Are elections enough to bring about a true democracy?

On 8 November, Myanmar is due to hold a general election. Cardinal Charles Bo raises questions regarding key issues such as human rights, economic inequalities and social and religious discrimination

PAOLO AFFATATO, ROME

Everyone agrees that it will be a decisive step in the country’s history: the general election in Myanmar, which have just been announced for November 8th, will be the first since the country moved from military dictatorship to civil government in March 2011. 

This coming autumn’s election represents an important step along the country’s journey towards democracy and could definitively do away with the “generals in civilian clothes” who, as capable transformists, have stayed in power until now.

There are a total of 1,100 seats that need to be filled, including those of the two-chamber National Parliament and those of the provincial assemblies. The new Parliament will have the task of electing the President of the nation. 

There are two main contending parties: the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) which is currently in power and full of former members of the military and the National League for Democracy (NLD), headed by Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi. The two parties are the same ones that came head to head in the last democratic elections the country held in 1990. Aung San Suu Kyi won with an overwhelming majority but the military junta nullified the election result.

The Catholic Church shares in the view that this is a “historic moment” for the Burmese people. In a majority Buddhist country, there is a small approximately 500,000-strong community of Catholics who form 1% of Myanmar’s population.

The Church asks one fundamental question: are elections sufficient in defining a democracy and determining how democratic a country is? It answers by highlighting how essential the following principles are amongst others: human rights, religious freedom, inter-denominational harmony, respect and peaceful co-existence with ethnic minorities, equal opportunities and fighting against poverty and economic and social inequalities.

On behalf of the Catholic Church, Burmese cardinal Charles Maung Bo, esteemed Archbishop of Yangon and an influential public figure who speaks frankly, raised doubts and offered hints for collective reflection and the common good of the country.

In a shrewd analysis of the situation, Bo mentioned “seven swords that pierce the nation’s heart”: a nepotistic capitalism, where a few families possess most of the wealth; a refusal to resolve conflicts through dialogue, opting for violence instead; unfair laws that continue to deprive farmers of their land; a criminal economy of drugs and human trafficking; discrimination against ethnic minorities; the destruction of natural resources and scarce educational and occupational opportunities for the poor.

With this in mind, the cardinal sent out a heartfelt appeal to political leaders, inviting them to be “good parents to the whole nation”. “In accordance with our traditions, as ‘parents of the people’, our political leaders have the right and duty to promote the wellbeing of everyone,” he said in a message published by Vatican news agency Fides.

The Archbishop of Yangon recalled the expectations of the Burmese people, with 50 years of dictatorship at an end and a democratic transition in full swing. Bo pointed to the hair-raising figures of the latest census: 40% of the Burmese population lives under the poverty line and in some states, such as Chin and Rakine, poverty levels reach 70%. And poverty generates the migration phenomenon: there are over 200,000 displaced people within the country and thousands more Burmese refugees in neighbouring countries.

The cardinal clearly stated that “political leaders did not fulfil our expectations: they have become the guardians of a nepotistic capitalism in an economy that is purely motivated by profit,” putting the interests of the élites above all else.

Another sore spot: leaders have been unable to control widespread acts of hatred and intolerance committed by extremist religious groups, for example, the violent “ethnic cleansing” campaign promoted by the nationalist Buddhist fringe against Rohingya Muslims. The conflict with ethnic minorities - given the nation’s mosaic of ethnicities - is another key question that has led to the hypothesis of a federal state being considered as a solution.

Bo raised some serious questions: “Will political leaders manage to avoid discriminating against citizens on the basis of ethnicity or religion? Will they be able to accept equality and build a united nation?”

Principles such as respect for the human rights of everyone, unity and equality are at the root of democracy. This is the message that the Church is trying to get across ahead of an electoral competition that could mark the start of a new era in Myanmar.

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it

Burmese refugees meet with bishop from their home country before World Meeting of Families

Bishop Felix Lian Khen Thang of the Diocese of Kalay in Myanmar speaks with Burmese refugees Sept. 21 at Catholic Charities’ offices in Camden.

Photo by Joanna Gardner

For the Burmese refugees who gathered on the afternoon of Sept. 21 at Catholic Charities’ offices in Camden, the World Meeting of Families started a day early.

Dozens of Burmese refugee families living in South Jersey gathered to meet with a religious leader from their home country, Bishop Felix Lian Khen Thang of the Diocese of Kalay in Myanmar, the Southeast Asian nation formerly known as Burma.

The bishop, like so many other pilgrims from around the world, had come to the United States to participate in the international gathering of families and the pope’s visit.

Soft-spoken in conversation, the 56-year-old bishop became energetic as he addressed the more than 40 men, women and children gathered, in their native Burmese.

He urged them to prioritize education for their children but to hold on to their heritage.

“I’m trying to encourage them to work very hard, to give priority to education for the children. … and at the same time to keep our dialect and culture; to integrate here but not forget their own language,” Bishop Thang said. “They are longing, thirsting, to hear their own dialect.”

After the meeting, he greeted each attendee individually, shaking hands, joking and taking pictures with the families, many of whom came dressed in brightly-colored traditional clothing. Some had lived in the United States for years, while others had only just arrived, like Maria Hoih, who came to the United States with her husband and two children in late June.

“My bishop is here,” Hoih said, speaking in Burmese. “I’m very proud to be Catholic.”

The stop in South Jersey is the last in a long United States trip for Bishop Thang, who stopped in seven states in less than three weeks for pastoral visits with Burmese Catholic communities in Los Angeles, Portland, Tulsa and St. Louis, to name a few, prior to his arrival in Philadelphia on Monday.

Ethnic, religious and political persecution under a repressive military government that gripped Myanmar for 50 years forced thousands to flee the country between 1962 and 2012. As a result, Burmese are scattered throughout the world. Many lived for decades in temporary, desperately poor refugee camps in Malaysia, Thailand or Nepal before settling in a third country permanently, such as the U.S.

The U.S. saw an influx of Burmese refugees in the mid 2000s. More than 80,000 Burmese refugees have been resettled in the United States since 2004. The nation is home to more than 20,000 Burmese Catholics.

“They all are lost sheep, our faithful. It’s easy to forget our own identity,” Bishop Thang said.

“The United States is made up of immigrants. That’s our history. Each community of people that comes to the U.S. faces the struggle of adapting to the new culture while holding on to their own heritage, their identity,” said Kevin Hickey, executive director of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Camden, in remarks to the gathering of Burmese families. “And that’s part of being an American: holding on to that heritage.”

Catholic Charities estimates that it has resettled more than 300 Burmese refugees in South Jersey. Often new arrivals are placed in the same apartment complex as other Burmese families, forming tight-knit pockets of Burmese culture.

One such community exists in Somerdale, near Our Lady of Guadalupe in Lindenwold where many Burmese Catholics attend Mass. The community has been supported and embraced by the parish, under the leadership of pastor Father Joseph Capella, who started a shuttle service with the Burmese community in mind to help people get to Mass on Sundays.

The rectory grounds house community gardens sponsored by Catholic Charities’ refugee resettlement program where many of the Burmese grow their own food. Several Burmese students are enrolled in the parish school this year.

When Francis Kap Lian, a Burmese case manager with Catholic Charities’ program, learned that Bishop Thang and another visiting Burmese priest from the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma, were coming to Philadelphia, he asked Father Capella if the parish might have room for two guests.

Not only was there room, but the living arrangement will allow Bishop Thang to say Mass in Burmese multiple times for the community at the parish during his stay.

For Father Capella, it’s all part of the broader theme of family.

“I truly believe the Holy Spirit working through the church, and the current Holy Father wants us to focus on our mission of love, which is the theme of the World Meeting of Families,” Father Capella said. “What does it mean to be a human family?”

Father Capella’s parish is one of great diversity, with parishioners representing several Latin American and African countries and the Philippines. His description of what a parish family should be complements Bishop Thang’s “both-and” message for immigrants from his country: both assimilation and preservation of a unique heritage.

“We seek community. We’re wired for that. We follow a Trinitarian God, that community of Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” Father Capella said. “We need to reach out to them to let them know that they’re a part of us and we’re a part of them. Not just ‘you join us,’ but ‘we join you’ as well. Both of us have things to learn to see where God wants to move us together.”

Do you give a damn about refugees and asylum seekers?

“Do you give a damn about the refugees and the asylum seekers?”

This question was directed to no one but myself. A question that surfaced three years ago when I was undergoing a training program by Tenaganita, a non-governmental organization that champions refugees’ rights.

The answer was, “No.”

I did not give a damn about the refugees and the asylum seekers.

While my answer to the titular question may disappoint many of my then trainers, this is, unfortunately, the cold hard truth.

I was randomly picked to participate in the program three years ago to fulfill one of the mandatory requirements to become a lawyer. I was trained to provide legal help to the refugees and the asylum seekers. I pushed myself to complete every task assigned to me to my level best out of pride, but not empathy. Even then, due to time constraints, the training program merely gave me rudimentary knowledge of the convoluted system in Malaysia in relation to the problem. I was as clueless back then as I am now.

I remember one of the first things that my then peers and I first learned was how to be politically correct in referring to the asylum seekers and refugees as documented and undocumented, depending on whether they were issued with an identity card by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for resettlement to third countries.

Ironically, it became an automatic mental relief to many of us then trainees when a refugee who came to Tenaganita’s centre for help was documented, as if there was some form of higher protection over them and that they would be well taken care of with whatever intangible inherent rights that came with such status.

A mild case of “political correctness gone mad”? Perhaps so, but whatever it was that I learned, it was certainly a sugar-coated version of what was already a harsh reality. The reality is, in fact, far harsher than the mirage created by the ideology of political correctness.

By no means am I saying that I am better at nomenclature. However, I would have called a spade a spade. Refugees and asylum seekers are, by all means, illegal immigrants.

A refugee, as defined by the UN’s Refugee Convention 1951, is someone who owes to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country. On the other hand, an asylum seeker is someone who says he or she is a refugee, but whose claim has not yet been definitively evaluated.

Notwithstanding the clear distinction on definitions provided by the Refugee Convention 1951, they are the same in the eyes of the law of Malaysia. They are both “illegal immigrants” under Section 6(1) of the Immigration Act 1959/63.

At this juncture, I would like to emphasize that whether a refugee or an asylum seeker is documented or otherwise, no amount of political correctness can change the fact that the same legal rights, or the lack thereof, are accorded to them. They can be detained, arrested, and even whipped. They have no employment rights whatsoever. If at all there should be a change of definition on them, it should not be one that is sociological through political correctness, but one that is legal through legislation.

While it is acknowledged that, on record, there has been a reduction in immigration raids and detention over UNHCR card holders, these refugees are still subject to exploitation by employers due to the lack of employment rights. Since they are still illegal immigrants in the eyes of the law, there are also allegedly many UNHCR card holders who are exploited by the police by way of threat of arrest.

Perhaps, up to this point, there would be some empathetic readers who would hope that there was some sort of moral epiphany that overcame me, and that I should, in fact, give a damn about the refugees and the asylum seekers. Unfortunately, empathy is a rare gift, and is one that I do not profess to have. Altruism is an abstract concept that I can never comprehend.

Fortunately for me, I am blessed with brilliant friends—friends from diverse backgrounds, including refugees, many of whom I got the privilege to know from the very same training program by Tenaganita. I am even more fortunate that I live in a country that practices the principle of judicial precedent. I know that any one successful case in the court of law may serve my vested interest for the well-being of my friends well. I was not fighting for social justice. It was an incidental outcome of my selfish endeavour. I later came to know that this is what is known as “strategic litigation.”

In short, “strategic litigation” is a method that aims to bring about significant changes in the law, practice or public awareness through selected cases to court.

A relevant example of the subject matter would be the case of Tun Naing Oo v Public Prosecutor, which has set a precedent that refugees and asylum seekers who are found guilty under Section 6(1) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 should not be punished with whipping unless they have committed acts of violence or brutality, or are habitual offenders, or have threatened our public order.

I certainly do not stand on higher moral grounds to urge anyone to care for others, be it for the refugees, asylum seekers, or any other categories of people suffering from any issues on human rights or the lack thereof. However, with our current system, one man’s plight is another man’s problem. Likewise, one man’s salvation is another man’s solution.

Do I give a damn about my friends and family?

At least, for this last question, I can proudly say “yes.”

* The First Strategic Litigation Conference (SLC) in Malaysia will be co-hosted by the Bar Council Human Rights Committee (BCHRC) and the Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism & Human Rights (MCCHR) on 3rd October 2015 at Parkroyal Kuala Lumpur. The one-day conference is aimed to connect the judiciary, the legal practitioners, the academicians and the law students to provide fresh impetus on the latest developments in the area of strategic litigation in Malaysia. For more information, kindly contact Mazni at mazni@loyarburok.com or 03-2011 1454.

 http://www.themalaymailonline.com/

South Korea to Grant Work and Housing to 30 Myanmar Refugees as Part of U.N. Resettlement Program, Justice Ministry Says

The Ministry of Justice of South Korea confirmed on Monday that the government is taking steps to welcome 30 Myanmar refugees as part of a United Nations-led resettlement initiative for refugees.

In a Yonhap News Report on Sept. 15 it was said that the Ministry of Justice is screening eligible Myanmar refugees who are currently living in the Mae Sot camp near the Myanmar-Thailand border. 30 selected candidates will be brought into South Korea in December where they will be granted benefits and opportunities.

South Korea is the second Asian country to help facilitate the resettlement of refugees after Japan, which first accepted refugees in 2010, Jakarta Post writes.

This move from the South Korean government is in line with the resettlement program established by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, which was brought to life two years after South Korea's Refugee Act of 2013 took effect.

Under the resettlement program South Korea will bring in 30 refugees from Myanmar starting this year until 2017. "We will run a pilot project to admit 30 refugees every year until 2017 and see whether we will continue the program after monitoring the results," a representative from the Ministry of Justice said.

Those selected will be granted refugee status and F-2 visas that will allow them to live and work in South Korea.

To help them transition into their new lives, the refugees will undergo Korean language courses and trainings for employment for a period six to 12 months at a support center for refugees located in the west port city of Incheon. After they complete these programs, the refugees will then be transported to their official settlements.

KBS World Radio also reports that United Nation's resettlement program is now being implemented in 28 other countries including the U.S., Australia, and Japan.

The South Korean government chose refugees from Myanmar because its people allegedly share a similar cultural background, and also there is already an established Burmese community in the country.

Korea to resettle 30 Burmese refugees

By Kim Se-jeong

Korea will bring 30 Burmese refugees from a border town between Thailand and Myanmar to help them resettle here in the nation's first resettlement program.

Selection work is underway for the Karen people at the refugee camp in Mae Sot with the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), according to the Ministry of Justice, Monday.

About 30 Karen people will be brought to Korea in December. The resettlement program came after Korea established its own refugee law in 2013.

"Resettlement refugees" refers to those who are displaced, mostly living in refugee camps, and who hope to settle in a third country.

A host country usually selects them and brings them into its country following the UNHCR's recommendation.

Twenty-eight countries have accepted such refugees, mostly European and North American. Japan was the first Asian country to accept refugees under such a system in 2010.

"We have chosen Karen refugees because we believe they will have the most peaceful and fastest transition into Korean society," said a ministry official, asked to be identified only as Jeong.

Out of 522 people who have been recognized as refugees here since Korea started accepting refugees in 1994, 158 are Karens and the Karen community in Korea is sizable and active, Jeong said.

"We believe this community can help them settle in Korea," he said.

The refugees will be taught the Korean language and receive job training for up to a year. They will be granted refugee status and receive F-2 visas.

The Karen National Union began waging a war against the Central Myanmar (then Burma) government in early 1949.

Today, almost 400,000 Karen refugees are believed to live in Western Thailand.

The ministry said the resettlement program was a pilot project, and after carrying it out through 2017, the ministry will decide whether to continue the project.

The latest announcement came amid high public attention on refugee issues, especially people from Syria.

More than 12,000 people have applied for refugee status in Korea since 1994, of whom about 760 have been Syrians.

Kim Seong-in, secretary general of Nansen, an NGO that helps asylum-seekers in Korea, criticized the government for going against the international trend.

"The Syrian refugee crisis is a big issue around the world, and other developed countries have come forward to accept these refugees," Kim said.

Only three out of the 760 Syrian asylum seekers have gained refugee status here.

"We shouldn't stay silent," Kim said. "I urge the government to increase the size of resettlement refugees and accept some from Syria."

But Jeong said, "There are so many displaced people around the world. The Syrian refugee issue is serious but it receives ample attention and support. The Korean government's approach is to take care of other vulnerable people when the world's attention is on Syria."

skim@ktimes.com

Volunteers help refugees from Burma create community

She thought she made a mistake. Takwae Htoo was in her 20s, a single mother in an unfamiliar place after her home country had been ravaged by civil unrest. “We had nothing,” she said. “It was just me and my baby alone. I did not speak English. I did not know anybody.” Takwae Htoo is a refugee from Burma, renamed Myanmar by the current government, a country that has been ruled by a military junta since the 1960s. She was originally placed in Texas a decade ago. Now, she calls Chapel Hill home. She is a housekeeper at UNC, attends English classes through the Orange County Literacy Council and works part time at a farm run by refugees and volunteers. She married another Burmese refugee who settled here too, and her children go to school in Carrboro.

Sey Mor practices identifying the President and Vice President at a citizenship class at the Refugee Support Center of Carrboro. Sey Mor is a refugee from Burma living in Carrboro. By Stephanie Lamm The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants has placed more than 4,000 refugees from Burma in North Carolina. Fewer than 300 were originally placed in Chapel Hill and Carrboro; however, more than 1,000 refugees from Burma have since found homes here, according to the Refugee Support Center in Carrboro. Refugees from Burma belong to many different ethnic groups, including Burmese, Karen and Chin. They speak a variety of languages, most commonly a dialect of Karen.

Many refugees placed around the country move to Orange County due to the area’s wealth of refugee assistance organizations — most run by volunteers. Volunteer organizations assist refugees in gaining citizenship, learning English and finding work and housing. When the honeymoon ends Eh Paw came to Carrboro from a refugee camp in Thailand three years ago with her 3-month-old son who was having seizures every day. While searching for a job and taking care of her two older children, she traveled to and from UNC Hospitals daily to take care of him. “My baby is very sick,” Eh Paw said. “They sent me to America so he could receive medical care that is better than in the camp.” Eh Paw now considers herself lucky — she understands English, her son’s condition is under control and her husband joined her in Carrboro six months ago. Most importantly, she can move about freely. Raised in a refugee camp, Eh Paw had to ask the camp supervisor for permission to leave. Eh Paw works as a translator at the Refugee Support Center in Carrboro, which helps refugees from Burma with everything from applying for public housing to filing for child support. Flicka Bateman is the director of the center, which relies on volunteers to help refugees with legal services, language skills and a variety of other needed programs.

She said her organization provides long-term support. “It’s hard to explain exactly what we do because we do so many different things,” Bateman said. “If you think of it as a hierarchy of needs, we usually step in after the placement organization meets the families’ most basic needs. We work with public housing, we place them with jobs, help them set up a bank account, find schools for their kids and connect them with other resources in the community.” Refugee placement organizations like the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services and Church World Service provide support for the first three to six months, but after that, refugee families must turn to a variety of organizations to meet their needs. “We usually meet people once the honeymoon period ends and they become anxious and start questioning whether refugee placement here was a good idea,” Bateman said. Takwae Htoo was originally placed in Texas, but Orange County’s community of volunteer-based organizations has provided her with a more stable life. “They paid rent for six months. After that, nothing,” Takwae Htoo said. “Things are not as hard here. 

We have people to help us.” Learning the language Takwae Htoo said of the challenges refugees face, learning English is the greatest. Takwae Htoo’s oldest child, now a junior in high school, was 5 years old when they came to the U.S. She said she is proud of how quickly he picked up English, but she is disappointed she cannot help him with his homework. At East Chapel Hill High School, students founded the Refugee Outreach Club, which tutors refugee children. Elsa Steiner, a sophomore at UNC and one of the founding members of the Refugee Outreach Club, said teachers often do not have the time or resources to make sure refugee children succeed in school. “When teachers assign homework, especially in the lower grades, sometimes they assume that the parents can help, but that’s not the case for many of these children,” Steiner said. Casey Smith, another founding member, said the Karen and Burmese communities face a lack of resources within the schools to learn English, and she and other co-founders took on the challenge of providing support where the school system could not. “It’s not like Spanish or even Arabic where there are translators and resources for people who want to work with the Karen community,” said Smith, now a junior at Wesleyan University. “Unless they learned in the camps or unless they were very young when they came here, it could take many years before they speak enough English to get by on their own.” Smith’s mother, Lori Carswell, teaches Takwae Htoo’s English class through the Orange County Literacy Council. “I didn’t expect to become so involved, but when it’s something like this, it’s so rewarding to watch them grow,” Carswell said after teaching a recent session of her English class at the Chapel Hill Public Library. Cultivating Community On her days off, Takwae Htoo and her husband work a small plot of land at Transplanting Traditions, where 28 refugee families are given plots of land to grow and sell crops for supplementary income. 

Customers for Transplanting Traditions prepay for food grown by the farmers before the harvest season. Crops are also sold at the Chapel Hill and Carrboro Farmers’ Market, teaching farmers how to market their goods. Kelly Owensby, director of Transplanting Traditions, said the organization expects to bring in $60,000 by the end of 2015 — money that will go directly to the refugee farmers. All of the farmers at Transplanting Traditions worked as farmers back in Burma. Steiner, who volunteered with the organization, said it’s empowering for refugees to find work in an industry they are familiar with. “Transplanting Traditions makes them feel like they can provide for their family without having to learn a new skill,” said Steiner. “This is something they knew how to do back in their country. They can take on leadership roles and collaborate with other families. There are numerous mental health benefits in addition to providing them with a livelihood.” Owensby agreed that the benefits of the program include far more than supplementary income. “We’ve seen a decrease in stress and better mental and physical health in the families we work with,” Owensby said. Transplanting Traditions is entirely run by volunteers. The organization also offers educational and enrichment programs for teenagers and children — for example, its cultural preservation initiative, which records the stories and cultural traditions of refugees. “Our goal is to improve refugees’ lives through food security and supplemental income,” Owensby said. “But we also try to take a holistic approach to serving the community. Transplanting Traditions plans to expand the farm by 50 percent — to 7.5 acres — by next summer. And Transplanting Traditions recently partnered with People Offering Relief for Chapel Hill Carrboro Homes, which provides 111 refugee families with $100 in fresh produce each month. The farm donates $1,000 worth of food grown by its farmers, including specialty produce typically grown in Southeast Asia, to PORCH, which is a volunteer-based hunger relief organization. Debbie Horwitz, the founder and director of PORCH, said the Food for Families program, which began in 2010, was designed with these refugee families in mind. Most families are referred to the program by a school social worker. “We found that local pantries often weren’t meeting the needs of the refugee community,” Horwitz said. “They aren’t used to the food grown here. It’s important that they have access to fresh produce native to where they are from. With our partnership with Transplanting Traditions, we can provide that for them.” About half of all Burmese and Karen refugee families in Chapel Hill and Carrboro are served by PORCH, including more than 300 children. Food donated through PORCH is delivered by volunteers. 

They also deliver clothing, books, computers, strollers, mattresses and other donated items as they are available. “It forms a bond between our volunteers and the refugee community,” Horwitz said. “When people see how gracious our families are they often want to find new ways to help. You can’t just see the need these people are in and walk away without wanting to donate more of your time.” Steiner, who has continued her work with the refugee community since high school, said it’s important that volunteer organizations pick up where government services leave off. “People who work with refugees talk about how there’s a bell curve of resettlement,” Steiner said. “When people first come over they are overjoyed, and they thought the worst was over. Then they begin to realize that they will probably live in poverty the rest of their life, but at the same time they don’t want to seem ungrateful. Eventually things get steady and they find the support they need, but things are really hard for a while.” For Takwae Htoo, the hard times are over. She’s found success in her new home through the help of volunteer-based organizations. “We love it here,” she said. “We’re free here.”

Read more: http://www.dailytarheel.com

Germany urges G7, Arab nations talk on refugees

BERLIN: Germany on Wednesday said it would call for a meeting of G7 and Arab countries this month to discuss the Syrian refugee crisis and extra funds for the UN refugee agency.

“It is a scandal that the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) is so underfunded that food rations are being halved in refugee camps” in the Middle East, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.

Speaking in parliament, Steinmeier said he would propose a meeting with his counterparts from G7 and Arab nations on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, set to open on September 15.

“During the General Assembly week in New York, I will issue an invitation for a short session of the G7 and the Arab nations and say that if we really care about the fate of these people then we must ensure that the UNHCR gets the funds needed to give them daily food rations,” Steinmeier said.

A government official told AFP only that “planning is ongoing” for such talks, without giving further details.

Germany has taken in a record wave of refugees, many fleeing conflict in Syria and Iraq, with arrivals expected to reach 800,000 this year in the EU’s biggest economy, four times last year’s total.

Germany in June hosted a summit of Group of Seven (G7) large industrialised democracies, which also include Britain, Canada, France, Italy, the United States, and Japan, which took over the group’s presidency from Germany.

– AFP

Indonesia has better options for refugee issue – Veronica Koman

The international refugee crisis has finally reached a turning point. Led by Germany and followed by Austria, European countries have begun to open their borders. But how will the displacement of millions of people from Middle East countries affect Indonesia and our neighbour to the south – Australia?

Many refugees arrive in Indonesia as the nearest transit country on a journey they hope will bring them to safety in Australia, but are frequently abandoned here by people smugglers. Refugees who end up in Indonesia almost invariably apply for refugee status to the UN refugee agency, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Its asylum-seeker certificate and refugee card serve as their identity documents.

Besides registering with UNHCR, refugees are also obliged to register with Indonesian immigration authorities. Contrary to the picture painted in Friday’s The Jakarta Post editorial entitled “The refugee tsunami”, they are neither undocumented nor unregistered.

Those who are recognised by UNHCR as refugees then wait for resettlement in a third country, or voluntary repatriation once it is safe to return to their country of origin. It is a difficult wait, because refugees are not able to work or attend school here, unlike in Malaysia, where the government turns a blind eye to those seeking informal work.

Here, they mostly depend on relatives overseas to send them money. It is not unusual to find refugees sleeping on the streets, or detained in overcrowded immigration lockups. Jakarta’s Kalideres immigration detention centre, for example, was built to hold 88 people but last Thursday was packed with 160 detainees.

Despite our sympathy for displaced Rohingya, for example, we should not be too proud of ourselves – it is hardly enjoyable for refugees to live in Indonesia.

We should be careful about echoing Australian politicians’ pejorative use of terms such as “queue-jumpers” and “boat people”. People who risk their lives by taking to the seas from our shores are not jumping any real kind of “queue” for resettlement, as figures from UNHCR in Indonesia show.

For refugees registering here, the wait from registration to resettlement is sometimes as long as four to five years, and the proportion of registered refugees who succeed in being resettled from Indonesia is less than 2%. In 2014, there were 838 refugees resettled by the Indonesian office of UNHCR, while so far in 2015, there have been just 346.

European countries such as Greece that allow refugees to come ashore are doing nothing more than fulfilling an obligation under international law, namely the principle of non-refoulement. UNHCR has made it clear since 1997 that this provision of the 1951 Refugee Convention means that push-offs of boat arrivals or interdictions on the high seas, as practiced by Australia, are unlawful.

Nevertheless, this is what Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has shamefully encouraged European governments to adopt, despite their shared status as Refugee Convention signatories.

We should also keep the supposed “devastating impact” of refugee arrivals in perspective. Far from comprising an overwhelming tsunami, the latest data from the International Organization for Migration show that 350,000 refugees have been registered in Europe since January this year.

Even with more on the way, the total by December is unlikely to match 1% of the EU’s 503 million residents. The 13,170 refugees and asylum seekers currently present in Indonesia are a drop in our 250 million-strong ocean.

The economic impact of refugees also tends to be misunderstood. Taking Australia as an example, research released last week by the country’s Bureau of Statistics shows that far from “taking jobs”, refugees are the migrants most likely to secure their own income through establishing small businesses. This hardworking entrepreneurship is a net economic boost to the refugee’s host country, rather than a drain.

Abbott announced last week that Australia would take in an extra 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees. This is good news, although Australia could have done more, as urged by tens of thousands of Australians who joined a nationwide “Light the Dark” pro-refugee demonstration on Monday. But Abbott’s new intake also came with the decision to bomb Syria. This is a dangerously flawed approach since it is likely to result in more refugees fleeing Syria.

Abbott also said that Australia would prioritise taking in “persecuted minorities sheltering in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey”, which could result in prioritising Christian refugees. This also suggests a further dimming of hope for the 715 Iraqis and 90 Syrians living in limbo in Indonesia.

Under current Indonesian law, refugees are treated as illegal migrants, with the risk of lengthy detention in lockups like Kalideres. There exists, however, a long-neglected draft presidential regulation on the handling of refugees and asylum seekers. The draft leaves much room for improvement, but it would at least ensure people fleeing persecution are not criminalised when they reach our country.

I am sure President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is moved, as European leaders are, by the ongoing refugee tragedy. If he wishes to act, he can take the draft regulation off the shelf and ensure it is implemented swiftly, humanely, and in line with the spirit of the Refugee Convention. – Jakarta Post, September 11, 2015.

* Veronica Koman is a public interest lawyer at the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta).

* 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

Multi-millionaires of world football take action on refugee crisis

GENEVA: The world of football continued to mobilise on Tuesday as wealthy European clubs proposed a series of money-raising projects to help the on-going refugee crisis.

Following AS Roma’s gesture to donate 575,000 euros ($643,000) as well as jerseys worn by stars Francesco Totti, Edin Dzeko and Miralem Pjanic to the newly-launched “Football Cares” auction site, the European Association of football clubs (ECA) announced a generous plan involving teams playing the Champions League and Europa League competitions.

Clubs have committed to giving one euro ($1.12) per ticket sold in their first continental matches this season, the ECA announced.

All 80 clubs have committed to the initiative with the money — estimated between €2m-€3m ($2.2m and $3.3m) going into a fund created by the ECA.

“This decision was decided unanimously following an FC Porto initiative,” explained the ECA’s recently re-elected German president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

“Football must take its share of responsibility. Clubs must make a contribution to help refugees, a grave and serious problem.

Roma president James Pallotta provided 250,000 euros ($280,000) from the 575,000 gifted by the Italian club, which threw in another 325,000 euros ($363,000) thanks to funding from shareholders and club assets.

The three Roma jerseys to be auctioned were worn during matches with 36-year-old captain Totti’s worn when he scored against CSKA Moscow in Russia last season, to beat his own record as the oldest scorer in a Champions League match.

Those of Dzeko and Pjanic were worn by the Bosnian duo during last week’s 2-1 Serie A win over Juventus in which they both scored.

The auction on www.charitystars.com will end on Friday, September 11 with the jerseys delivered to their purchasers in a numbered frame with a Certificate of Authentication issued by the club.

Roma said that all money raised would be donated to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Red Cross and Non-Governmental Organisation’s (NGO’s) such as Save The Children and International Rescue Committee.

“Football has the power to reach millions of people and by rallying behind ‘Football Cares’ we can change things. It doesn’t matter whether donations are small,” the club said in a statement.

Solidarity movement

Elsewhere, Bayern Munich stars Javier Martinez and Mario Goetze appealed for internauts on Twitter to join the solidarity movement to help the masses of refugees from as far as Syria, Iraq and Somalia who have been arriving in Munich since last weekend.

“Today, I continue with #RefugiesWelcome. We are involved in this challenge” wrote Martinez who handed out clothes and footballs to refugees at the city train station last weekend, while other Bundesliga clubs, such as Borussia Dortmund, Schalke, Mainz and Borussia Moenchengladbach have made substantial donations.

The French Football Federation (FFF) have also come forward with 100,000 euros ($112,000) to a refugee association based in northern port city of Calais where thousands of desperate migrants have attempted to board Eurostar trains bound for the United Kingdom.

On Saturday, Real Madrid announced a donation of one million euros ($1.12m) to refugees that have arrived in Spain and provided shelter while Bayern Munich announced a similar proposal and also introduced other money-making projects.

Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger was one of many top figures denouncing the xenophobic attacks on the influx of migrants and launched an appeal for their protection.

Four-time European player of the year Lionel Messi said the dreadful conditions suffered by the migrants was “inconceivable” on his Facebook account and called for help for his charity organisations, which include one for Syrian refugee children who are waiting for help in Jordan.

-AFP

The Beauty of KChoLand for its fame of Facial Tattoo Tradition

Refugee resettled in Cambodia under Australia deal 'wants to go home'

Agence France Presse

PHNOM PENH: A Myanmar Rohingya refugee recently resettled in Cambodia in a controversial and lucrative deal with Australia wants to go home, a Cambodian official said Monday.

Under Canberra's hardline immigration policy, asylum-seekers who arrive by boat are denied resettlement in Australia and sent to Papua New Guinea and Nauru, even if they are genuine refugees.

In a deal that was condemned by rights groups and the U.N., Cambodia agreed to take in Australia's unwanted refugees in exchange for millions of dollars of aid over the next four years.

Only those who volunteer are resettled.

Cambodia received its first batch of Nauru-held refugees - three Iranians and one ethnic Rohingya man from Myanmar - in early June.

But the Rohingya, a 25-year-old man, wants to return to Myanmar because of "homesickness," General Khieu Sopheak, the spokesman for the Cambodian Interior Ministry, told AFP.

"We are not opposing this. After resettling here in Cambodia, he has been meeting with the Burmese (Myanmar) embassy. We received the news from the Burmese embassy that the man wants to go back home," he said, adding that his father visited the man recently.

He said the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh had sent letters to the Cambodian Foreign Ministry and Australian immigration authorities to seek their view on the Rohingya's wish to return.

"In principle, we have no objection to (his return to Myanmar)," Khieu Sopheak said.

He added that the man, who was born in 1990, is now "waiting for travelling documents from the Burmese embassy; then we will let him go."

After the four refugees arrived in Cambodia in June, they were whisked away to a new life at an undisclosed location with the help of the International Organization for Migration which is tasked with helping them settle in.

The media have not yet been allowed to meet or interview the four refugees.

The IOM said it was unable to comment on the case "due to the refugee's request for privacy and our own confidentiality rules."

Refugee advocates say asylum-seekers heading for Australia do not generally want to be sent to Cambodia, a country that has been criticized for its own record of helping refugees, particularly Vietnamese Montagnards who are often deported.

Conditions on Nauru and Papua New Guinea have also been heavily criticized.

Khieu Sopheak said the Rohingya man's desire to return to Myanmar would not affect the deal with Australia.

"The agreement is still valid, we will continue to take in more refugees. But for now we have to wait until the other three refugees integrate into Cambodian society before we are going to accept more refugees," he added.

Austria, Germany open borders to migrants

Migrants cross the Hungarian-Austrian border on foot after their arrival into a transit zone by public bus to the Hungarian border, between Hungarian Hegyeshalom and Austrian Nickeldorf. — AFP photo

Migrants walk across border from Hungary, more arriving in Budapest

HEGYESHALOM, Hungary/VIENNA: Austria and Germany threw open their borders to thousands of exhausted migrants yesterday, bussed to the Hungarian border by a right-wing government that had tried to stop them but was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers reaching Europe’s frontiers.

After days of confrontation and chaos, Hungary’s right-wing government deployed dozens of buses to take migrants from Budapest and pick up over 1,000 others – many of them refugees from the Syrian war – who had set off doggedly by foot on Friday down the main highway to Vienna.

Austria said it had agreed with Germany that it would allow the migrants access, waiving the rules of an asylum system brought to breaking point by Europe’s worst refugee crisis since the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.

Hungary insisted the bus rides were a one-off, even as hundreds more migrants began gathering in Budapest yesterday, part of seemingly relentless surge through the Balkan peninsula from Turkey and Greece. Wrapped in blankets and sleeping bags against the rain, long lines of weary migrants, many carrying small, sleeping children, climbed off buses on the Hungarian side of the border and walked into Austria, receiving fruit and water from aid workers. Waiting Austrians held signs that read, ‘Refugees welcome.’

“We’re happy. We’ll go to Germany,” said a Syrian man who gave his name as Mohammed. Another, who declined to be named, said: “Hungary should be fired from the European Union. Such bad treatment.”

Bavarian state police said they expected the first refugees to arrive in Germany around midday (1000 GMT), with national rail operator Deutsche Bahn saying a special train with 500 refugees aboard due to reach Munich around lunchtime.

Hungary, the main entry point into Europe’s borderless Schengen zone for migrants heading northwards through the Balkans, has taken a hard line, vowing to seal its southern frontier within days. Hungarian officials have also painted the crisis as a defence of Europe’s prosperity, identity and ‘Christian values’ against an influx of mainly Muslim migrants.

For days, several thousand camped outside Budapest’s main railway station, where trains to western Europe were cancelled as the government insisted all those entering Hungary be registered and their asylum applications processed in the country as per EU rules.

But on Friday, in separate rapid-fire developments, hundreds broke out of a teeming camp on Hungary’s frontier with Serbia, escaped a stranded train, and took to the highway by foot led by a one-legged Syrian refugee and chanting “Germany, Germany!”

Citing traffic safety, Hungary said it would supply some 100 buses to take them to the Austrian border. But the move marked an admission that the government had lost control in the face of large numbers determined to reach the wealthier nations of northern and western Europe at the end of an often perilous journey from war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. — AFP

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com

Refugees get hero’s welcome in Germany as UN raps Europe

BERLIN: Thousands of exhausted migrants received a hero’s welcome as they streamed into Germany on Sunday as the UN criticised the huge disparity in European efforts to help them.

As well-wishers turned out en masse at train stations in Munich, Frankfurt and other German cities, the UN’s refugee chief said the crisis could be “manageable” if European countries all pulled their weight and agreed on a common approach.

Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II has sparked a flurry of diplomatic wrangling, with Turkey reacting furiously to what it called the closed-doors response of “Christian fortress Europe”.

But for thousands of refugees who had made a perilous trip across land and sea and finally set foot in Germany — seen by many as a promised land — the welcome was overwhelming.

As they stepped off trains in Munich, many clutching young children, the newcomers were met by crowds of cheering well-wishers holding balloons, who handed them food, water and toys.

“The people here treat us so well, they treat us like real human beings, not like in Syria,” said Mohammad, 32, from the devastated town of Qusayr, his eyes welling up with tears.

‘Ridiculously small’

Although Germany has thrown open its doors, waiving procedural rules for Syrian asylum-seekers, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu on Sunday lashed out at the “ridiculously small” share of refugees EU countries were accepting.

Writing in Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he hit out at “Christian fortress Europe” pointing out that Turkey had already taken in more than two million people from war-torn Syria and Iraq.

His remarks came just days after Hungary, which saw 50,000 new arrivals in August alone, raised the alarm over the impact of mainly Muslim refugees on Europe’s “Christian culture”.

But Pope Francis urged a different approach in his Sunday sermon.

He described the refugees’ plight as an issue for Christians everywhere, urging “every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary in Europe” to take in a family.

“Faced with the tragedy of tens of thousands of asylum-seekers fleeing death (as) victims of war and hunger who are hoping to start a new life, the gospel calls on us to be the neighbour of the smallest and the most abandoned, to give them concrete hope,” he said.

The Vatican’s two parishes would take in two refugee families “in the coming days”, he said, setting an example for more than 50,000 other parishes across the continent.

‘Sad and tragic’

Images of the body of a three-year-old Syrian refugee named Aylan on a beach in a Turkish holiday resort set off a fresh wave of soul-searching in Europe last week.

It highlighted the peril faced by thousands fleeing war and bloodshed in the Middle East and beyond.

Meanwhile, another 115 people, half of them women and children, were rescued off a small fishing boat off the southern coast of Cyprus, officials said.

And Greece sent troops to the island of Lesbos after more clashes between police and migrants sparked by delays in the registration process that have left thousands unable to move on.

Most of the migrants are hoping to reach Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, which is expecting a record 800,000 new asylum seekers this year, four times the number in 2014.

By 1500 GMT Sunday, some 6,000 people had entered Germany, with another 4,000 expected to arrive by the end of the day, police said. Another 8,000 people had entered the country on Saturday.

A ‘manageable’ crisis

As the constant flood of arrivals showed no sign of abating, UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres said the crisis was “manageable” despite the European Union’s flawed asylum system.

“The European asylum system is deeply dysfunctional, it works badly. Some countries make the necessary effort, and the effort of many others is nearly non-existent,” he told French radio station RFI and the TV5Monde television channel.

But he insisted the situation could be tackled by a united European effort.

“It is a manageable crisis if everyone agrees on a joint action plan.”

His words echoed calls earlier on Sunday by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble who urged EU states to “act together” and Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann who said there was “no alternative to a common European solution”.

Faymann said Austria’s admittance of thousands of refugees crossing from Hungary was “temporary”, adding “a measure of this type cannot be a solution”.

Berlin and other capitals have called for binding refugee quotas for each EU country, and common rules on the granting of asylum.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is expected on Wednesday to present a plan to relocate 120,000 refugees from overstretched Italy, Greece and Hungary.

Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper said the plan would see Germany accepting 31,000, followed by France with 24,000 and Spain with almost 15,000.

EU interior ministers are meeting on September 14, and Austria is among those pushing for a summit to be held swiftly afterwards.

In a passionate speech Sunday to members of his Christian Democratic party in Milan, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi pointed to a picture of the drowned Syrian child, and said there were “thousands like him.”

“We need rules, we cannot take in everyone,” said Renzi. “But nothing will ever stop us trying to save a life whenever possible. This is our challenge.”

– AFP

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K'Cho People and K'Cho Land

Europe should have seen refugee crisis coming, says UN official

UNITED NATIONS: European countries were warned repeatedly about the refugee crisis now playing out on their doorstep and the flood of war-weary, desperate people into Europe should surprise no one, a senior UN official said on Friday.

Ivan Simonovic, assistant UN secretary-general for human rights, spoke to reporters in New York about the escalating migration crisis in Europe, saying it would not subside anytime soon.

More than 300,000 people have crossed to Europe by sea so far this year and more than 2,600 have died doing so. Many of those making the voyage are fleeing the civil war in Syria, now in its fifth year.

Simonovic said the death of a Syrian toddler who drowned off the coast of Turkey after a boat with refugees capsized was making people realize the human impact of the crisis. But the United Nations has long predicted that the refugee crisis would spill into Europe.

“Migration and refugees are now changing routes,” he said. “Previously it was the Mediterranean. Now it’s going eastward … through the Balkans, through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary.”

“This is something which we were warning all the time,” he added. “You cannot hope to solve this crisis just by closing the door. Those desperate people will go through windows if you close the door.”

Simonovic added that the vast majority of people abandoning their homelands are refugees – a legal term that imposes obligations on countries they reach to protect them – and not simply migrants seeking better economic prospects.

Most are from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Eritrea and other conflicts and crises.

Hungary’s hardline leader said Europeans could end up a minority on their own continent as a crackdown appeared to crumble in his own country, main entry point for tens of thousands of refugees and migrants reaching the European Union by land over the Balkan peninsula.

Hungary has canceled all trains to western Europe to prevent migrants from traveling on and seeking sanctuary in richer countries north and west.

Simonovic said the European crisis was inevitable because countries like Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, which have taken the bulk of the refugees fleeing Syria’s war, have too long been hosting millions of refugees.

“Now that they are not staying in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, it’s Europe that sees them at their doorstep,” he said.

-Reuters

Summary of World Refugee Survey Report

Malaysian immigration officials continued to sell deportees to gangs of traffickers operating along the Thailand-Malaysia border. The gangs paid from $250 to $500 per deportee. The traffickers demanded fees of 1,400 to 3,000 ringgit (about $400 to $860) to smuggle the deportees back into Malaysia. They typically sold those who could not pay (perhaps 20 percent), the men onto fishing boats, the women into brothels, and the children to gangs that exploit child beggars.

Malaysia made no changes to its laws or regulations dealing with refugees and asylum seekers during 2008, meaning that arbitrary arrest, detention, and deportation of refugees continued.

During the year, Malaysia deported at least 1,000 refugees and asylum seekers to Thailand, which has in the past returned deportees to Myanmar. It alleged these deportations were voluntary, but because the only alternative was continued detention in poor conditions, this is questionable.

At year’s end, Malaysia was holding roughly 400 asylum seekers registered with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), mostly Myanmarese, whom it accused of illegal stay or illegal entry in its detention facilities.

Conditions in detention centers remained abysmal, with overcrowding, poor sanitation, inadequate health care, and abuse all common. The Government did not allow the International Committee of the Red Cross access to the detention centers, but did allow UNHCR limited access to registered refugees and asylum seekers and gave access to staff the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM), the Government’s official human rights body, on a case-by-case basis. In December, SUHAKAM announced that 1,535 detainees had died in prisons, rehabilitation centers, and immigration detention between 2003 and 2007. Lack of medical attention was a major cause of death, and SUHAKAM proposed assigning a doctor and medical assistant to each detention center, providing facilities to transfer detainees to hospitals in emergencies, and improve medical monitoring of jails in police stations. During the year, the Government allowed local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to provide some health care to detainees. Officials caned at least 6 refugees (including a minor) for immigration violations during the year, down from 32 in 2007.

During the year, UNHCR registered 17,000 new asylum seekers and made refugee status determinations in 11,000 cases.

During the year, 14 refugees from southern Thailand returned voluntarily, with 106 of the group who fled to Malaysia in 2005 remaining in the Ajil detention center.

In January, officials arrested 10 Myanmarese for forging Thai and Myanmarese passports. They seized fake UNHCR cards, 150 fake passports, 19 fake foreign worker IDs, and 20,000 ringgit (about $5,750). Officials believed they sold passports for $1,000 to $2,000. Officials seized 46 passports from another forgery ring later in the month.

In March, the Prisons Department handed over 11 immigration centers to the Immigration Department. People’s Volunteer Corps (RELA) with its 480,000 volunteers became in charge of management of these centers.

Abuses by RELA continued during the year, with reports of rape, beatings, extortion, theft, and destroying UNHCR documents. RELA raided and burned to the ground the camp of 75 Chin refugees from Myanmar in January. They detained 23 of the refugees, and took everything of value in the camp, including cell phones, crafts made for sale, and money.

RELA arrested 200 Rohingya refugees (50 of them children) in a March raid that netted 500 undocumented immigrants.

On April 21, detainees at Lenggeng Immigration Detention Centre rioted, during which an administration building caught fire. Although Malaysian media reported the riot began when 60 Myanmarese detainees were rejected for resettlement to third countries, the incident actually began on April 20 when immigration officers beat nine detainees (six Myanmarese, two Indonesians, and one Pakistani) while interrogating them about a cigarette butt and tobacco found in the detention center. Immigration officers eventually returned the Myanmarese to their cells after they denied smoking, but continued to beat the other three detainees. When the Pakistani crawled out of the room where he was beaten foaming at the mouth, other detainees began to shout and throw objects from their cells in protest. Immigration officers took the Pakistani and two Indonesians away, and a senior RELA official arrived by 10 p.m. to urge the detainees to settle down. The next morning, many of the detainees refused breakfast and announced they were on a hunger strike. By noon, RELA and immigration officers usually on duty had withdrawn from the cellblocks, and some detainees broke out of one block and opened the others. Some detainees stayed in their cellblocks, but others rushed out and a fire soon broke out in an administrative office. Media reports said 100 police, 100 RELA members, and 40 immigration officers restored order.

RELA officials arrested 14 detainees (six Indonesians, three Myanmarese refugees registered with UNHCR, three Myanmarese asylum seekers, one Cambodian, and one documented Vietnamese migrant worker) for possession of dangerous weapons and creating mischief by fire or explosives. Two of the arrested reported being beaten and burned with cigarettes as they were driven away from the detention center. Authorities also transferred all Myanmarese detainees to other facilities, beating them on the way according to detainees. In the wake of the incident, Malaysia announced it would tighten border security to reduce crowding in detention centers.

In April, three Myanmarese refugees received 36-year jail sentences for their 2004 attempt to kill Myanmar’s ambassador to Malaysia and burn down its embassy. They had represented themselves after dismissing lawyers provided by the Legal Aid Bureau. In a separate case, a Myanmarese refugee plead guilty to culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the 2006 killling of a 17-year-old refugee in a detention center.

Unknown assailants stabbed and set fire to a Myanmarese refugee in April, killing him.

In May, RELA members arrested a foreign diplomat and held her for two hours, despite her presenting her diplomatic ID. They released her only upon the intervention of her embassy.

Malaysia returned two Chinese Muslims to China at the request of the Chinese government in June.

In June, the Government announced a crackdown on illegal immigrants in the Sabah state, home to more than 70,000 Filipino refugees. The crackdown aimed to deport some 200,000 irregular migrants, who were mainly Filipinos..

As of August, about 35,000 had been deported. By the end of the year, thousands more were deported.

Police arrested four Myanmarese for the murder of a Myanmarese refugee woman in July.

In August, the Government announced that the remaining 25,000 Acehnese holding IMM13 work permits would have to leave the country by January 2009 or be deported.

In August, RELA arrested over 11,000 people, only 500 of whom did not have legal immigration status.

In September, a court ordered a RELA member to pay 100,000 ringgit (about $28,800) to a woman whom he photographed while she was forced to relieve herself in the back of a truck taking her to a detention center.

In October, the Philippines announced that many deported Filipinos had been beaten by Malaysian police and detained in inhumane conditions.

Around 300 Rohingya refugees lost their jobs as car washers in October, after immigration officials threatened their employers with 5,000 ringgit (about $1,440) fines.

In November, Malaysia’s high court overturned migrant rights activist Irene Fernandez’s 2003 conviction for publishing allegedly false information. She had received a 12-month jail sentence for reporting on poor conditions in detention centers in 1995.

Law and Policy : Refoulement/Physical Protection

The Government has no procedure for granting asylum or registering refugees. UNHCR handles all refugee status determinations in Malaysia and issues plastic, tamperproof cards to those it recognizes as refugees. UNHCR performs individual status determinations for all asylum seekers under its mandate. . Malaysia is not party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, but is party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which obligates it to give protection and assistance to children seeking refugee status and to cooperate with UN assistance to refugee children.

As UNHCR has no presence at the border, most asylum seekers have to travel to Kuala Lumpur for determinations. UNHCR conducts mobile registration exercises in areas with high concentrations of refugees, but many asylum seekers remain unregistered.

The Government continues to permit refugees from the Philippines’ Moro insurgency of the 1970s to remain in Sabah State. The Government does not grant them citizenship, however, putting their children at risk of statelessness.

Detention/Access to Courts

In November 2007, the Government announced it was transferring control of the immigration detention centers back to the Immigration Department and that RELA members would be assisting with security in them until it could train full-time staff, perhaps for as long as two years.

UNHCR is usually able to access detention centers, and make several visits during the year. The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, a governmental body, is able to visit detention centers but needs Government approval. The Government does not generally permit the International Committee of the Red Cross, nongovernmental organizations, or the media to visit prisons or monitor conditions. Refugees can challenge their detention if they have legal representation. UNHCR provides those held on immigration violations with volunteer lawyers and often secure their release. Authorities do not permit detainees to make phone calls upon arrest, so they generally have to bribe a police officer to be able to inform anyone of their arrest.

Refugees with UNHCR cards are usually safe from arrest by regular police, although RELA and Immigration officials still detain them. Police still arrests asylum seekers occasionally, as they do not always recognize the letters UNHCR issues asylum seekers. Refugees are subject to prosecution under the 1959 Immigration Act, which make no distinction between refugees and illegal immigrants. Amendments to the Immigration Act in 2002 provides for up to five years’ imprisonment, along with whipping up to six strokes, and fines of 10,000 ringgit (about $3,020) for violations.

The Federal Constitution extends its protections for individual liberty to all persons, but creates an exception whereby the 24 hours allowed authorities to bring a detainee before a magistrate become two weeks in the case of an alien detained under the immigration laws.

Freedom of Movement and Residence

There are no camps or segregated settlements in Malaysia, but refugees’ and asylum seekers’ freedom of movement depends on the acceptance of their documents by Malaysian authorities. Those with UNHCR refugee cards enjoy some freedom of movement and residence.

The Immigration Act prohibits renting housing to illegal migrants. The law generally confines Filipino Muslim refugees to the designated area of Sabah.

In March, the home minister called for the establishment of closed camps for refugees and for UNHCR to administer them.

Refugees do not receive international travel documents except for resettlement.

Right to Earn a Livelihood

Refugees and asylum seekers hold no official legal status and are not permitted to work legally. In 2005, the Government issued between 32,000 and 35,000 IMM13 work permits to Acehnese migrants and refugees from Indonesia. The permits cost between 162 and 180 ringgit (about $47 and $52), are valid for two years, and are renewable. They do not permit the refugees to engage in trade but do allow them to work, attend school, and live in the country legally. The permits do not tie their bearers to single employers. In 2006, the Government began to issue IMM13 permits to Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, but stopped amid accusations of bribery and corruption in the issuing process. That leaves some 5,000 Rohingyas holding receipts proving they paid for IMM13 permits without the permits themselves.

The Immigration Act penalizes employers of illegal immigrants with fines of about 10,000 to 50,000 ringgit (about $3,020 to $15,100) or, if they employ more than five, imprisonment from six months to five years and up to six cane strokes.

Foreign workers with legal permits can join unions, but the permits of most foreign workers tie them to single employers, although this is not the case with the IMM13 permits given to Acehnese or Filipino refugees. Workers without legal status generally cannot use the national system of labor adjudication. If employers dismiss foreign workers for any reason, they lose their permits, their legal right to remain in Malaysia, and their right to pursue legal action against abusive employers—despite court requests that the Immigration Department grant them visas to do so.

Malaysia also does not allow refugees to hold title to or transfer business premises, farmland, homes, or other capital assets. The Federal Constitution offers most of its protections from arbitrary deprivation of property to all persons, but reserves protection against discrimination based on religion, race, descent, or place of birth in work, trade, professional, or property matters and the right to form associations to citizens.

Public Relief and Education

Despite its obligations under the CRC, Malaysia does not provide primary education or free health services to most refugee children or asylum seekers—not even those born in Malaysia. Although the IMM13 permits grant parents the right to send their children to public schools, the Government allows them to attend only private schools.

Refugees with UNHCR documents receive medical services at half the standard price for foreigners. Refugees and asylum seekers with HIV/AIDS receive access to free treatment from the public health service. Other than this, authorities provide no medical care, public relief, rationing, or assistance, but do permit independent humanitarian agencies to assist refugees.

Malaysia did not include refugees or asylum seekers in the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the country’s primary economic planning document, but it did include them in its National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS 2007-2010.