JUNE 26 — World Refugee Day yearly draws attention to the plight of
over 40 million people who are either refugees, internally displaced or
seeking asylum and the 800,000, who are newly displaced across borders
in 2011. This global population almost twice the size of Australia’s
population demands more efforts to support them.
Globally the main source countries of refugees and asylum seekers are
Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, together accounting for over five
million according to the just released UNHCR Global Trends Report 2011.
Regionally Myanmar/Burma remains the largest issue with hundreds of
thousands residing in regional neighbouring countries such as Thailand,
Bangladesh, India and Malaysia.
Australia has been a major resettlement country for our regional
neighbours for a long time, perhaps most visibly starting with the
resettlement of Vietnamese refugees n the 1980s. However, the current
yearly scheduled intake of around 13,750 refugees (2010-2011 figures are
13,799) is paltry compared to most other Western industrialised
nations. Alone UNHCR resettlement figures show Australia doing its bit
with over 9,200 places in 2011 mainly from regional UNHCR offices.
The Bali Process and other regional instruments have hitherto been
mainly deployed to shore up Australian efforts to keep asylum seekers
and irregular migrants at bay, i.e. trapped within the borders of our
neighbours. Yet, a regional solution to what amounts to a regional
refugee crisis is paramount.
Such a regional solution will invariably involve sharing the burden
of our neighbours and not just the financial burdens. This will involve
increasing the yearly intake for resettlement from the region,
particularly Malaysia, in exchange for tighter and more coordinated
border security efforts with especially Indonesia.
Even though the ‘swap deal’ with Malaysia did not come to fruition,
the attention it has cast upon the situation for refugees and asylum
seekers there has to be maintained. Malaysia is home to an
ever-increasing population of forcibly displaced people, most are from
Myanmar/Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi has aptly warned of too much optimism
about the political situation in her home and Australia’s move to lift
its sanctions regime is unduly rewarding the Myanmar government for
minor reform steps.
Thousands continue to flee ethnic and religious tensions,
suppression, forced labour and a myriad of other human rights abuses by
the Burmese military and a systematic process of marginalisation of
ethnic groups, especially Christian groups such as the Chin, Kachin and
Karen peoples.
Many of them come to Malaysia via Thailand to seek protection.
However, “The Search: Protection Space in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand,
The Philippines and Cambodia in Practice,” a report released by the
Jesuit Refugee Services Asia-Pacific shows that protection spaces in
Southeast Asia are insufficient, forcing many to keep moving in search
for more adequate and safer refuge.
Malaysia now houses one of the largest urban refugee populations in
the region. Some figures place as many as 60,000 in the sprawling city
of Kuala Lumpur alone. Many Myanmar minority ethnic groups such as the
Chin, a Christian group from Chin state in Northwest Myanmar/Burma, are
waiting patiently to be registered by the UNHCR in Kuala Lumpur. This is
the most pressing issue for asylum seekers in Malaysia and the region,
as the UNHCR card they receive will give them some recognition and
protection from the police and immigration officials.
Registration was suspended in early 2010 and funds are urgently
needed for the UNHCR and its community partners to resume the mammoth
task of registering tens of thousands of asylum seekers in Malaysia
alone. Registration is just a first step, but an indispensible one, for
it gives refugees recognition and freedom of movement. Those without
cards risk arrest and detention, some do not leave the house out of
fear.
Once they are registered they have another long wait ahead of them
for resettlement to a third country, mostly the United States of
America, some European countries and Australia. While some can achieve
this transition and resettlement within three years, many have waited a
lot longer. Some have been in Malaysia for over 10 years. In this time
they have to hold down jobs to survive, some have married and started
families — all long for a future in which they can take their destiny in
their own hands.
In the current limbo they inhabit they face exploitation, harassment
and the challenges of everyday life in a country that does not want them
and barely tolerates their existence. Yet, things used to be even
worse. Detention, whipping for immigration offences and raids by
immigration officials have all decreased and there is a cautionary sense
of calm amongst some refugee communities.
A critical US report on its human rights situation and the
‘Australia-Malaysia swap deal’ caused the Malaysian government to
reconsider its treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. With concerted
Australian support and pressure on the Malaysian government and funding
of strategic partners such as the UNHCR and community and civil society
partners asylum seekers can get better protection. Now is the time to
build on the positive improvements and keep the attention and resources
focused on those who need it most — refugees and asylum seekers in our
region. — Anthropolitics.wordpress.com
Source : http://www.themalaysianinsider.com
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