Press Release: Recognise their dignity, give refugees access to lawful work

Wednesday, 20 June 2012 08:59am

Today, the Malaysian Bar will host a briefing on refugee-related issues for members of the Dewan Rakyat, at Parliament House.  We hope to inform, and engage with, Parliamentarians in order that they can be more sensitised and aware of the situation facing refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia.  We welcome this opportunity, and acknowledge the participation of the Office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (“UNHCR”) in Kuala Lumpur. The main focus of civil society and non-governmental organisations working with refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia this year is access to lawful work and officially-recognised employment.  According to the UNHCR, there were 98,100 refugees and asylum seekers registered with UNHCR as at the end of April 2012.  This figure includes some 20,000 children.  As the Malaysian Government does not provide any financial assistance, refugees and asylum seekers have to fend for themselves.  Having fled their respective home countries with few possessions and little (if any) money, refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia have to eke out a subsistence-level existence by taking informal or unofficial work.  Whatever money they earn needs to support not only themselves, but also their families.  Often this work is dirty, difficult and dangerous, and, without proper supervision and protection, highly risky.  They are susceptible to exploitation and abuse by those who have hired them.  They often have to work for very little pay, and have no job security and legal protection against being cheated of their low wages.  On this World Refugee Day 2012, the Malaysian Bar renews its call to the Malaysian Government to set aside Parliamentary time to introduce and implement refugee-protection legislation in Malaysia, which must include express provisions on the unhindered and unrestricted access to lawful work and officially-recognised employment.  The Government has given selected groups of refugees and asylum seekers permission to work before, so this will not be a new policy.  What will be new is to establish legal provisions to give refugees and asylum seekers access to lawful work and officially-recognised employment.  As it is, individuals and companies in Malaysia already employ migrant workers from some of the same countries from which these refugees and asylum seekers come.  Extending to them the ability to access lawful work and officially-recognised employment will not pose any additional risks.  Instead, it will reduce in part the need to import more foreign workers.  This simple change of policy will, however, enormously improve the living situation for refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia.  It would also reduce, if not eliminate, the risk that refugees and asylum seekers will end up as victims of human trafficking and forced labour.  The Malaysian Bar once again calls upon the Government to also take immediate measures to announce a definite timetable for the ratification of the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol.  As a responsible nation in the international community, and as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Government must live up to its international obligations.    Lim Chee Wee President Malaysian Bar 20 June 2012   http://www.malaysianbar.org.my