Offshoring the Problem?

In this June 8, 2011 photo, Burmese refugee children attend their school class in a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo: AP)

BANGKOK — While a new refugee swap deal between Australia and Malaysia will offer hope to some of the tens of thousands of Burmese refugees in Malaysia, there are different views on whether the arrangement lives up to international standards.
The “Arrangement on Transfer and Resettlement” was signed in Kuala Lumpur on July 25 by Malaysia's Home Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and Australia's Immigration and Citizenship Minister Chris Bowen. It will transfer 4,000 refugees in Malaysia to Australia over the next four years, in return for Malaysia taking in 800 asylum-seekers arriving in Australia or interdicted at sea en route to Australia after July 25. Australia will pay for the deal, predicted to cost around US $325million over the current four-year implementation timetable, with Australia already saying the deal could be expanded.
As Burmese nationals make up an estimated 80-90 percent of refugees in Malaysia, the deal offers some hope to the small additional percentage that will benefit from the arrangement over the coming four years.
“We are happy that at least some of the people will get the opportunity to have a new life in Australia,” said Simon Sang Hre, who works with the Chin Refugee Committee in Malaysia, assisting what his organization estimates at 42,000 ethnic Chin refugees from Chin State in Burma, speaking to The Irrawaddy by telephone from Kuala Lumpur.
However, there are mixed feelings about the deal. Latheefa Koya, an adviser to Lawyers for Liberty, a Malaysian NGO, told The Irrawaddy that “the thousands of refugees, mostly Burmese, who have yet to be registered with the UN Refugee Agency cannot benefit.”
Of particular concern are Burmese Rohingya fleeing persecution in western Burma, where they are denied citizenship. Although they can register as refugees in Malaysia, “This deal is unlikely to benefit the Rohingya in Malaysia as they don't fit the profile of those who are likely to be accepted by Australia. Many have been here for 10-20 years,” said Latheefa Koya. 
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Malaysia, there are some 94,400 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with the organization. Of these “86,500 are from Myanmar [Burma], comprising some 35,600 Chins, 21,400 Rohingyas, 10,100 Myanmar Muslims, 3,800 Mon, 3,400 Kachins and other ethnicities from Myanmar.” UNCHR says that there are around 10,000 unregistered asylum-seekers or refugees in Malaysia, though some NGOs believe there are tens of thousands of unregistered refugees.
Others have criticized the deal as flawed due to Malaysia's refusal to sign up to international refugee laws. In a statement issued in response to the signing of the Australia-Malaysia deal, Australia's Human Rights Commission President Catherine Branson said that “while the Commission recognized the need for regional and international cooperation on asylum seekers and supported the resettling in Australia of an increased number of refugees,” she was “concerned that Malaysia was not a signatory to the Refugee Convention.”
According to Bill Frelick, refugee program director at Human Rights Watch, the deal should not have been signed, as “the gap in the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers between Australia and Malaysia remains enormous.”
A March 2011 survey of over 1,000 refugees in Malaysia by the Health Equity and Initiatives in March of this year found that 70 percent of the interviewees showed symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress as a result of human trafficking, forced labor and unemployment.
However, the Australian government claims the deal will not result in any abuses of the 800 to be sent to Malaysia. According to a July 25 press statement by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Minister Bowen, “The arrangement reaffirms Malaysia's commitment that transferees will be treated with dignity and respect in accordance with human rights standards, that it will respect the principle of non-refoulement, the key tenet of the Refugee Convention, and that asylum claims will be considered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).”
Yante Ismail, a spokesperson for UNHCR Malaysia, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that “UNHCR assesses that the final Arrangement and its implementing guidelines contain these safeguards, and are workable.”
However, even the positive aspects of the deal are being criticized for potentially creating a two-tier system. Once the 800 arrivals are processed, they will receive benefits that the the 94,400 registered refugees in Malaysia do not get, such as work rights and access to education and health care.

Source : www.irrawaddy.org