New Plymouth woman shaves her head to raise funds for Burmese refugees

Robert Charles/Fairfax NZ

Kareen Hillenaar gets her head shaved by her boss Lou Smith on Sunday to raise money to travel to Thailand to work with Burmese refugees.

New Plymouth's Kareen Hillenaar had an unexpected advantage when she had her head shaved on Sunday.

The 29-year-old planned to cut off her shoulder length locks to raise money to travel to Thailand where she will work with refugees, however after receiving a gash to her head while surfing at Fitzroy on Friday the job was partially done so eight stitches could be put in.

"They are still pretty fresh," she said.

Hillenaar, who has a Masters in Art and Design, leaves for Thailand on Saturday where she will work with Burmese refugees for three months.

"I want to explore the craft traditions that they bring with them from Burma.

"As part of my post graduate work I was trying to find a way to work in fashion with an ethical approach."

Hillenaar started working with refugees while studying in Auckland and had travelled to India for a month.

"It is pretty effective to go to the places where the refugees are from," she said.

Hillenaar said deciding to shave her head was a last minute thing to raise money to pay the Burmese women she would be working with.

"I don't know it just seemed like a good idea at the time.


"I feel quite excited about it actually," Hillenaar said before the cutting began.

She had a nervous smile on her face as her boss Lou Smith got to work with the clippers.

"I've got 19 years experience as a hairdresser but I haven't done it for a while," Smith said.

A small crowd of family and friends gathered outside the Piccolo Morso Milkbar for the event.

Smith took extra care around Hillenaar's head wound and in a short time had shaved her head.

"Apparently it suits me," Hillenaar said as she checked out her new do it a shop window.

Her mother Carole said she was not concerned about her daughter heading overseas.

"She has done a lot of travelling and working with people over the years," she said.

"I think it is a great cause, I'm more than supportive."

Hillenaar said she had been overwhelmed by the support she had received for her trip, with someone donating $1000 last week.

Anybody wanting to make a donation towards Hillenaar's trip can do so at 

http://www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/headshave2fundraise.

UN wants new deal with M’sia on refugees

KUALA LUMPUR: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Malaysia, Richard Towle, wants a comprehensive rethink and set of responses that address both human security and state security in Malaysia at the same time. “It’s necessary”

He points out, in a statement carried by AsiaOne Malaysia, that currently the UNHCR’s working relationship with the Malaysian Government revolves around only arrests and detention issues. He would prefer a “closer collaboration” with the government on the management of refugees.

He was commenting on the discovery of human smuggling camps and the bodies of illegal immigrants dumped in mass graves at Songkla and Padang Besar near the Thai-Malaysia border. In Malaysia, he added, there are allegations of similar “slave camps” which deal in the dirty business of human trafficking.

As Towle bluntly puts it, the days of refugees in Malaysia resettling in third countries are coming to an end because there are bigger crises elsewhere demanding international attention, such as the Middle East, Sub Sahara and Africa. “The number of places available for resettlement internationally for the refugees in Malaysia was also shrinking fast, so we need to try and find a solution soon”.

“Last year, we submitted 15,000 applications for resettlement but this year the number will be half of that because there was no longer the same degree of interest.”

Of the applicants last year, only 11,000 got resettled in third countries.

The number of places for resettlement internationally for refugees in Malaysia is shrinking fast.

Towle says of the 152,570 refugees registered with the UNHCR, 94 per cent are from Myanmar, 40 per cent of whom are Rohingyas. And he says although Malaysia has not signed the 1967 Protocol to recognise the Status of Refugees or the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, the fact was that “there are a lot of people coming in”.

“Because of the porous borders, easy access and relatively robust economy, Malaysia looks inviting to people from less developed neighbouring countries who hope to get in and work illegally.”

It is often a cat-and-mouse game with the authorities because if they get caught, those here illegally would be kept at detention centres and deported, he said. “While many are here solely for economic reasons, others like the Rohingyas come because they are forced to flee due to persecution in their own country.”

Other than the 152,570 UNHCR registered refugees, Towle believes there are tens of thousands more who have not registered and “whom we know nothing about”.

“The choice for Malaysia now was whether they remain faceless and in the black and grey economy or for the authorities to take steps to try and find out who’s here through some kind of registration programme,” he said.

“If the government was concerned about law and order, criminality and security, the only way to deal with it was through some kind of registration programme. If no steps are taken to find out who is here, then they will remain in this dark grey area of exploitation and criminality,” he says.

In Malaysia, a refugee is not allowed to work legally. Since they cannot go home anyway and they need money to survive, most end up working illegally for horribly low wages.

“They live in a highly exploited labour economy where young children are working and where we see the magnet of trafficking and smuggling rings working every day,” said Towle. “Images of people dying at labour camps at the Malaysia-Thai border are appalling. These are foul exploitative trades and practices. People leave their country because they are so desperate.”

“Decisive cooperative action between states needs to be taken, otherwise these (exploitative) practices will continue.”

Facing up to refugee woes in Malaysia

Towle: ‘Very little interaction between the UN and Malaysian government on refugee protection issues.’

IT is gut-wrenching, the discovery of human smuggling camps and the bodies of illegal immigrants dumped in mass graves at Songkla and Padang Besar near the Thai-Malaysia border.

In Malaysia, there are allegations of simi­lar "slave camps" which deal in the dirty business of human trafficking.

Because of our porous borders, easy access and relatively robust economy, Malaysia looks inviting to people from less developed neighbouring countries who hope to get in and work illegally.

It is often a cat-and-mouse game with the authorities because if they get caught, those here illegally would be kept at detention centres and deported.

While many are here solely for economic reasons, others like the Rohingyas come because they are forced to flee due to persecution in their own country.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Malaysia representative Richard Towle says of the 152,570 refugees registered with the UNHCR, 94 per cent are from Myanmar, 40 per cent of whom are Rohingyas.

And he says although Malaysia has not signed the 1967 Protocol to Recognise the Status of Refugees or the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, the fact is that "there are a lot of people coming in".

Other than the 152,570 UNHCR registered refugees, Towle believes there are tens of thousands more who have not registered and "whom we know nothing about."

"The choice for Malaysia now is whether they remain faceless and in the black and grey economy or for the authorities to take steps to try and find out who's here through some kind of registration programme.

"If the government is concerned about law and order, criminality and security, the only way to deal with it is through some kind of registration programme. If no steps are taken to find out who is here, then they will remain in this dark grey area of exploitation and criminality," he says.

In Malaysia, a refugee is not allowed to work legally.

Since they cannot go home anyway and they need money to survive, most end up working illegally for horribly low wages.

"They live in a highly exploited labour economy where young children are working and where we see the magnet of trafficking and smuggling rings working every day.

"Images of people dying at labour camps at the Malaysia-Thai border are appalling. These are foul exploitative trades and practices. People leave their country because they are so desperate.

"Decisive cooperative action between states needs to be taken, otherwise these (exploitative) practices will continue," warns Towle.

For this, Towle believes a comprehensive rethink and set of responses that address both human security and state security at the same time are necessary.

He points out that currently, the UNHCR's working relationship with the Malaysian government revolves around only arrests and detention issues.

He would prefer a "closer collaboration" with the government on the management of refugees.

As Towle bluntly puts it, the days of refugees here resettling to third countries are coming to an end because there are bigger crises elsewhere demanding international attention, such as the Middle East, Sub Sahara and Africa.

"The number of places available for resettlement internationally for the refugees in Malaysia is also shrinking fast, so we need to try and find a solution soon.

"Last year, we submitted 15,000 applications for resettlement but this year the number will be half of that because there is no longer the same degree of interest."

Of the applicants last year, only 11,000 got settled in third countries.

In January, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said Malaysia accepted refugees into the country out of compassion and as a temporary measure even though it is not a signatory to the UN protocols on refugees. This is because it has an international arrangment that third countries would take them in.

Wan Junaidi was quoted as saying the time has come for the UN to resettle these refugees to third countries because they cannot remain in Malaysia indefinitely.

Apparently, with the shrinking numbers and new realities, this is unlikely to happen.

For Towle, it is "unavoidable" that states now have to take a step forward and assume greater responsibility for managing refugees themselves.

"It is not possible in 2015 for the UN and particularly the UNHCR to do everything on their own. The size of the problem is too large and too complex and the solutions don't lie with UNHCR.

"We are in many ways a Band-Aid organisation. We apply interim help in the meantime but the problem for people is the lack of solutions," he says.

He notes that the refugee problem in Malaysia is almost entirely linked to the problem of Myanmar itself as 94 per cent of the refugees are from there.

People are fleeing because of persecution and serious human rights violations and he says that if nothing is done, that number will grow.

"For us, there are no humanitarian solutions for the refugee problem. There are only political solutions."

Towle says when large numbers leave their country, it affects "in deep ways" the situation and society of other countries and is no longer the domestic affair of one country.

"It has a serious impact on other countries. Malaysia is feeling that. So in our view, the answer is to find a peace-based and political solution in Myanmar itself," he says.

He points out that Malaysia, being the chair of Asean and having a two-year non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council, gets an "important opportunity" to raise this issue.

"In the meantime, we do what we can to try to manage the situation," he says.

Towle thinks Malaysia should step up to manage the refugee situation in the country and find a durable solution.

"If you give refugees the right to work, your cost goes down because they can then work lawfully and not be exploited by people or organisations that take money off them at every opportunity.

"And you can control where people live, who they are by biometric data. And they can pay taxes.

"If one of the main concerns is criminality, the best way to deal with it is through some sort of regularisation and programmes."

There is also a very real fear that if the Myanmar nationals are allowed to remain in Malaysia, they might carry over their ill feelings, conflict and fight on Malaysian soil.

Last year, there was a spate of brutal killings of Myanmar nationals in Penang which the police suspect is linked to the ethnic tensions between the Buddhists and Muslims in their own country. Some suspects have already been charged in court.

Towle acknowledges that this is a real concern that needs to be looked at.

"You don't want to have an export of sectarian or other kind of conflict into your own society. We have seen the spilling over of conflicts in other parts of the world. It is a real risk.

"I understand well the concerns of the problem but none of that addresses the answer. You can be concerned about criminality, violence, deaths and exploitation but one needs a plan to deal with it."

He thinks a regional cooperation framework to deal with these kind of challenges and issues in a comprehensive way is the way to go.

One of the reasons UNHCR is pushing for more government action with regards to the refugees is because it is stretched in other parts of the world.

"Our ability to provide support in the way we have in the past to Malaysia is getting less because we have fewer resources available to do this. That is why it is so important that we have a stronger working collaboration with the government," he explains.

Towle says UNHCR's collaboration with Malaysia currently is rather unusual compared to most other countries because there is very little interaction between the UN and the Malaysian government on refugee protection issues.

"The problem in Malaysia is that all responses to the refugees are dealt with by the UNHCR in isolation. We register, we process and we determine who gets protection and goes to school in the parallel education system (refugees are not allowed to attend national schools.)

"There is very little opportunity for direct engagement with the government on the management of refugees in health, education and livelihood or in registration. This is what we would like to change. It is very important that in 2015, these kind of issues are addressed."

He says the world today has changed and the responsibilities on government today is different from the 1970s and 1980s during the Indo-China boatpeople refugee crisis.

"The nature of global security is different, criminality is far more sophisticated. Organised smuggling and trafficking are a concern to all of us."

UNHCR, he adds, has data and the biometric prints of the UNHCR refugees and it would be helpful to work with the Malaysian government on this to share data so that they have a better understanding on who is here.

Towle believes there should be different responses to the different groups of refugees.

"We think there are end of refugee cycle opportunities for some groups, particularly the ethnic groups in Myanmar who are part of a peace process."

He says one-third of the Myanmar refugees here are the Chin people while 40 per cent are Rohingyas. While there is no guarantee if the Rohingyas will ever be able to return to their home country, the situation with the Chin is different as they no longer need refugee protection.

"So it makes sense for them to have the right to work here legally for a limited period of time. Their situation can later be reviewed, including the possiblity of them going home," he says.

There are also about 3,970 Sri Lankan refugees in Malaysia who came during the height of the fight between the Singhalese government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

That conflict is over now and Towle says UNHCR is no longer extending refugee protection for new Sri Lankan cases.

Towle says the situation in Sri Lanka has shifted a lot over the past three years and the refugees are able to go home. The UNHCR refugee card has a validity of three years.

"We try to have a constant review of the changing fortunes of countries of origin that produce refugees. That would be a normal and responsible way to manage. Otherwise we would be left with a one-way street.

"Why would the host nation buy into this if nobody ever goes home? There has to be an end if possible."

- See more at: http://news.asiaone.com

UNHCR launches biometrics system for Myanmar refugees

UNHCR biometrics identify 110,000 Myanmar refugees in Thailand The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has revealed details of a biometric system it has deployed in Thailand to register Myanmar refugees. The system has created biometric records for nearly 110,000 refugees since January, says the UN body, enabling it to also issue smart ID cards. UNHCR's new biometrics identity management system (BIMS), developed in cooperation with Accenture, is designed for registering and verifying the identities of displaced persons around the world. 

The system captures and stores fingerprints, iris data and facial images of individuals, providing those who are often undocumented with their only personal identity record. BIMS leverages the Unique Identity Service Platform (UISP), a software offering developed by Accenture, which works in conjunction with UNHCR’s existing case management system. "Biometrics will help refugees in the future as it ensures that once they've been through the system and enrolled with their fingerprints and irises, we'll always know who they are," said Sam Jefferies, UNHCR's Associate Biometrics Deployment Officer in Geneva. "If they lose their documentation, they can always come back to us." Bringing staff and technology to some of Thailand's most remote areas proved to be a logistical challenge. It involved transporting satellite equipment to camps with no phone or internet access, and moving delicate gear and over 75 UNHCR staff across rivers and over hundreds of kilometres of winding mountain roads along the Thai-Myanmar border in the span of 13 weeks. 

At the end of the verification exercise in Thailand, the refugees each received a smart card with their family's bio-data and photographs – securely encrypted and retrievable with UNHCR card readers even in remote places with no internet access. "With these cards we don't need to travel around with heavy equipment like a server," said UNHCR Representative Girard. "In the event of voluntary return, our teams in Myanmar will have a card reader in their backpack when they visit the field to document what has happened to returnees, and if they have received reintegration assistance. We will also pass on that information to other humanitarian actors and the authorities on the ground so that they can plan and deliver services in places where they are needed." John Smith, a refugee who works for the Karen Refugee Committee in Tham Hin camp in Ratchaburi province, said, "This verification is very important for me and for others who are refugees. 

The card can be decisive for our life in the future. If we have a chance to go back [to Myanmar], it will be good evidence for us to show to UNHCR or the Thai government. I tell the others to keep their smart card in a safe place, with their most precious things." - See more at: http://www.planetbiometrics.com/article-details/i/3223/desc/unhcr-launches-biometrics-system-for-myanmar-refugees/#sthash.cw1N2ckA.dpuf

UNHCR's new biometrics system helps verify 110,000 Myanmar refugees in Thailand.

© UNHCR/R. Arnold

In Thailand's Tham Hin camp, a UNHCR staff member captures the iris scan of a refugee from Myanmar for the new biometrics system.

THAM HIN CAMP, Thailand, June 30 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has completed its roll-out of a cutting-edge system to identify Myanmar refugees in Thailand's nine border camps.

Between January and May this year, UNHCR and the Royal Thai Government verified and updated the records of nearly 110,000 registered and unregistered refugees from Myanmar with the help of UNHCR's new biometrics identity management system (BIMS).

Thailand was chosen as the first site of the global roll-out, complementing plans to verify the bio-data of the camp population. Regular registration in the camps had been suspended 10 years ago, and the need to have updated information on family composition, births, deaths and marriages was growing increasingly urgent.

"The situation in Myanmar is changing and refugees are finding their own solutions outside the camps," said Mireille Girard, UNHCR's Representative in Thailand, noting that small numbers have started to return home on their own. "By understanding their family and individual situation in the camps –including those of the most vulnerable refugees – we can further improve our assessment of their situation before and after any movements. This will also enable us to target assistance and monitor more accurately."

Implemented jointly with Ministry of Interior officials and supported by UNHCR's NGO partners, the exercise involved close scrutiny of existing documents and physical verification of entire households. Refugee leaders in each camp helped to mobilize the population and encourage them to participate. The result is the most comprehensive protection and statistical review of this refugee population in 10 years.

© UNHCR/R. Arnold

A refugee in Tham Hin camp examines her new smart card containing a link to her family's bio-data in UNHCR's database.

Using BIMS meant that for the first time in UNHCR's history, each refugee's fingerprints and iris scan were collected and securely stored in UNHCR's online database, retrievable from anywhere in the world.

"Biometrics will help refugees in the future as it ensures that once they've been through the system and enrolled with their fingerprints and irises, we'll always know who they are," said Sam Jefferies, UNHCR's Associate Biometrics Deployment Officer in Geneva. "If they lose their documentation, they can always come back to us."

Bringing staff and technology to some of Thailand's most remote areas proved to be a logistical challenge. It involved transporting satellite equipment to camps with no phone or internet access, and moving delicate gear and over 75 UNHCR staff across rivers and over hundreds of kilometres of winding mountain roads along the Thai-Myanmar border in the span of 13 weeks.

At the end of the verification exercise in Thailand, the refugees each received a smart card with their family's bio-data and photographs – securely encrypted and retrievable with UNHCR card readers even in remote places with no internet access.

"With these cards we don't need to travel around with heavy equipment like a server," said UNHCR Representative Girard. "In the event of voluntary return, our teams in Myanmar will have a card reader in their backpack when they visit the field to document what has happened to returnees, and if they have received reintegration assistance. We will also pass on that information to other humanitarian actors and the authorities on the ground so that they can plan and deliver services in places where they are needed."

John Smith, a refugee who works for the Karen Refugee Committee in Tham Hin camp in Ratchaburi province, said, "This verification is very important for me and for others who are refugees. The card can be decisive for our life in the future. If we have a chance to go back [to Myanmar], it will be good evidence for us to show to UNHCR or the Thai government. I tell the others to keep their smart card in a safe place, with their most precious things."

By Vivian Tan, In Tham Hin camp, Thailand

Eyes Wide Shut: The challenge of humanitarian biometrics

The use of biometrics clearly has a role to play in humanitarianism. The challenge, says IRIN columnist Paul Currion, is to protect the disadvantaged, whose identities may be vital for accessing government services, while preventing powerful states and private companies who may seek to experiment or exploit.

By Paul Currion 

Photo: Petty Officer 2nd Class David Brandenburg/U.S. Navy

An Afghan policeman looks into a biometric eye scanner

BELGRADE, 26 August 2015 (IRIN) - Biometrics, for those of you who haven't spent the last 10 years swearing at the automated passport gates at Heathrow, is the use of human measurements for identification. The most familiar biometrics are fingerprints, but the computer-powered scanning of eyes and faces is being implemented in a growing range of contexts. The origins of modern biometrics lies in the identification of criminals, but it was the war on terror that turned biometrics into the $13.8 billion industry it is today.

As a result the technology has leapt ahead in recent years – and leapt into some surprising places. You might use your fingerprint to access your smartphone, but everybody gets fingerprinted now, including schoolchildren. Facebook can recognise you even if it can’t see your face, but even music festival organisershave decided that facial recognition technology is a good bet. Despitelongstanding concerns about privacy, biometrics clearly have their uses, and a growing range of sectors have been implementing them – including the humanitarian industry.

Biometrics in the humanitarian context are ostensibly focused on preventing identity fraud, but the basic dynamic was captured in this 2006 report from the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, in Malaysia:

“Nang Piang, a refugee from Myanmar, placed his finger tentatively on the biometrics scanner... ‘I don't know what it is for, but I do what UNHCR wants me to do,’ he said... ‘This is an important step for UNHCR Malaysia as we strengthen the security of our registration system to prevent fraud,’ said Volker Türk, head of UNHCR in Malaysia, ‘Such a security measure will certainly enhance the credibility of UNHCR's registration system in the eyes of the Malaysian government...’”

This statement makes clear that biometric registration is driven by the interests of national governments, technology companies and aid agencies – in that order. 

UNHCR's biometric system was initially funded by the EU and the US (specifically recommending funding “for early UNHCR use of mobile fingerprint technology developed by [the Department of Homeland Security]”). A number of companies have since been involved, including PA Consulting, who previously helped the UK government develop its border control biometrics, and one of whose former employees now works for the UN, overseeing global deployment of the system.

Critics of the industry focus on two concerns. Security is one: in 2008, for example, PA Consulting lost 84,000 biometric UK prisoner records – not through an act of cyber-crime, but because they were left on an unencrypted USB stick in an unlocked drawer in an unsecured office. Privacy, the second issue, is sometimes even more critical from a humanitarian perspective, because the privacy of vulnerable communities and individuals – many of whom may already be fleeing conflict or persecution – may be critical for their protection.

UNHCR has argued that biometric registration improves protection for refugees, but the question is clearly not settled. A recent study by Katja Lindskov Jacobsen pointed out that – while biometric registration may help to mitigate some vulnerabilities – the creation of the “digital refugee” may also create new vulnerabilities. These arrive precisely because this data can be shared between different actors for more than one purpose; to address problems faced by refugees, yes, but in a different context to frame refugees as the problem.

Government assurances of privacy are no guarantee. The European Commission promised that its EURODAC database of asylum applications would be protected, right up until 2012 when it agreed to allow Europol and other law enforcement agencies access to it. UNHCR expressed concerns about this, but the Commission went ahead anyway. UNHCR plunged on towards a global and centralised Biometric Identity Management System (BIMS) while only adopting adata protection policy in May 2015 – a policy that explicitly states that UNHCR “may transfer personal data [of refugees] to third parties.” That policy has safeguards built in, but the security of your data is only as secure as the weakest link in your chain – and, as noted above, that link might simply be somebody who forgets their USB stick.

This fits with a wider and more worrying pattern in the field of biometrics: it'smarginalised groups who are used as guinea pigs for new biometric applications, always with claims that it's for their own benefit. Privacy International has identified that in countries where democratic processes – such as parliamentary oversight and the rule of law – function more effectively, biometric schemes have been repeatedly challenged and rolled back by informed citizens. The real issue here is accountability – or lack thereof – precisely because humanitarian biometrics are being implemented in countries where those factors are weak to non-existent.

For example: one of the earliest uses of humanitarian biometrics dates back to 2003, helping UNHCR to establish that only 0.5% of Afghan returnees from Pakistan were trying to game the Afghanistan refugee return programme. Current President Ashraf Ghani promoted biometrics as the foundation for his country's social policy in his 2006 book “Fixing Failed States”, and the Afghan authorities have made it their goal “to fingerprint, photograph and scan the irises of every living Afghan.” This has made Afghanistan the most biometrically identifiable country in the world – although UNHCR and the Afghan government have both invested heavily in biometric databases, the US military has been the real driving force.

The use of biometrics clearly has benefits. The Centre for Global Development has given cautious and context-specific support to the broader principle of incorporating biometrics to bridge what they refer to as the identity gap – on the basis that the vulnerable and marginalised are usually required to submit to biometric registration to enable them to access government services. TheColumbia Human Rights Law Review comes down on the side of the legality and efficiency of biometric ID cards for refugees, if privacy concerns are fully addressed.

Photo: J. Ose/UNHCR Ethiopia

A member of a Somali family is fingerprinted by UNHCR staff

Yet it seems obvious that the individuals being registered are unlikely to be fully aware of the implications: a UNHCR article quotes Congolese refugee Olivier Mzaliwa saying: “I can be someone now. I am registered globally with the UN and you’ll always know who I am.” Even assuming that Olivier has been well-informed about the possible downsides of his registration (which seems doubtful, since it's not clear that UNHCR field staff themselves will be aware of these issues), he no longer has any control over this data about himself – and it is doubtful he has any means to regain that control, or even to find out how the data is being used. There is still a massive accountability gap.

Depending on where you lie on the political spectrum, registration of your identity is either an invaluable tool in the fight against poverty or an additional chapter in Seeing Like A State – although it’s probably both. Either way, the use of biometrics is only going to increase, particularly as we move towards mainstreaming cash distribution, where registration and verification are critical to ensure effective targeting and monitoring. Given this trend, we have an obligation to avoid using the bodies of the poor as experimental subjects, subject to an implicit assumption that they are all criminals – if not now, then at some unspecified point in the future.

We’ve seen in this article how biometric systems design has privileged the point of view of humanitarian organisations or national governments. Is it possible to develop a new design approach for managing identity, one that isn't a second-hand solution from companies looking to expand their market?

World Vision has explored one alternative in developing its Last Mile Mobile Solutions, making its concerns about biometrics clear. Building on this and other efforts, and incorporating the principles of participatory design, our starting point should be designing from the point of view of refugees, rather than our own organisations. Unfortunately the humanitarian community consistently fails to engage with that perspective, but this debate is more critical than ever, and not just for biometrics. The debate around design imperialism has died down, but it hasn’t disappeared, and digital design is becoming increasingly important.

So next time you’re swearing at the biometric passport scanner at the airport, remember that although your passport gives you the freedom to travel, that freedom is subject to surveillance and control. You might have more in common with refugees like Olivier Mzaliwa than you think; but unlike Olivier, at least you can choose your queue at the airport.

Sources : http://www.irinnews.org

Asia's Refugee Policy Vacuum

By Dr. Amy Nethery

August 27, 2015

The broad absence of asylum policy in the region is alarming and needs to be rectified.

The Asian region is host to the largest number of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced people in the world. Yet a broad absence of asylum policy at regional and domestic levels means that the region is ill-equipped to effectively respond to this problem.

This Asian asylum policy vacuum is the legacy of a long-standing antipathy towards the international refugee protection regime on the part of many Asian states, and a failure to adopt a regional approach to the issue. In early 2015, the Rohingya refugee crises challenged the region on the matter of this failure, and highlighted the devastating human effects of the absence of effective asylum policy.

The Asian asylum policy vacuum occurs on various policy levels. Asia has the fewest signatories to the Refugee Convention. Unlike Central America, Africa, or the Middle East, it has not formed its own region-wide protection frameworks to complement international law. Asian states generally prefer bilateral solutions, yet on this matter the region has the smallest number of formal bilateral or multilateral agreements. Similarly, on the level of state policy, many states have no policy on forced migration at all, and instead respond to refugees as an unauthorized migration issue.

The lack of support for the Refugee Convention from Asian states can be explained by the Eurocentric focus of the Convention at its time of creation. European states reeling from the Second World War, and others further afield, came together in an unprecedented way to address the problem of mass displacement. What came to be known as the Refugee Convention was drafted in a series of conferences in 1949 and 1950. Most Asian states were absent from the proceedings, however, and those who did take part expressed a sense of frustration that their contributions were marginalized.

At the same time as the Convention was being discussed in the meeting rooms of Europe, vast displacement was occurring throughout Asia: in 1947 an estimated 14 million people were displaced by the partition of India and Pakistan; in 1948 the establishment of Israel led to an exodus of 700,000 Palestinians; in 1950, 7 million North Koreans sought sanctuary in the South. Many Asian states felt that the Refugee Convention did not provide a solution or strategy for dealing with these situations, and worried that it placed undue burden on fledgling states barely able to provide for their own populations. Moreover, displacement in Asia was most often the result of the social and political change triggered by decolonization. In other words, these forced migrants did not fit the definition of refugee status agreed upon in Geneva.

Responses to the current Rohingya crisis illustrates a continued ambivalence towards refugees by many Asian states. China, who accommodates ethnic Chinese refugees but restricts access to the UNHCR, has declined to intervene when it comes to the more “politically costly” Rohingyas. India has absorbed groups of refugees in the past, including Rohingyas, but has been careful not to be involved on a political level. Japan is the world’s fourth largest donor to the UNHCR, but in 2014 resettled only 11 refugees. In response to the Rohingya crisis, Japanpledged $3.5million, but would not offer resettlement places.

Malaysia and Indonesia has agreed to offer temporary shelter to 7,000 Rohingya refugees. But Malaysia has hosted approximately 75,000 Rohingya refugees for many years before the current crisis, yet has no refugee law that might grant them healthcare, education or work rights, and implements regular crackdowns on “unauthorized migrants” resulting in detention, caning, and expulsion. Indonesia has traditionally been tolerant of the fewer refugees in its community, but within the last decade it has incrementally tightened its borders, including accepting Australian funding and support to open a network of detention centers, in which it detains asylum seekers indefinitely. Indonesia and Australia co-chair the Bali Process, the most recent attempt at a regional agreement on matters including asylum, but which sadly has been ineffective on the recent crisis.

Clearly, a region-wide coordinated response is required to address the gap. As the dominant intergovernmental organization in Southeast Asia, ASEAN has an important role to play. Established in 1967 as a forum for establishing trade cooperation and fostering regional stability, it has slowly extended its mandate to include some social issues. For the most part, however, twin principles of “good neighborliness” and “non-interference” have been central to ASEAN’s mode of operating. These principles manifest as a reluctance on the part of ASEAN members to involve themselves in what it regards as the internal sovereign matters of member states.

After many years of rejecting the notion that it had a role to play in human rights, ASEAN finally adopted aHuman Rights Declaration in 2012. On refugees, Article 16 of the Declaration states that “Every person has the right to seek and receive asylum in another State in accordance with the laws of such State and applicable international agreements.” The principle of non-interference thus remains. It is still early in the lifespan of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, so we are yet to see how Article 16 might play into states responses to forced migrants in the region. In the meantime, the Rohingya and other refugees in the region face significant challenges in their search for effective and durable protection.

Dr. Amy Nethery is a lecturer in Politics and Policy Studies at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. She researches asylum policy in Australia and Asia. Her most recent publication (with SJ Silverman) isImmigration Detention: The Migration of a Policy and it’s Human Impact (Routledge 2015).

http://thediplomat.com

Taking small steps for vulnerable migrants

Assistant Professor Track Jiyoung from the Singapore Administration College (SMU) Faculty of Social Sciences research why and the way individuals transfer. A mathematician by coaching, she recollects watching a documentary about North Korean orphans who had crossed the border into China and have been choosing up crumbs on the bottom to eat.

“As a fellow human being, I felt ashamed of myself for not doing something about it. I needed to do one thing for them however did not know what to do or the place to start out,” she sighs. However this pivotal second modified her life, and after finishing her Bachelor’s diploma in Arithmetic and a postgraduate diploma in Regulation, she plunged into work referring to human affairs.

A working stint as press secretary to a newly elected South Korean Member of Parliament gave her an actual sense of politics on the bottom. That was when she determined to finish her PhD in politics, human rights and migration. “Energy is the idea for any human or social affairs. I needed to know how energy shapes and transforms totally different human lives and the way it’s performed in another way in every society,” she says.

Karen refugees dwelling alongside the Thai-Burma border
Particularly, her analysis focuses on Burmese Karen refugees who at the moment are dwelling in camps alongside the Thai-Burma border. Citing the United Nations Improvement Programme (UNDP), Professor Music explains that human safety could be outlined alongside seven dimensions: private, group, political, financial, meals, well being and setting.

“For pressured migrants like refugees, private and political insecurities are the primary drivers for his or her departure. In short-term shelters just like the Karen camps in Thailand, primary meals and well being securities are assured by Non-Authorities Organisations (NGOs), however they nonetheless haven’t any financial or environmental securities. They don’t seem to be allowed to work or construct homes with everlasting supplies, and once they settle in third nations, they nonetheless face group insecurity.”

In a current two-week subject journey to one of many smallest Karen camps in Thailand, Professor Music carried out workshops and focus teams with youths aged between 15 and 26 years. She surveyed the place they needed to go to subsequent, given the context of the upcoming election in Myanmar in October 2015. “These youths will not be considered refugees as a result of the worldwide group sees their house nation as turning right into a democracy. They are going to be inspired to maneuver again house,” she notes.

She requested the respondents whether or not they needed to return residence; be socially built-in in Thailand; resettle in a 3rd nation; or keep within the refugee camp. She anticipated their responses to be just like a earlier survey, the place half had needed to return to Burma, and one other half eager to resettle within the US.

Her survey findings stunned her: one third of respondents needed to remain within the camp. The youths didn’t need to return to Myanmar, the place there have been no hospitals or faculties. Additionally they didn’t need to resettle in a 3rd nation, just like the US or Australia, as a result of they perceived problems with group safety – together with racism, lack of job safety and focused discrimination – to be prevalent.

Voluntary repatriation or pressured migration?
For this group of Karen youths, the refugee camps, regardless of affording them neither primary revenue nor environmental safety, had grow to be like house. Additional compounding their tenuous circumstances would be the worldwide group’s want for them to voluntarily repatriate themselves. The UN Excessive Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is coordinating conferences between the Thai and Burmese governments to debate potential relocation of the Karen refugees to a brand new port development space in Mergui, the East Coast of Burma.

“The approaching yr shall be essential for these refugees. What is going to circumstances be like of their new location? Will they’ve jobs and extra everlasting houses there? From their perspective, they see this as a type of pressured labour or slavery. They don’t need to be poorly paid development staff. They need to have a selection as to when and the place they go,” she says.

This big hole between actuality and notion – the place info is filtered by means of the refugees’ restricted social relations – have to be addressed, Professor Music provides. With this in thoughts, she is engaged on a paper about how voluntary repatriation could also be perceived as pressured migration from the refugee perspective, with the hopes that her findings shall be fed again to UNHCR and the broader worldwide group.

Migration administration is a multidisciplinary space of analysis, involving enterprise, economics, regulation, info methods, sociology, politics, anthropology, and public coverage. Therefore, Professor Track is collaborating with Professor Cheng Shih-Fen, a pc scientist from the SMU Faculty of Info Methods, and Professor Cheong Siew Ann, an utilized physicist from Nanyang Technological College, to develop agent-based fashions of migration, the place individuals’s mobility is simulated on a pc programme.

All these tasks contribute to Professor Music’s singular objective: to help coverage makers in serving to weak migrants and cellular populations. “That is the place I first began. I am learning people who need to be in protected locations, and in my capability as a researcher, that is how I consider I may also help.”

http://www.suffieldtimes.com

Two dozen suspected human trafficking victims found in Malaysia

Malaysian police investigating human trafficking camps at the border with Thailand have discovered mass graves containing 24 bodies. Earlier over a hundred graves were found in the area.


The remains were uncovered on Saturday in the Bukit Wang Burma area in the heavily forested region covering northern Malaysia and southern Thailand.

“Following on from the operation in which we found ... bodies of illegal immigrants, 24 more bodies have been found and dug up,” police said in a statement.

The bodies most likely belong to refugees from Myanmar, members of the persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority, Police Chief Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar told the Malaysian Insider.

The new graves were found near the site some 500 meters from the border, where Malaysian police found 28 abandoned refugee camps in May. At that time, the police reported finding 139 graves, some of them containing more than one set of remains of suspected victims of human traffickers.


Similar grim finds were reported by Thailand’s police earlier in May and by Malaysian police in April.

A major human trafficking path goes across the Thai-Malaysian border. The criminals transport people from Myanmar and Bangladesh to southeastern Asia.

The latest police crackdown drove traffickers to abandon thousands of migrants floating in overcrowded boats, resulting in a regional humanitarian crisis.

Malaysia’s response to refugees, migrants studied during U.S. bishops' trip

BY DENNIS SADOWSKI, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON - Exploitation and discrimination abound among refugees from Myanmar's ethnic minority communities who have landed in Malaysia, a five-member contingent from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops learned.

The extent of the struggles facing the Rohingya people, Muslims who have been denied recognition by the Myanmar government, and other ethnic minorities was disappointing to experience, said Kristyn Peck, associate director of children's services for Migration and Refugee Services at the USCCB.

Hundreds of refugees from Myanmar's ethnic minority communities flood Malaysia each month in the hope of a better life, only to find themselves being exploited, ignored or trafficked for sex and labour. Many have left Myanmar because their pleas for basic rights have been ignored by longtime military rulers as well as by recently elected civilian leaders.

Some Rohingya have fled only to be trapped aboard boats at sea as countries have refused them entry.

The delegation also met refugees from war-torn Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, all of whom are vulnerable to poverty, extortion and trafficking.

The contingent, including two bishops who chair USCCB committees, heard from immigrants, their advocates and Catholic and nongovernmental social service providers who described how non-Malay newcomers are often mistreated. In some cases, they are confronted on the street by police seeking bribes equal to about $12.50 under the threat of detention.

"The people who are fleeing Myanmar are so vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking while they're seeking refugee status. That process of seeking protection takes years and years," Peck said.

However, gaining refugee status does not guarantee that refugees are protected because Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees and they remain vulnerable until they leave the country," Peck explained.

The USCCB delegation is considering recommending in a future report that the Malaysian government provide work permits, that more countries accept refugees and those nations accepting them boost quotas, she said.

"It is shocking. What I think is so upsetting to me we are familiar with these issues. We're familiar with the suffering experienced by and how vulnerable immigrant and refugees are," Peck told Catholic News Service in an interview from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in mid-August, two weeks into a tour of four Southeast Asia nations that ended Aug. 20.

At a shelter outside of Kuala Lumpur -- which Peck declined to identify because of the threat that traffickers would track them down -- the contingent watched a performance by a small group of child refugees, all unaccompanied by an adult. Peck said it was readily apparent they were traumatized. Some had been forced to beg on the street; others had been forced to work for little or no pay while being mistreated by traffickers.

"We were advised they were not in a place to talk about their experience," Peck said.

In other meetings, including with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and Kuala Lumpur Archbishop Julian Leow Beng Kim and his staff, the USCCB representatives learned that detention "is not a great place."

Peck said the group heard how the detention facilities are crowded, often mixing men, women and children, and toilet facilities are few.

Despite several requests, the group was unable to meeting with Malaysian government officials to hear their point of view, Peck said.

"It would have been nice to have their perspective," she told CNS.

Those reports will include one to the USCCB at its annual fall assembly in November. The findings also will be shared in meetings on Capitol Hill and with the Department of State when the status of Southeast Asia refugees is discussed.

Despite the difficulties facing refugees, the State Department upgraded Malaysia's status on human trafficking from Tier 3, the lowest level, to the Tier 2 Watch List in its 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report.

Under the rankings, Tier 3 countries are considered those not adhering to standards under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and are not taking steps to do so. Tier 2 Watch List countries do not comply with the act's minimum standards "but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards."

The report said that the majority of people who are trafficked in Malaysia are among the 2 million documented and more than 2 million undocumented foreign workers in the country.

Sarah Sewall, undersecretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights at the State Department, said at a briefing when the report was released July 27 the upgrade reflects Malaysia's efforts to reform its response to trafficking.

She cited reforming victim protection services, adopting a pilot project to allow a limited number of trafficking victims to leave government facilities for work, consulting civil society in drafting amendments to anti-trafficking laws and increasing trafficking investigations and prosecutions from 2013 to 2014 as positive steps.

Despite the increased prosecutions, the number of convictions declined, which, Sewall said, was cause for concern.

"We also remain concerned with the restrictions on victims detained in government facilities and in adequate efforts to address pervasive passport retention by employers," she said. "The TIP Report documents these concerns and will continue to work over the course of the next year with the government to impress upon them and support their efforts for change."

In Congress and elsewhere, talk has emerged that the upgrade came to allow Malaysia to fully participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal being negotiated among the U.S. and Asian countries.

Sewall declined to address the issue, saying that the State Department assessed Malaysia's status only as it pertained under the 15-year-old Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

Malaysia was the third stop on the USCCB contingent's agenda. They also visited Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia, exploring the status of minority communities, refugees, unaccompanied migrating children and people being trafficked for sex or labor throughout the region.

The contingent included Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, New Mexico, chairman of the Committee onInternational Justice and Peace; Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio L. Elizondo of Seattle, chairman of the Committee on Migration; Kevin Appleby, director of migration and refugee policy for the USCCB; and Matthew Wilch, refugee policy adviser for the bishops.

http://www.catholicregister.org

Five bishops learn about refugee abuse in Malaysia

BY DENNIS SADOWSKI 

Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Exploitation and discrimination abound among refugees from Myanmar’s ethnic minority communities who have landed in Malaysia, a five-member contingent from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops learned.

The extent of the struggles facing the Rohingya people, Muslims who have been denied recognition by the Myanmar government, and other ethnic minorities was disappointing to experience, said Kristyn Peck, associate director of children’s services for Migration and Refugee Services at the USCCB.

Hundreds of refugees from Myanmar’s ethnic minority communities flood Malaysia each month in the hope of a better life, only to find themselves being exploited, ignored or trafficked for sex and labor. Many have left Myanmar because their pleas for basic rights have been ignored by longtime military rulers as well as by recently elected civilian leaders.

Some Rohingya have fled only to be trapped aboard boats at sea as countries have refused them entry.

The delegation also met refugees from war-torn Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, all of whom are vulnerable to poverty, extortion and trafficking.

The contingent, including two bishops who chair USCCB committees, heard from immigrants, their advocates and Catholic and nongovernmental social service providers who described how non-Malay newcomers are often mistreated. In some cases, they are confronted on the street by police seeking bribes equal to about $12.50 under the threat of detention.

“The people who are fleeing Myanmar are so vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking while they’re seeking refugee status. That process of seeking protection takes years and years,” Peck said.

However, gaining refugee status does not guarantee that refugees are protected because Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees and they remain vulnerable until they leave the country,” Peck explained.

The USCCB delegation is considering recommending in a future report that the Malaysian government provide work permits, that more countries accept refugees and those nations accepting them boost quotas, she said.

“It is shocking. What I think is so upsetting to me we are familiar with these issues. We’re familiar with the suffering experienced by and how vulnerable immigrant and refugees are,” Peck told Catholic News Service in an interview from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in mid-August, two weeks into a tour of four Southeast Asia nations that ended Aug. 20.

At a shelter outside of Kuala Lumpur — which Peck declined to identify because of the threat that traffickers would track them down — the contingent watched a performance by a small group of child refugees, all unaccompanied by an adult. Peck said it was readily apparent they were traumatized. Some had been forced to beg on the street;others had been forced to work for little or no pay while being mistreated by traffickers.

“We were advised they were not in a place to talk about their experience,” Peck said.

In other meetings, including with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and Kuala Lumpur Archbishop Julian Leow Beng Kim and his staff, the USCCB representatives learned that detention “is not a great place.”

Peck said the group heard how the detention facilities are crowded, often mixing men, women and children, and toilet facilities are few.

Despite several requests, the group was unable to meeting with Malaysian government officials to hear their point of view, Peck said.

“It would have been nice to have their perspective,” she told CNS.

Those reports will include one to the USCCB at its annual fall assembly in November. The findings also will be shared in meetings on Capitol Hill and with the Department of State when the status of Southeast Asia refugees is discussed.

Despite the difficulties facing refugees, the State Department upgraded Malaysia’s status on human trafficking from Tier 3, the lowest level, to the Tier 2 Watch List in its 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report.

Under the rankings, Tier 3 countries are considered those not adhering to standards under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and are not taking steps to do so. Tier 2 Watch List countries do not comply with the act’s minimum standards “but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.”

The report said that the majority of people who are trafficked in Malaysia are among the 2 million documented and more than 2 million undocumented foreign workers in the country.

Sarah Sewall, undersecretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights at the State Department, said at a briefing when the report was released July 27 the upgrade reflects Malaysia’s efforts to reform its response to trafficking.

She cited reforming victim protection services, adopting a pilot project to allow a limited number of trafficking victims to leave government facilities for work, consulting civil society in drafting amendments to anti-trafficking laws and increasing trafficking investigations and prosecutions from 2013 to 2014 as positive steps.

Despite the increased prosecutions, the number of convictions declined, which, Sewall said, was cause for concern.

“We also remain concerned with the restrictions on victims detained in government facilities and in adequate efforts to address pervasive passport retention by employers,” she said. “The TIP Report documents these concerns and will continue to work over the course of the next year with the government to impress upon them and support their efforts for change.”

In Congress and elsewhere, talk has emerged that the upgrade came to allow Malaysia to fully participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal being negotiated among the U.S. and Asian countries.

Sewall declined to address the issue, saying that the State Department assessed Malaysia’s status only as it pertained under the 15-year-old Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

Malaysia was the third stop on the USCCB contingent’s agenda. They also visited Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia, exploring the status of minority communities, refugees, unaccompanied migrating children and people being trafficked for sex or labor throughout the region.

The contingent included Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, New Mexico, chairman of the Committee onInternational Justice and Peace; Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio L. Elizondo of Seattle, chairman of the Committee on Migration; Kevin Appleby, director of migration and refugee policy for the USCCB; and Matthew Wilch, refugee policy adviser for the bishops.

http://catholicphilly.com

Foreigners or refugees? – Shaun Kang

In recent days, a certain minister had made critical comments on refugees/asylum seekers whom he loosely labeled as foreigners.

The distinction in terminology is a technical one and must be underlined. The former enjoys rights and protection under international law. The latter, as defined by the Oxford dictionary, carries the meaning of a “person born in or coming from a country other than one’s own”. A foreigner as such, is not necessarily a refugee/asylum seeker.

In essence, refugees are persons “who have a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion … who are unable or unwilling because of such fear to return to their country.“ (Article 1A, Refugee Convention).

On the other hand, foreigners may include economic migrants who come to the country merely for economic purposes.

Accordingly, not making this distinction at the outset is misleading and at best, unfortunate.

As with any civilised discourse, a courteous reply is called for. Below are a few noteworthy points in response to the minister’s statement. Excerpts of his statement are attached for ease of reference.

A. Diplomatic status and the issuance of the UNHCR card

“The UNHCR Office has no diplomatic status and they have to stop issuing refugee cards immediately."

Diplomatic status does not affect the issuance of a UNHCR card. The UNHCR is mandated to provide international protection to persons of concern. In fact, one may argue that UNHCR could potentially be held liable under international law, specifically the Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations, for failing in its mandate to provide “international protection” to refugees, should it cease to issue refugee cards to those who fulfil the requirements.

In countries where the State is unable or unwilling to deal with the refugee issue, UNHCR’s role has been, unfortunately, to do it for or on behalf of the government – if anything, UNHCR is undertaking this task which in actual fact should be the State’s responsibility.

B. Deportation of those detained

“[The minister] want[s] the detained immigrants deported to their home countries to avoid overcrowding of camps.”

On the premise that the immigrants referred to are refugees/asylum seekers, any act of deportation by the Malaysian government is prima facie, a violation of international law.

There are a few points to note here. Contrary to popular belief, Malaysia remains bound by certain principles expounded by the Refugee Convention, even though it has not acceded to the Convention (by the fact that certain principles are today, customary international law).

Second, international law dictates, pursuant to the principle of non-refoulment, that the Government cannot forcibly return refugees/asylum seekers to a country in which they are liable to be subjected to persecution.

Third, this principle covers persons who are refugees/asylum seekers, with or without the refugee card which is merely declaratory in nature. Hence, deportation of refugees/asylum seekers is legally and morally incompatible.

C. Foreigners involved in crime

“The government does not want them involved in crimes, for example in Myanmar, to come to Malaysia obtain refugee cards through an easy interview process.”

First, not all foreigners who arrive in Malaysia, have committed crimes in their respective country of origin.

Second, as mentioned, I believe these foreigners referred to are refugees/asylum seekers, whom by status enjoy protection and specific rights under international law.

Third, it is presumptuous that UNHCR gives out cards to refugees/asylum seekers who had committed crimes in their country of origins.

Fourth, the interviews conducted by UNHCR are anything but simple. The process of refugee status determination is a complex fact-finding exercise and these are conducted by highly trained personnel with professional expertise in the area of work. Assessments are made based on well-established internal guidelines that are derived from the Refugee Convention (acceded by 146 States) and in line with international law.

D. Nation’s security and job opportunities are affected

“[T]here were complaints from the public on the flooding of foreigners, affecting the nation's security and job opportunities.”

It is unclear how issuing a UNHCR Card to refugees/asylum seekers is a threat to the nation’s security, and in what context security is being referred to. Security and jobs are indeed vital points which should not be given any less attention. However, to make such an assertion would require statistics to prove refugees/asylum seekers have threatened security and had taken away jobs which otherwise would have been filled by locals. Hence, a premature point.

E. National ppplication procedure for refugee status

"Foreigners wanting to apply for refugee status have to go through procedures as required by the laws in the country.”

At the time of writing, it appears that there are no procedures provided by any law in the country for “foreigners” to apply for refugee status. 

F. Conclusion

It is clear that prohibiting UNHCR from issuing the UNHCR cards is counter-productive and wholly unjustified. Refugee cards are the only source of identification for many refugees. It is an all too important document, without which resettlement to a third country would only be nothing more than a distant dream. I would argue that refugee cards have, in fact, assisted the Government in being able to identify and distinguish whether an individual is in Malaysia for leisure, work or to seek refuge in accordance with international law.

On that note, refugees/asylum seekers are not merely foreigners. They are persons who have fulfilled certain criteria under international law. They are unquestionably not in Malaysia on their own terms. Most importantly, they are our fellow human beings, who fled from their country for a variety of reasons, often including, torture, murder, rape, arbitrary arrests and deprivation of citizenship.

Malaysia is a member of the international community which plays by the rule of international law. It has shown its commitment to international law, most recently through its participation in proposing a motion in the UN Security Council for the establishment of a Criminal Tribunal in relation to the MH 17 incident. This commitment should extend beyond the purview of its own interest to include other areas of international law such as in addressing refugee rights.

International law is clear on this front, deportation of refugees/asylum seekers is a gross violation of international law. Certainly, Malaysia cannot draw the sword of international law in the eyes of an international forum, while trampling the sanctity of it in its own backyard. – August 16, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Myanmar migrants in M’sia tell their stories

By EngageMedia

Fleeing from prolonged conflict and persecution in Myanmar, hundreds of thousands of ethnic minorities find themselves living as refugees in neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia. In Malaysia alone, there are an estimated 150,000 refugees from Myanmar, with possibly a third of them not registered with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

In 2013, to highlight their stories and those of other migrant communities, EngageMedia began collaborating with Citizen Journalists Malaysia (CJMY) on Crossroads, an advocacy video project to teach migrant rights activists video production and distribution skills.

‘In Search of Shelter’ is part of the collection of 12 videos that were produced, and highlights the plight of the Myanmar refugee community in Malaysia.

In the video, asylum seekers share how they have united and combined resources to establish access to basic services like health clinics and primary schools for their children. However, they also face many hurdles related to the difficulties in getting registered as refugees with the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia, such as how many of the teachers in the schools they set up are themselves arrested by the police due to their lack of legal status.

Malaysia, which has stated that it will not sign the United Nations convention on refugees, also does not have any legal framework for national asylum and does not distinguish between refugees and undocumented migrants, leaving refugees at constant risk of detention, deportation and abuse. An undercover investigation by Al-Jazeera in 2014 revealed that some refugees pay up to $1,000 for official refugee status in Malaysia, as part of an illegal trade allegedly involving the UN Refugee Agency itself.

At one of the community screenings of Crossroads we held in Malaysia, we found that 80 to 90 per cent of those present have had personal experiences of being harassed by the police or faced problems with permits and employers. One member of the audience pointed out that there had been incidences where even if they produced their registered refugee card or supporting letter, the document was simply torn up by the authorities that had approached them.

With continued reports of acts of injustice and exploitation committed against refugees in Malaysia, it remains to be seen how its government and the UNCHR will effectively address this grave and growing situation.

EngageMedia

With a firm belief in freedom of expression and without prejudice, FMT tries its best to share reliable content from third parties. Such articles are strictly the writer’s personal opinion. FMT does not necessarily endorse the views or opinions given by any third party content provider.

Police asked to probe UNHCR in Malaysia over issuing of refugee cards

SHAHIDAN: What the UNHCR office is doing is wrong because they did not inform the Home Ministry and the Immigration Department.

ALOR SETAR: Police were asked to investigate the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Malaysia for issuing refugee cards without the consent of the Malaysian government.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said what the UNHCR office is doing is wrong because they did not inform the Home Ministry and the Immigration Department. 

"They (UNHCR) are like a 'government within a government'. Malaysia was not among the countries which signed the 1951 Convention on the Refugee Status or the 1967 Protocol. 

"The UNHCR Office has no diplomatic status and they have to stop issuing refugee cards immediately. 

"I urge the police to come in and investigate how these cards were issued just like that," he said. 

Shahidan who is responsible for National Security Council (NSC) affairs, also want the detained immigrants deported to their home countries to avoid overcrowding of camps. 

Shahidan said there were complaints from the public on the flooding of foreigners, affecting the nation's security and job opportunities. 

"Any foreigner who wants to apply for refugee status have to follow the proper channels as defined by the laws of this country. 

"The government does not want them involved in crimes, for example in Myanmar, to come to Malaysia obtain refugee cards through an easy interview process," he said after opening the Wanita Umno division delegates meeting in Alor Setar today. 

Shahidan said in a recent case, 150 refugee families have invaded some lands in Rompin, where their actions were reported by the state of Pahang. 

He called for the police and the Immigration Department to regard UNHCR refugee card holders as illegal immigrants and take appropriate action.

Meanwhile, statistics show that Malaysia was currently flooded with 130,000 holders of the refugee card issued by the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur, mostly from Myanmar and Bangladesh.


Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said the UNHCR should consult the Home Ministry and the Immigration Department before issuing the cards.

"The UNHCR office is doing it wrong by issuing the (refugee) cards without informing the Home Ministry and the Immigration Department.

"They (UNHCR) have no diplomatic status and should stop issuing the card immediately. I want the police to investigate how can the card be issued like that," he told reporters after opening the Alor Setar UMNO divisional delegates meeting here today.

He said Malaysia was not among the countries which signed the 1951 Convention on the Refugee Status or the 1967 Protocol.

Foreigners wanting to apply for refugee status have to go through procedures as required by the laws in the country, he added. Shahidan said Malaysia was currently flooded with 130,000 holders of the refugee card issued by the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur.

We do not want foreigners involved in crime in their respective country of origin to come to Malaysia and be given the UNHCR card through a simple interview, he added.

He also mentioned a case of illegal occupation of state land by 150 refugee families in Rompin and the matter had been reported to the Pahang government.

Malaysia could no longer accommodate foreigners and those caught breaking the law should be deported to their countries of origin immediately, he added.

– Bernama