Following the announcement of a major crackdown on refugees in Malaysia, the UNHCR started recording information on refugees.
Below is an article published by Chinland Guardian:
The UNHCR is to collect a name list of
asylum seekers from Burma stranded in Malaysia starting tomorrow ahead
of a major crackdown expected to take place on 10 April 2012.
The new move to record details of Chin
asylum seekers across Malaysia is aimed at protecting them in the event
of possible arrest and detention by Malayisan authorities when they
clamp down on undocumented workers in the country.
A newsletter by the Chin Refugee
Committee (CRC) said the UNHCR will start recording details of Chin
asylum seekers, not those who have been registered as refugees, adding:
"This is not a registration to get a UNHCR card. We should not confuse
it with getting registered as a refugee by the UNHCR."
The programme called 'Bio-Data Collecting Exercise' will be conducted in partnership and collaboration with members of COBEM (Coalition Of Burma Ethnics, Malaysia) under the UNHCR's supervision from 10 April till 31 May 2012.
CRC, a COBEM member, also informed the
Chin asylum seekers of the need to give their names and details to its
community-based delegates, adding: "We will not accept any individual
names given directly to us as we have our delegates across the Chin
communities in Malaysia."
Formed in 2007 to response to the needs
of the ethnic refugees and migrant communities from Burma living in
Malaysia, COBEM is comprised of seven members including Kachin refugee
committee (KRC), Organization of Karenni Development (OKD), Malaysia
Karen Organization (MKO), Chin refugee committee (CRC) together with
Alliance for Chin refugees(ACR), Mon refugee Organization (MRO), Arakan
Refugee Relief Committee (ARRC), and Shan refugee Organization (SRO).
There are about 86,000 refugees coming
from Burma out of an estimated total of 95,000 in Malaysia, of which
over 45,000 are of Chin ethnicity.
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