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.
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.
HEAVEN IN HELL!!!
ReplyDeleteI am also a refugee from Africa here in malaysia.Base on the racial factor , i have not even a means to survive here in Malaysia as to compare with the Asian Refugees ;Most at times as i have no ATM card where i can save my money,no access to keep it home as i petch with other people.As such i am force to move with my money which always expose me with the patrolling police who turn to intermediate me that Malaysian Government do not acknowledge the UHCR as with the news i hear every day.They will take me inside their cars,telling me they are taking me to the station(bukit aman police station) and that i am illegal.they will finally make a u Turn near a police station and will tell me that i will be locked up.At this juncture, they will seize my UN paper,seize my bag and remove my money while I am being handcuff inside their CAR.they will finally put on trafficked light to make a U turn in front of a police station and then finally shoot ahead in an empty environment.they will stop and come outside as if they are checking my papers and even my bag.after all, they will release the handcuff from my hand and immediate give me my bag that i should go faster and that they have help me if not i will be in the prison.i will take my bag without nowing they have finish me to death as i see them as police officers who can keep stability...As such i will be confuse with no frank with me,not even in my mobile .So i have no means to communicate my friends to help me.I will be force to sleep on bus stop or iummediate walk for a long distance.While walking ,i was still in a risk with other patrolling police,both with cars and bikes as i was help less and looking more miserable and desperate , trying to beg some ringit(money) from people i dont know,even to store owners which still expose me more as a thief.
I think the governement should do some thing