also assists 67,290 internally displaced persons (IDPs), although there are estimates of more than one million IDPs spread across the country.
By contrast, Iraq, with a population of less than 31 million, had more than 3.5 million "people of concern", while Afghanistan had 3.2 million and Pakistan three million.
The UNCHR's acknowledgement that the Burmese refugee count may be well below actual figures was echoed by David Mathieson, Burma consultant at Human Rights Watch.
"How many refugees flee into China and don't seek formal protection under the UNCHR?" he said. "How many refugees are unregistered in camps along the Thailand border? It's about 40,000. India too, and how many Rohingya in Bangladesh aren't formally registered?"
He said that one of the key problems for the UNHCR is that it "works through governments, and if governments put the impediments in its path then there's very little they can do. They could advocate harder, but then there's a balance between pushing hard and being kicked out of the country".
Concerns have arisen about the effect that Burma's elections later this year will have on the flow of refugees out of the country. Aid groups have warned that the government's attempts to bring ethnic ceasefire armies under the wing of the Burmese military may result in fighting, which could then trigger an exodus of refugees across the border.
But, said Mathieson, the connection between refugee flows and the elections may be misguided. "If there's fighting, then yes, but is that to do with the elections or is it just one part of the elections which is the border security?" he said. "I think they're connected, but not intimately connected."
What might instead happen, he argued, is that migrant workers living in neighbouring countries could return to Burma prior to the elections in order to lodge their vote. "Some people I've spoken to say they'll go back to vote, or be seen to vote, at least to get their name put down so they or their families don't get in trouble," he said.

When can we commemorate World Refugee Day?

23 June, 2010

By Eric Paulsen

Refugees are defined as people who are unable to return to their home countries due to fear of persecution, war or conflict, and they are entitled under international law to protection and assistance. It estimates there are 90,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia and the government does not generally recognise refugees but treats them like “illegal” migrants.

IT was heartening to see the whole world condemning the Israeli attack on the aid flotilla bound for Gaza. While the Palestinians’ struggle for a homeland deserves all the international aid, support and solidarity – we must not turn a blind eye to others with a similar or even worse plight than the Palestinians.

Refugees are defined as people who are unable to return to their home countries due to fear of persecution, war or conflict, and they are entitled under international law to protection and assistance. The Palestinians make up a substantial number – 4.8 million refugees from the total 15.2 million refugees worldwide as of end 2009, according to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.

It estimates there are 90,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia. As of January last year, only 36,671 refugees and 9,323 asylum seekers were registered with UNHCR in Malaysia. This registration affords them only a small measure of protection as the government does not generally recognise refugees but treats them like “illegal” migrants.

The majority, some 90% are from Myanmar.

Myanmar refugees (Source: asianews.it)

World Refugee Day on June 20 saw little or no improvement to the lives of refugees in Malaysia. Refugees are still treated as undocumented migrants and subjected to harsh immigration laws and policies.

Without documents, they are unable to work legally and live in perpetual fear of raids, arrest and harassment. Consequently, they live in the margins of society, constantly in hiding, and living in poverty.

When arrested they are detained at detention centres for several months (sometimes even years) before being charged, jailed, whipped (men only) and deported, mainly to the Thai border – and some find themselves sold to human traffickers.

In May and September last year, eight Myanmar detainees died in two detention centres due to Leptospirosis, an infectious disease caused by water or food contaminated with animal urine. Detention conditions are deplorable and inhumane – overcrowding, sweltering, lack bedding, poor hygiene and sanitation, insufficient and poor quality food, irregular access to clean water and medical treatment, all of which fall far short of minimum international standards. Serious abuse by detention centre staff is also common, including arbitrary beatings.

Then Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar reported to Parliament that between 1999 and 2008, there were 2,571 detainee deaths in prisons, rehabilitation centres and immigration detention centres. In December 2008, former SUHAKAM Commissioner Datuk Siva Subramaniam said 1,300 foreigners died in detention during the past six years due to lack of medical treatment and neglect.

How can we be blind to this serious ill-treatment of foreigners including refugees at our own doorstep when we can see and act on the injustice perpetrated on the Palestinians many thousand miles away?

Can we be principled and take human rights including refugee protection seriously and consistently? Refugees irrespective of their nationality (religion, ethnicity, political opinion, etc.) must be afforded international protection and we cannot pick and choose who we want to assist and who we want to abuse, detain or deport.

Refugees are real people with real needs. At the very minimum, they need clean water, food, sanitation, shelter, health care and protection from violence and abuse. Can we not provide that? Can we not help them so they have a chance to rebuild their lives, and hopefully one day return to their home countries as preferred by most refugees?

The answer is “Yes”. After the December 2004 tsunami in Aceh, the government on humanitarian grounds issued the IMM13 work and residence permits to some 30,000 Acehnese who were then seeking refuge in Malaysia. The temporary protection ended in 2008 following the success of the peace accord in Aceh.

But most of the time, the government’s answer is “No”. The Rohingyas/Burmese Muslims were also supposed to be issued with the IMM13 permit in August 2006. But after some allegations of fraud and corruption, the Home Ministry suspended the scheme. About 5,000 Rohingyas had by then registered with the Immigration Department where they paid RM90 registration fee but no IMM13 permits were issued.

The government has refused to sign the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (144 countries have signed up) ie the key UN legal document that defines who is a refugee, their rights and legal obligation of state parties. Malaysia?s refusal to sign the convention should not however absolve them from not recognising refugees as a special category of vulnerable persons in need of temporary protection as it is bound by other international human rights laws and standards including customary international law that prohibits refoulement (forced expulsion) and torture.

If Malaysia wants to be taken seriously when speaking on human rights issues, it must act consistently for the protection and respect for all human rights wherever they occur.

Instead of mistreating refugees, the government should provide them with documents, basic humanitarian assistance, access to social services, a chance to work and educate their children, so that they can lead a semblance of a dignified life while they are in our country. And when the time comes, they are able to return to their home countries or resettled in third countries, hopefully in a better condition than they were when they first arrived.

In February, Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Mahmood Adam announced plans to issue identification cards to refugees recognised by UNHCR that would entitle them to stay temporarily in the country and perform odd jobs. This plan if implemented properly will be a landmark moment in refugee protection ? and finally, a real reason for Malaysia to commemorate World Refugee Day.

Eric Paulsen is a member of Lawyers for Liberty, a newly formed human rights and law reform initiative.

Foundation and Czech Embassy Join to Help Myanmar Refugees in Malaysia

Thu, 06 May 2010 Tzu Chi Foundation

Witnessing by the UNHCR’s representative in Malaysia, Alan Vernon (center), the Czech embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Jan Fury (left), and Tzu Chi sign a 'memorandum of understanding. (Photo by Chen Hui-ying)

The Tzu Chi chapter in Kuala Lumpur signed an agreement with the Czech embassy in the Malaysian capital to co-operate in improving six schools for refugee children from Myanmar.

Since 2004, the chapter has formed a partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to co-operate in providing health care and education to some of the thousands of Myanmar refugees in Malaysia. As of January, there were 79,300 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UNHCR in Malaysia, some 90 percent of whom were Burmese––mostly Chin and Rohingya ethnic minorities. In addition, up to 30,000 Burmese migrants are unregistered, according to the UNHCR.

Over the past six years, the U.N. agency became aware of the spirit and culture of Tzu Chi and introduced its volunteers to the Czech embassy in Kuala Lumpur. (Photo by Chen Hui-ying)

Over the past six years, the U.N. agency became aware of the spirit and culture of Tzu Chi and introduced its volunteers to the Czech embassy in Kuala Lumpur. This led the two sides to sign a 'memorandum of understanding' at the UNHCR office to improve educational facilities at six refugee schools. Alan Vernon, the agency’s representative in Malaysia, said that they had been working with the Czech government to help them identify a partner that could implement humanitarian projects. "We are very happy that the Tzu Chi Foundation can step in and do this work,” he said.

Embassy official Jan Fury said that he had been impressed by all of Tzu Chi’s programs and delighted that it was the NGO selected for this project. “There are countries and people around the world who need our help and we need to support them as much as we can,” he said. In addition, his embassy made a donation toward the cost of medical expenses as free clinics for refugees.

With this new support and joint concern, the refugees in Malaysia can look forward to a better future.

Report slams Malaysia's refugee record

Refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia are subjected to widespread abuse and extortion, and live in constant fear they will be deported to countries where they face persecution, a new report says.

The international community, including Australia, should encourage Malaysia to ratify the Refugee Convention to ensure asylum seekers are better protected, the Amnesty International report says.

Countries such as Australia should also increase their resettlement of refugees currently in Malaysia, the report recommends.

There are 84,200 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Malaysia. NGOs estimate there could be a further 90,000 who are not registered.

For most, Malaysia proves to be an unwelcoming and dangerous place, the report says.

"They come to Malaysia seeking safety, having fled situations of torture, persecution or death threats," it says.

"But once they arrive, they are abused, exploited, arrested and locked up, in effect treated like criminals."

Malaysian police and the People's Volunteer Corps arbitrarily detain, extort and beat refugees and asylum seekers, the report says.

Conditions inside Malaysia's detention centres are appalling and abuse is commonplace.

"Many are held for months without access to lawyers and with no way of appealing against their detention."

What's more, refugees and asylum seekers face the constant fear of being forced to return to a country where they may be stripped of their rights or even killed, the report says.

Malaysia must provide refugees and asylum seekers with formal legal status, identity documents and the formal right to work, the report recommends.

Every Refugee has the Right to Reproductive Health

World Refugee Day Press Release

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 18—At this moment, more than 65 million refugees, asylum seekers, stateless and
internally displaced persons have been uprooted from their homes due to conflict, persecution and natural disaster.
Approximately three-quarters of them are women, youth and children. In displaced and refugee settings, simple tasks
such as fetching firewood or going to the latrine can place women and girls at increased risk of sexual violence. Loss of
basic health services in refugee settings exposes women and girls to greater risk of pregnancy related death, ill health,
unwanted pregnancy and HIV transmission. Sexual and reproductive health problems persist to be the leading cause of
women’s ill health and death worldwide. Despite this, these needs are routinely ignored in displaced settings.
“Although progress has been made in advancing reproductive health in conflict and disasters, displaced women and
girls continue to be raped, contract HIV and die in childbirth,” said Dr Anna Whelan, IPPF-ESEAOR’s Regional Director.
“This is simply unacceptable.”
This Sunday June 20th, IPPF-ESEAOR is celebrating World Refugee Day by acknowledging the rights of all refugees and
internally displaced people to access sexual and reproductive health services. International law emphasizes the link
between the universal right to health and providing access to reproductive health care to all people, regardless of
citizenship- including the Geneva Conventions, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW); and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The International
Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) specifically includes the right of victims of sexual violence, in
displaced settings, to access adequate services. The weak implementation of these rights continues to cost lives and
cause ill health.
IPPF-ESEAOR and its partners work to address the sexual and reproductive health rights of refugees and displaced
people, in Malaysia, throughout the region and globally. Since 2009, IPPF’s member association, the Federation of
Reproductive Health Associations Malaysia (FRHAM), with funding from the Japanese Government, has been working
closely with Burmese refugees and community health workers, to deliver relevant and culturally sensitive outreach
services. Through the AusAID funded SPRINT Initiative, an inter-agency collaboration with IPPF, UNFPA, UNHCR, the
University of New South Wales and the Australian Reproductive Health Alliance, over 3,900 people in 68 countries
have been trained on how to address sexual and reproductive health in humanitarian emergencies. It has helped
respond to devastating natural disasters in Indonesia, Philippines and Myanmar. IPPF is proud to work with its partners
to help realize the sexual and reproductive health rights of refugees and displaced people around the world.
 

For more information, please contact:
Sarah Chynoweth. Programme Manager. SPRINT Initiative. SChynoweth@ippfeseaor.org . +6 012 978 8790

World – a hostile place for refugees

JUNE 20th was World Refugee Day. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), millions of people across the world are forced to flee their homes as a consequence of war and persecution and ethnic, tribal and religious violence.

They often leave everything they have behind and literally run for their lives. For most of us, it is hard to imagine what that must be like though there are no shortage of reminders. Just last week we witnessed heart-rending scenes on television of thousands of ethnic Uzbeks fleeing racial violence in Kyrgyzstan.

Unfortunately, the world is largely a hostile place for refugees. Many live in the shadows – unnoticed, exploited, abused, and unwelcomed.

It would be nice to say that things are different in Malaysia but they are not. Scattered across our nation are dozens of “detention centres,” our own little gulags, where thousands of refugees and illegal immigrants are incarcerated under appalling conditions.

They are deprived of even their most basic rights and endure countless indignities. Many are abused, suffer from malnutrition and die of disease. And, as even the government has acknowledged, they are often trafficked and sold into slavery as well, with the connivance of corrupt officials.

Unsurprisingly, riots break out from time to time in the camps. I suppose you can only push people so far before they break. These are not violent people, just desperate people.

Of course, there are no westerners detained in such camps for no western government would allow its citizens to be so treated, and neither would we dare treat them so. No, the camps are for those who have been abandoned by their own countries.

The vast majority in our camps, for example, are refugees fleeing repression and ethnic cleansing at the hands of Myanmar’s brutal military regime.

To our great shame, they find only hostility and further abuse here. Between 2002 and 2008, more than 4,800 Myanmar refugees were whipped for “immigration offences.” In reality, they were whipped simply for running away from the death and destruction that stalks them in their own land.

And the sad part is that these abuses have been going on for years as a consequence of official indifference and neglect.

In 1995, Irene Fernandez published a major report drawing attention to the abuse, torture and inhumane conditions in our detention centres. Instead of investigating conditions in the camps, the government of the day turned on Irene with a vengeance not often seen in our country. Irene endured nearly 13 years of harassment before she was finally acquitted by the High Court of the charge of maliciously publishing false news.

The 18th century English philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said that, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Good men in government did nothing about the abuse, and evil prevailed.

And it continues, as recent reports by Suaram, Amnesty International and others, clearly show. More Malaysians should take time to read the reports; they will be shocked to discover what is being done in their name.

When the government is prodded by international pressure or by negative publicity, action is quickly promised. Real change, however, is slow in coming.

In February this year, for example, the Home Ministry announced that the government was in the final stages of issuing identification cards to refugees so that they would get at least some recognition and protection. Unfortunately, “final stages” can last a very long time in Malaysia; the cards have still not been issued.

If there is political will and public support, surely it is not impossible to find a just solution to this problem. Surely a country that routinely takes in hundreds of thousands of contract workers can find a way to temporarily absorb the 80,000 to 100,000 refugees that now live in Malaysia. They might benefit our economy instead of being a drag on our international image and a blight on our conscience.

To be sure, the whole Myanmar refugee issue is a complex one and requires concerted action and coordination at the regional and international level. Malaysia should not be left to shoulder this problem alone. And certainly, national reconciliation in Myanmar is urgently needed, as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak recently pointed out.

At the end of the day, however, we have a responsibility under our own laws as well as under international humanitarian law to treat refugees with the care and compassion they deserve.

Malaysians make much about our faith in God. It is time we acted as men and women of faith. We must show mercy and compassion because we believe that God is compassionate and merciful. Our confession of faith is only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal if it is not matched by justice and compassion for these, the least of the least.

World Refugee Day has gone by without much fanfare but it is up to each and every Malaysian to give it meaning by sparing a thought for or lending a hand to help the refugees in our midst. It is up to us really if evil will triumph or not.

> Datuk Dennis Ignatius is a 36-year veteran of the Malaysian foreign service. He has served in London, Beijing and Washington and was ambassador to Chile and Argentina. He was twice Undersecretary for American Affairs. He retired as High Commissioner to Canada in July 2008.

Refugees in Malaysia: We need to do more

ALTHOUGH Malaysia has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention, it is a member of the Human Rights Council and the United Nations, and should be able to consider doing more than what is being done today for the refugees.

Jobs can be offered to the refugees on a part-time basis. Some of the jobs, such as cooks and part-time helpers, are easily available.

We should recognise the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees (UNHCR) cards as identification for the refugees. These would enable them to earn a decent living.

Non-governmental organisations can also open education centres to accommodate the children of refugees.

We must understand that most of these refugees are going to be here only for a short time.

Many of them have skills which can be used to overcome the shortage of skilled workers in some sectors.

The Malaysian Trades Union Congress and Malaysian Employers Federation can help and organise jobs for the refugees. Malaysians should be proud that our country is the only one with a UNHCR centre in this region. Even countries that talk so much of human rights do not allow UNHCR to establish their offices there.

DATUK N. SIVA SUBRAMANIAM
Executive director
Malaysia Tamil Forum

ex- Suhakam commissioner

Read more: Refugees in Malaysia: We need to do more http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/24hum/Article/index_html#ixzz0sGVCXw6U

Migrants in Malaysia

2008-02-08

 

Malaysia’s secret immigration prison near the Thai-Malay border (Blantik Camp). More than 120 Burmese are being detained here before deportation. Photo: RFA/Kyaw Min Htun

Baling, MALAYSIA—Burmese migrant workers in Malaysia live at the mercy of international human-trafficking gangs who sell them back and forth as slave labor with the full knowledge of Malaysian and Thai immigration officials, RFA's Burmese service reports.
Thousands and perhaps hundreds of thousands of Burmese find themselves stuck in a human rights no-man’s-land after losing their legal status, often because employers withhold passports or refuse to pay their return airfares.
“To tell the truth, we Burmese aren’t even as valuable as dogs in this country,” Burmese laborer Ko Chit Aye said. “Most of the time, Burmese people work in construction and on farms, but most employers cheat them. Most of them ask people to work without paying them money. Many of them don’t pay.”
To tell the truth, we Burmese aren’t even as valuable as dogs in this country.
In the murky world inhabited by thousands of Burmese in relatively prosperous Malaysia, there is scant protection for human rights as Malaysia doesn’t recognize key international agreements on the protection of refugees and foreign nationals. Nor does it apply to foreign migrants the same rights protections offered to Malaysian citizens.
Several secret jails or deportation camps exist around the country to hold foreign nationals found without papers. From there, officials take them to the Thai border, where trafficking gangs have close ties to Malaysian officials and have been tipped off to their arrival.
“Almost all agents, one way or the other, are politically connected,” said Malaysian legislator Kula Segaram, who is campaigning to boost legal protection of foreign migrant workers’ rights.

'It's big business'

Burmese workers and refugees in Alor Star, Kedah Province, Malaysia, where they worked and lived near a rubber plantation and a contruction. Photo: RFA/Kyaw Min Htun

“They are all in the human-trafficking business. It’s big business. Big money,” said Segaram, who confirmed reports throughout Malaysia from stranded and trafficked Burmese migrants who say they are hounded either by immigration militia or by human-trafficking gangs with connections at every level of Malaysian society.
“It’s because these agents and brokers are connected to the authorities in one way or another. They are all involved in the human-trafficking business. This is a very big business that is bringing in a lot of money. I’m talking about U.S. $500 per person. In Malaysia, there are 2 million illegal foreign workers. You can just calculate the income,” Segaram said.
Typically, a Burmese worker is recruited by agents at home with promises of a lucrative job and matched with an employer, who then withholds his or her passport.
Often, when their contract ends, the employer refuses to pay the worker’s return airfare, as employers are legally obliged to do. Instead, the Burmese worker is turned loose without documentation to live on the run, or is taken to a detention center to await deportation.

Right to raid homes, make arrests

A spokeswoman for the Malaysian human rights group Suaram said the government was making its own problems.
“The refugee problems in Malaysia are caused by Malaysian immigration. They are the main people who create these problems, and they don’t solve them,” the spokeswoman told reporter Kyaw Min Htun. “It’s because they’ve given the RELA militia group, which doesn’t deserve that much power, a lot of power and the right to raid homes and arrest people. That’s why the refugees are victimized,” she said.
RELA denotes the Ikatan Relawan Rakyat Malaysia, or Volunteers of the Malaysian People, a civil corps formed by the government whose primary responsibility is verifying travel documents and immigration permits held by foreigners.

A Burmese worker who came back after deportation from a Thai-Malay human trafficking syndicate by paying M R 2500 to come back to Malaysia. Photo: RFA/Kyaw Min Htun

RELA has authority to raid suspect premises and interrogate or detain people found without the proper documents. The U.S. State Department has described RELA as a corps of 440,000 citizens under the Home Affairs Ministry that accompanies police and immigration officials on raids.
“Following repeated media reports of alleged abusive behavior and inappropriate language by RELA members during raids, in February [2006] the Home Affairs Ministry stated that only a small minority of RELA members would be allowed to participate in operations against illegal migrants and that RELA officers remained prohibited from body searching a suspect,” it said.
While Malaysian immigration law provides for six months in prison and up to six strokes of the cane for immigration violations, “delays in processing travel documents led to the detention of many illegal immigrants in camps for more than a year,” the State Department said in its most recent report on human rights around the world.
International rights groups say the Malaysian government has done little to prevent the trade in human beings.
Calls to the Malaysian immigration department in Kuala Lumpur met with constant deferral of requests for interviews with officials in charge of illegal immigration.
Ko Kyaw Gi, a Burmese migrant worker who has spent time in an immigration prison, said detainees were given old rice and fish marinated in salt to eat. He said that if anyone spilled any rice, the guards would beat and kick them. Injuries among the detainees went largely untreated.
As well as Baling and Alor Star in Kedah state, detention camps exist at Linkay Smone Nyin near Kuala Lumpur and Jodhu prison in Penang.

Migrants 'thrown away'

Ko Aung Kyaw Set, a Burmese national in Malaysia, said the process by which illegal immigrants were handed over to human traffickers was known as “bwan,” or to be “thrown away.”
“They are sent to the border. There are those who get back. Some of them are sold to the [fishing] boats. I can tell you for sure that we’ve been in touch with many of those people. They told us that they didn’t have any money for their passage to Burma. They don’t have any money to return to Malaysia. While they are caught in between, human-trafficking agents who have bought them sell them to the boats so that they can get back their money.”
One Burmese youth in Malaysia said he was dropped with around 150 others at the Thai-Malay border, in the town of Malay Galok in no-man’s-land.
“There was a small island. There was a river. We were put on a big boat, 150 of us. We were neither on the Thai side nor the Malay side. The island was in the middle. All 150 of us were sent there. The immigration [people] sold us to [the traffickers] for Malay 900 [ringgit] per person. We knew this because they told us, ‘We bought you guys.’”
Many Burmese fear trouble from the junta in their own country, and yet even those with United Nations refugee status have been found languishing in Malaysia’s immigration cells.
“If I were to go back, I think they would still arrest me, so I don’t dare go back,” a second Burmese youth said. “I have to be on the run. I have no documents. So I still have to be on the run.”
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cites the presence of more than 30,000 Burmese refugees in Malaysia. In 2006, it said 9,186 persons had active asylum cases pending in Malaysia, of whom 74 percent were Burmese.

Thousands of Refugees Living in Constant Fear of Arrest

KUALA LUMPUR, June 29, 2010 (IPS) - As Rajoo, 27, makes tea at a rundown shed in Brickfields, a depressed suburb of the capital inhabited by hundreds of Tamil immigrants from Sri Lanka, he evinces no sign of anxiety and a deep yearning for something.

He dreams of returning to his village in war-ravaged Sri Lanka except that it had been razed to the ground by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) – an armed group that had waged a decades-long bloody insurgency against the government on the country’s north-eastern coast, home to its largest ethnic minority.

The LTTE was finally defeated by military troops in May 2009.

Despite the war’s end, Rajoo says he is scared of returning to his home country. "My village is gone and my relatives are either dead or in camps," he says. "At the height of the battle, I left my wife and son with an uncle and fled to South India by sea and flew to Malaysia."

Rajoo is one of an estimated 100,000 refugees currently living in Malaysia and who risk arrest by the highly feared People’s Volunteer Corps (RELA), a paramilitary group which has the power to apprehend refugees and undocumented migrant workers and have them jailed or deported.

Rajoo, who declines to give his real name for fear of arrest by members of RELA, says he has an identification card issued by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), "but authorities don’t give it much respect," he tells IPS.

The UNCHR card entitles refugees like him to basic rights such as freedom of movement within the host country in line with the international agreements on refugees.

Resettling former Sri Lankan refugees like Rajoo in their homeland is an uphill struggle even if the war has ended, says opposition lawmaker and human rights activist Kulasegaran Murugesan, who is of Tamil descent and is campaigning in the Malaysian parliament to improve the Tamil refugee conditions in Malaysia.

Refugees are not allowed to work under Malaysian law, but most do anyway to supplement the UNHCR monthly assistance of 300 Malaysian ringgit (around 93 U.S. dollars) that they are getting, says Murugesan.

Malaysia has not acceded to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.

The Convention is an international agreement that defines who is a refugee and establishes their rights and the legal obligations of the states parties.

Although the government has agreed to cooperate with the UNHCR in addressing refugee issues on humanitarian grounds, Malaysian authorities often do not differentiate between refugees and economic migrants, says Murugesan. Such migrants comprise around three million documented and undocumented individuals from poor countries who are trying to make a living in this South-east Asian country

"Malaysia is a dangerous place for refugees who are often abused, arrested and treated like criminals," Ragunath Kesavan, president of the Malaysian Bar Council, tells IPS.

"Refugees and asylum seekers, particularly women and children, are often at risk of arrest, prosecution, detention and deportation. In some cases, they are trafficked upon deportation."

These observations confirm the findings of international human rights group Amnesty International (AI). Instead of finding comfort and protection, the refugees in Malaysia end up "abused, exploited, arrested and locked up," said the AI in its report released this month.

"The abusive way we treat refugees and our refusal to sign the U.N.’s refugee protocols is a shame," says prominent lawyer and rights activist Surendran Nagalingam. "Our human rights record is deplorable among the family of nations in the region."

Murugesan believes Malaysia refuses to sign the Convention and the Protocol for fear it would be swamped by migrants who can easily claim to be refugees such as what happened when Indonesians from Aceh province flocked to Malaysia at the height of the conflict in this northern Indonesian province.

But the Aceh conflict in neighbouring Indonesia is effectively over, he says. "There is no fear of being swamped now," he adds.

"We must sign these protocols and play our part as responsible citizens of the world," he says. Otherwise, "we forfeit our right to decry abuse in other places like the Middle East."

Refugees seeking safety in Malaysia also come from war-torn Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan. The majority are natives of military-ruled Burma, who fled their country only to be subjected to a litany of abuses upon reaching Malaysia, since the government does not recognise their status.

The refugees’ lack of legal status for refugees in Malaysia means they can be punished with imprisonment of up to five years and whipping for illegally entering the country, says the AI.

To deflect mounting criticism of its alleged violations of the rights of refugees under international treaties, Malaysia has announced that it is considering certain measures to improve the plight of refugees within its borders such as allowing refugees to work while awaiting resettlement abroad.

But a senior home ministry official, who spoke to IPS on condition of anonymity, says these measures are still at a planning stage. "The government has not given the green light to implement (them)," he says.

Until such measures are in place, Rajoo and other refugees like him will live in constant fear of arrest.

Visitors get a peek into refugees’ life at festival

IMAGINE having to flee Malaysia with only the clothes on your back, leaving behind everything you own and everyone you love.

That is the plight of many refugees around the world, something which commuters at KL Sentral Station got an insight into recently at the World Refugee Day 2010 celebration held at the station’s main foyer.

Organised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the two-day festival featured an interactive exhibition to allow visitors to walk in a refugee’s shoes and experience their journey fleeing war and persecution.

Start ’em young: A cultural performance by Kunit, 7, a refugee child from the Mon tribe of Myanmar at UNHCR’s World Refugee Day celebration at KL Sentral.

Visitors also got a peek into a refugee’s daily life in Malaysia.

The centrepiece of the celebration was a vibrant bazaar selling traditional handicraft and food of the different refugee communities taking shelter in Malaysia.

The bazaar was aimed at generating some income for refugee community development and welfare initiatives.

Visitors were also feted to a showcase of the colourful heritage and culture of refugee communities including those from Myanmar and Afghanistan.

Visitors were especially charmed by the performance of seven-year-old Kunit from the Myanmar’s Mon tribe, who demonstrated the exotic movements in an elaborate glittery traditional costume.

Other performances included traditional dances by children from the Afghanistan refugee community as well as the Kachin and Karen tribal communities of Myanmar.

Various celebrities were also on hand to show their support for the refugee communities including Yasmin Hani, Daphne Iking and former Miss Malaysia Deborah Priya Henry.

The World Refugee Day is celebrated worldwide every June 20. This year’s theme is “Home.”

“It is about the a refugee’s hope for a new home — they took their home but cannot take their future,” said UNHCR Malaysia external relation’s officer Yante Ismail.

According to Yante, as of the end of May 2010, some 88,100 refugees are registered with the agency, comprising Myanmar ethnic groups (81,600), followed by Sri Lankans (3,500), Somalis (930), Iraqis (580) and Afghans (530).

Yante added UNHCR believes there are some 10,000 persons unregistered.

Malaysia dangerous for refugees: Amnesty

KUALA LUMPUR: Amnesty International on Wednesday said Malaysia was a “dangerous” place for refugees who were often abused, arrested and “treated like criminals”.

Amnesty said the refugees, mainly from military-ruled Myanmar, came seeking refuge in Malaysia but were subjected to a litany of abuses as the government does not recognise their status. “For those refugees and asylum-seekers who are forced to flee their homelands in search of protection, Malaysia is an unwelcoming and dangerous place,” it said in a strongly-worded report ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20.

“They come to Malaysia seeking safety, having fled situations of torture, persecution or death threats. But once they arrive, they are abused, exploited, arrested and locked up — in effect, treated like criminals,” the group added.

Malaysia has not ratified the United Nation’s Refugee Convention and refugees — who also come from Sri Lanka, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan — are often treated as undocumented workers, Amnesty said. The lack of legal status means refugees can be punished by imprisonment for up to five years and whipping for illegally entering the country.—AFP

Refugees To Face More Raids In Malaysia

Refugees in Malaysia are expected to experience more assaults and raids from the local authorities on the government's drive to reduce foreign workers in the country from 2.1 million to 1.8 million.

Malaysian government is scheduled to offer amnesty for illegal foreign workers before running a major raid against illegal foreign workers in every corner of the country.

Refugee, totalling up to 90,000 in Malaysia, is expected to become the victim of such raid, for Malaysian laws do not differentiate between economic migrants and refugees.

Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently announce that, a major raid planned early this year is being postponed and the government will offer amnesty to all illegal foreign workers with the chance to return home without facing action.

He said the integrated biometric identification system would have to be in place before the amnesty programme could be implemented.

He said foreigners who entered the country illegally or overstayed after their work permits expired would be offered amnesty once the Home Ministry updated the system.

“The biometric identification system is necessary to ensure that we record the entry of all visitors and workers into the country. It will include work to update and coordinate all hardware, software and data managed by different agencies and ministries."

“We will leave it to the Home Ministry, namely the Immigration Department, to implement it as soon as possible,” Muhyiddin told a news conference after chairing the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Illegal Workers.

Muhyiddin said the Government would also be looking into existing legislation and the possibility of introducing new regulations to curb the problem of illegal foreign workers, as it was important to ensure full enforcement once the amnesty period is expired.

“After the amnesty offer expires, we will act against all those who harbour foreign workers without permits,” he said.

According to data from UNHCR, they are 87,700 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the organization, of which 81,200 are from Myanmar, comprising some 39,100 Chins, 18,800 Rohingyas, 5,900 Myanmar Muslims, 3,800 Mons, 3,600 Kachins and the remaining are other ethnic minorities from Myanmar.

Malaysia locals include the authorities however fail to distinguish between Burma refugees and Burma foreign workers, making both of them being arrested during the raids.

US fears for Myanmar refugees ahead of polls

A top US official said Thursday he was "particularly concerned" about the plight of 140,000 refugees from Myanmar in camps along the Thai border ahead of the junta's upcoming polls.

Eric P. Schwartz, US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, raised his worries in Bangkok after meeting Thai officials and activists ahead of a trip to the border camps on Friday.

The refugees have mostly fled a six-decade conflict between mainly-Buddhist Myanmar's junta and Christian Karen rebels, one of the few ethnic insurgent groups yet to sign a peace deal with the ruling generals.

"I'm particularly concerned about the continued situation of vulnerable Burmese in Thailand, about 140,000 of whom are in camps in the border area," Schwartz said at a press briefing, using Myanmar's former name.

Schwartz said that "continued repression and restrictions" in Myanmar's electoral process as it had unfolded so far suggested the polls later this year would "offer little change of conditions within Burma".

"If that does happen, elections will not alter the need of Burmese who fear persecution to have access to a protection outside of Burma."

He said it would be critical for Thai authorities "to continue to permit such refuge".

The United States, which has taken in more than 60,000 Myanmar refugees since 2005, has criticised the regime for effectively forcing the dissolution of the main opposition party of democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi.

Her National League for Democracy won the country's last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power by the junta.

Schwartz said the Thai officials he had met "seemed to recognise that it will be conditions on the ground and not the conducting of elections in and of themselves... that will be the key factor in determining whether it's safe for people to return".

In December Thailand defied the United States, European Union and United Nations by forcibly repatriating about 4,500 Hmong people from camps in the country's north back to Laos, despite concerns of persecution on their return.

Schwartz was due to visit Laos after Thailand and discuss the conditions of the returned Hmong.

He said he would also discuss the rights of these returnees to leave, especially a group of 158 recognised refugees who were sent back despite firm offers of resettlement in third countries, including the United States.

Burmese migrants riot in Malaysian camp

By PETER AUNG

Some 200 Burmese and Vietnamese migrants held in a Malaysian immigration camp last night rioted and attempted to set the camp's administration office on fire.

Malaysian news agency Bernama reported that the riots were sparked by a fight between two Vietnamese inmates, although the New Straits Times claim they were protesting about poor living conditions. DVB was unable to contact anyone on the issue.

Police had also reportedly stopped an attempt by the rioters to break out of the Ajil detention camp in Terengganu state, northeastern Malaysia.

It mirrors an incident in July last year when 700 illegal Burmese migrants rioted at Malaysia's Semenyih camp. They had earlier staged a hunger strike in protest of their denial of access to United Nations refugee officials.

The issue of Burmese migrants has been a sore point for the Malaysian government; last year it was revealed that senior Malaysian immigration officials had been complicit in the trafficking of Burmese nationals.

It is estimated that around 5,000 Burmese men, women and children migrants are being held in detention centres across Malaysia, often in poor conditions and with only sporadic access the UN officials.

Last week five Burmese children, one as young as 12, who had been held in a Malaysian camp for nearly a year were deported back to Burma. They were trafficked out of their country in July last year after their parents were tricked into handing them over to men who had promised them jobs in Rangoon, and were forced to beg on the streets of suburban Kuala Lumpur.

But a crackdown by police on beggars in the capital landed them in detention at the Tanah Merah camp, close to the Thailand border.

The Burmese embassy in Kuala Lumpur refused to finance their return to Burma, but a Burmese businessman reportedly offered to cover their travel expenses back home, and they left on a Myanmar Airways International flight on 5 June, according to Kyaw Kyaw of the exiled National League for Democracy-Liberated Area, who saw them leave.

"They seemed happy to be sent back home although I felt sorry for them because they looked really tired after just coming out of the [detention camp]," he said.

"I sympathise with their various hardships and the mental trauma they suffered in the camp. I'd be inconsolable if I saw my children in this situation. I feel sad for the children of Burma who are becoming beggars even before reaching adulthood."

One boy arrested along with the five others remains in Malaysia, having been temporarily adopted by a Burmese NGO in Malaysia.

Refugees from Myanmar arrive in Bucharest as Romania joins ranks of resettlement

BUCHAREST, Romania, June 8 (UNHCR) – Romania has become one of the few countries in the world to accept refugees for resettlement, following the recent arrival in the European country of 38 people originating from Myanmar.

The refugees, including eight children, flew to Bucharest from Malaysia on May 31 and June 1 under legislation adopted by Romania in December 2008. This provides for Romania to accept up to 40 refugees for resettlement each year.

Machiel Salomons, UNHCR's representative in Romania, noting that the refugee agency had been forced to enhance its resettlement efforts, said "Romania's contribution in this regard is both timely and very much appreciated."

The group of 38 refugees, all ethnic Kachin, are currently staying at the Regional Centre for Accommodation and Asylum Procedures in Galati, a city in eastern Romania. The facility is run by the Romanian Immigration Office (RIO). The resettlement was organized by the RIO in close cooperation with UNHCR and the Romanian Red Cross.

Under Romanian law, the resettled refugees will be entitled to the same rights as Romanian citizens, save for politically related ones. In Galati, they will receive language and cultural orientation courses as well as being informed of their legal rights.

They will also receive support from UNHCR and its partners, including Save the Children Romania and the Jesuit Refugee Service Romania. The refugees will be able to stay in the centre for up to one year as they are helped to become self-sufficient.

Romania also hosts a landmark Emergency Transit Centre, which was opened in the city of Timisoara in late 2008 to provide a temporary haven for refugees in urgent need of evacuation from their first asylum countries due to life-threatening conditions. More than 600 refugees have transited the centre.

Last year, a total of 995 asylum applications were recorded in Romania, slightly down on 2008. During the same year, a total of 94 people were granted some form of protection (refugee status or subsidiary protection).

By Claudia Liute in Bucharest, Romania

Govt urged to allow Afghan refugees to work

By Teoh El Sen

PETALING JAYA: A report released today by local NGO, Health Equity Initiatives (HEI), has called on the government to allow refugees from Afghanistan the right to work in Malaysia.

It also urged the government to allow this community access to health care and education as accorded under the international law.

HEI executive director Sharuna Verghis said most of the refugees were left with no option to safety but to run to Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran or India.

“Our investigations showed that most of them had no choice but to come here and even here, they are not really recognised and that has pushed some of them to take the route of human traffickers," she said.

Sharuna said there are some 403 refugees and 108 asylum seekers from Afghanistan registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) here and many were known to be living in the Klang Valley.

She said the refugees mostly lived in squalors and were deprived of basic necessities.

"Malaysia should be playing a bigger role in this. I applaud our move to show concern over the Israel and Palestinian struggle, but what about things that are happening in our own backyard?"

Sharuna lauded Human Resource Minister Dr S Subramaniam's proposal to allow the 90,000-odd refugees in the country to work.

"It’s a good idea. Why do we need to spend more money when we already have refugees here who are dying for a job to sustain their lives?

“We need local integration for these people," she said.

Increase settlement quotas

The report also addressed other needs of the refugee community.

Among others recommendations listed in the report, entitled 'Between a Rock and A Hard Place', were calls for the Malaysian government and other nations such as Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran and India, to increase its resettlement quotas for Afghan refugees.

It also calls for these countries to recognize and integrate special protection for refugees and asylum seekers within enforcement of border control and anti-trafficking strategies.

Noting that Afghanistan was enduring the world’s most protracted refugee situations, the report acknowledged that the Afghan refugees' situation in Malaysia was a relatively recent phenomenon, which increased dramatically in 2007.

The report based its findings on interviews with 73 Afghan refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia and interviews with UNHCR and other non-profit organisations providing educational services to this population.

The report also highlights the chronic multi-dimensional deprivation and dilemmas experienced by this population.

Arakanese allege bias at UN Malaysia refugee office

New Delhi (Mizzima) – More than 50 Arakanese held a protest outside the UN refugee organisation’s office in the Malaysian capital on Monday, alleging its discrimination against the Burmese ethnic group.

The demonstrators at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in Kuala Lumpur called for the office to recognise the more than 10,000 Arakanese in Malaysia as legitimate refugees and supply aid to those in immigration detention camps. They also sought an Arakanese translator at the office.

A day after the protest, the UNHCR reported on its website’s news section that it had recently flown 38 ethnic Kachin Burmese refugees from Malaysia to Romania.

Meanwhile, the New Straits Times reported on Monday that Saturday night’s three-hour riot at an immigration detention camp in Ajil, in the eastern peninsula state of Terengganu was sparked by a fight between two groups of Vietnamese and Burmese detainees, immigration officials told the newspaper on Sunday.

But state police chief Shukri Dahlan reportedly said that almost 200 men from Vietnam and Burma “turned aggressive after what they claimed was mistreatment at the camp”, the paper reported, without details of the abuses.

The 1951 Refugee Convention is “the key legal document in defining who is a refugee, their rights and the legal obligations of states”, according to the UN.

Article 1 of the convention says a refugee is a person who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country…”

Min Min Htun, one of the leaders of the protest outside the UNHCR offices, told Mizzima: “The UNHCR office in Malaysia has recognised other ethnic people from Burma as refugees but the Arakanese people are being discriminated against … that’s why we are … [here today].

“Moreover, the Arakanese people who have been in detention camps have been ignored by the UNHCR,” he said. “And no Arakanese translator was appointed in the UNHCR office, so we [also] have language barriers to deal with.”

The protesters submitted a letter to the office and UN staff promised to consider their demands “as soon as possible”.

Between 2004 and 2008, Arakanese people had been recognised as refugees but since that period their right to apply for refugee status had been denied, according to the demonstrators.

Just 1,700 of the 15,000 Arakanese in Malaysia have been registered as asylum-seekers (UN definition: a person who has left their country of origin, has applied for recognition as a refugee in another country, and is awaiting a decision on their application) by the UNHCR Malaysia office, and 250 have been resettled in safe third countries, the Arakan Refugee Relief Committee, based in Kuala Lumpur, said. Around 300 Arakanese are in detention camps around Malaysia.

Tun Win Nyunt, a Burmese human rights activist in Malaysia, also accused the UN of bias in dealing with the ethnic group.

“We don’t have even the right to apply for refugee status, so we asked the office [why],” he said. “Their answer is … because we have Burmese passports and we can go back to Burma … Their answer is very general [vague].”

A Chin Refugee Committee (Malaysia) spokesman said: “We [too] have noticed that Burmese and Arakanese people are not being recognised as refugees, but I don’t know the reason.”

Mizzima phoned UNHCR Malaysia but its spokeswoman Yante Ismail was unable to provide answers, citing a lack of detailed knowledge of the situation.

However, the UNHCR yesterday reported in its website’s news section that on May 31 and June 1 a group of 38 Burmese refugees, all ethnic Kachin, had been flown to Bucharest, Romania from Malaysia in a resettlement organised with the Romanian immigration department and Red Cross.

Romania had become one of the few countries in the world to accept refugees for resettlement, it said.

“The refugees, including eight children, flew to Bucharest from Malaysia on May 31 and June 1 under legislation adopted by Romania in December 2008,” the report said. “This provides for Romania to accept up to 40 refugees for resettlement each year.”

In the report, UNHCR officer in Romania Machiel Salomons said it had been forced to enhance its resettlement efforts, adding that “Romania’s contribution in this regard is both timely and very much appreciated.”

The Kachin group were staying at the Regional Centre for Accommodation and Asylum Procedures in Galati, a city in eastern Romania, run by the Romanian Immigration Office, the UN said.

“Romania also hosts a landmark Emergency Transit Centre, which was opened in the city of Timisoara in late 2008 to provide a temporary haven for refugees in urgent need of evacuation from their first asylum countries due to life-threatening conditions,” the report said. “More than 600 refugees have transited the centre.”

Of the 87,700 refugees or asylum-seekers registered with the UN in Malaysia, 81,200 are from Burma, comprising some 39,100 Chins, 18,800 Rohingya, 5,900 Burmese Muslims, 3,800 Mon, 3,600 Kachin, and the remaining are other ethnic minorities from Burma, according to the website of the UNHCR Malaysia.

Other refugees were from Sri Lanka, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Some 70 per cent of refugees or asylum-seekers were men, while 30 per cent were women, the website said. There were some 19,000 children aged less than 18.

Malaysia refused to sign the 1951 Refugee Convention. That refusal and the lack of legislation ratifying the convention of the kind adopted by Romania in 2008 means that the country arrests and jails refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless people. Illegal migrant workers have also been detained.

The junta’s confiscation of lands, recruitment of child soldiers, rape carried out by its army, forced labour, forced relocation, brutal repression of dissent and ethnic minority rights, unjust laws, inadequate infrastructure and abysmal health care are just some of the many reasons that thousands of Burmese people have fled to neighbouring or regional countries for asylum or just a livelihood.

Campaign Against Government-Sanctioned Human Trafficking in Malaysia

Issue Summary:

 Karen Zusman

Burmese refugees who have fled for their lives to Malaysia because of religious and ethnic persecution in their homeland have not been recognized as Persons of Concern by the Malaysian government. Instead, they are "illegals". Their basic human rights are imperiled. They are denied the right to seek livelihood, access health care, receive education or seek safe and appropriate shelter. Women, men and children-including those who may be elderly, disabled, pregnant or sick-are arrested, abused, detained, tortured, sentenced and criminalized. In many instances, the refugees have been sold to human traffickers.

This institutionalized, government-supported trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery, and cannot be tolerated.

Campaign description:

In 2007, the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (SCFR) began receiving reports alleging the trafficking and extortion of Burmese refugees both within Malaysia and from Malaysia into Thailand. Malaysian Government personnel routinely took the refugees to the Malaysia-Thailand border, where Immigration officials then sold these refugees to human traffickers. To earn their "release", refugees were required to pay huge sums to the traffickers-about five times what the traffickers paid for them. Those unable to pay were sold to brothels as sex slaves, or forced into labor on fishing trawlers. These stories are documented in The Revolving Door by Tenaganita and in the multi-media documentary "Please Don't Say My Name," by independent journalist Karen Zusman.

Government complicity continues...

While deportations to the border appear to have been placed on hold, other forms of exploitation, abuse and trafficking of refugees continue. On-going raids conducted by the Malaysian RELA, an officially sanctioned vigilante citizen group, result in the arrests of hundreds of men, women and children. These individuals are sentenced to short periods of prison time, but are held for months-even years-in dangerously overcrowded camps lacking adequate medical care or, in some instances, drinking water. Men convicted of entering Malaysia illegally are often whipped.

The lack of a comprehensive policy to protect the rights of these refugees reflects the tacit complicity of the Malaysian government in these human rights violations. One remedy is for the Malaysian Government to sign the 1951 UN Geneva Convention-which provides protections for the human rights of refugees-and to adopt its principals in full.

Ethical Traveler is proud to be partnering on this campaign with Tenaganita, a Malaysia-based organization, which undertakes research, advocacy and action to prevent, solve and address grave abuses inflicted on migrants and refugees. Join us in telling the government of Malaysia that travelers are aware of this reprehensible situation, and that we call upon them to immediately sign the 1951 UN Geneva Convention. Please modify (if you wish) our action campaign letter, sign it, and send it back to us. We will airmail your letters to the appropriate Malaysian authorities around June 20, World Refugee Day.

Chin Refugees: Nine Jailed and Raids caused nine arrested

Nine of Chin refugee employees working in fishing firm in Ruab, Pahang State in Malaysia have been sued to the police by their employer and all are arrested and jailed in police station. “The story is, they simply ask of their long time unpaid salary from their Chinese boss who treats them badly and so cruel but they got the police arrest as a result in lieu of giving their worth salary” according to the volunteer running from KL to Pahang State to observe their situation.

The confirmed source reveals that the Chinese boss, who is unfaithful, sues them to the police in reverse on what unknown ground instead of paying their regular basis (or) salaries which is completely out of their dyingly perspiration.

The police came down on 30th of May, 2010 and arrested them and sent to IBUPEJABET police station, downtown of Ruab. It is reported that they all have been registered in UNHCR (that means they all are holders of UNHCR) and among them two are from Matu Dai community.

In order for their release, the community calls for the purely urgent statement to UNHCR to intervene those unfair arresting. The community and the related families are so sure of that they never commit bad acts, which can be defined as malfeasance toward the boss and police as well.

There was nothing surprising, at all, about their putting in jail. The corrupted boss who only wants the workforce without the humane mindset that he has to pay them back in turn as agreed before the work starts, made it happened like that according to the observer asking one of them by phone.

In another wave of raid, at the first night of June, 2010 between 8:30 and 9:00 pm, group of RELA around 20 raided DG Food court in Jln Yayasan, Bandar Puchong and caught nine of Chin refugees who are working in that restaurant. The half of an hour raiding appeared to make nine arrested.

More to the point, the source confirms that six of them were released back from the police station, knowing that they are of UNHCR card holders and three only with CRC card head to the detention center.

Obviously, to get them out of the detention center is beyond the community effort but entirely depends on the humanitarian aid of UNHCR. Those brought up to the detention center have been reported in the community as their status quos are under asylum seeking in UNHCR office in Malaysia.

At worst of the scenario, a minor woman, who has been long time struggling of her heart-attack disease is in a very deep concern as she is too frightened of the large-scale raid of police and RELA. The community along side with the esteemed family is highly worried of her troublesome disease that can any time cause a very dangerous point to death.