Katrina Maliamauv from Tenaganita spoke about the plight of refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia on the BFM radio on 06-Oct-11. Due to their undocumented status, refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia are denied of basic rights such as education and healthcare, live in dire conditions and face other severe rights violations. They are subject to arrest, detention and refoulement despite the fact that they possess registration cards provided by UNHCR. Women and girls are at risk of facing sexual abuse. Katrina highlighted that the situation in the Asia Pacific region got worse and the recent refugee swap deal between Malaysia and Australia is descriptive of the situation where we have a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention negating its obligations, denying the access to sanctuary to the people who have suffered tremendous abuse.
She proposed that the Malaysian government sign the 1951 Refugee Convention and other relevant human rights instruments and actually put it into practice by protecting and promoting rights of refugees. As one of the ASEAN members, the Malaysian government also needs to engage the Burmese government and address the root causes of refugee flight. She emphasized the importance of involving other actors such as NGOs in facilitating the process.
You can listen to the interview at: http://bfm.my/refugees-in-malaysia-6-october-2011.html
Source : refugeerightsasiapacific.org
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