Fake refugee cards out of UNHCR’s control

Commission representative Richard Towle maintains that refugee cards were only issued to those genuinely requiring protection.

PETALING JAYA: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says they have no control over fake refugee cards in the market given out to those willing to pay for it.

According to a report by The Star Online today, UNHCR Malaysia representative Richard Towle said recent news reports about the sale of fake cards had nothing to do with the commission.

He said UNHCR had issued some 158,000 cards and it was possible to replicate the features of a legitimate card in order to make a fake one.

     style="display:block"

     data-ad-client="ca-pub-3556099351069683"

     data-ad-slot="2755055637"

     data-ad-format="auto">

Towle said UNHCR was not concerned about the number of cards issued, as what was more important was that the cards had only been issued to those who actually required protection.

He noted that their card system was controlled tightly, and that UNHCR also collected the biometric data of the refugees, such as fingerprints and retinal scans.

The authenticity of a UNHCR card, could be checked by the authorities via the Internet or by calling a hotline, Towle explained, adding that the commission enjoyed a high degree of cooperation with the government at present.

Last week, a New Straits Times exposé revealed that fake UNHCR cards, complete with security features, could easily be obtained for only RM120 from syndicates involved in the business.

In the exposé, a syndicate member revealed that data for the card was retrieved from the Malaysian UNHCR database and that the same name would be used by many other fake cardholders.

     style="display:block"

     data-ad-client="ca-pub-3556099351069683"

     data-ad-slot="2375109235"

     data-ad-format="auto">

www.freemalaysiatoday.com

Refugees in Malaysia: Victims of their identity — Shaun Kang

     style="display:block"
     data-ad-client="ca-pub-3556099351069683"
     data-ad-slot="2755055637"
     data-ad-format="auto">

MARCH 19 — I refer to the news report on March 17, 2016 titled “Cops warn of crime spike as cartels sell fake refugee cards to illegal immigrants.” Firstly, I share the authorities’ concern that the rising number of illegal immigrants is indeed troubling and should be addressed.

However, this concern should not serve to distort the distinction between refugees and illegal immigrants (including those who attempt to pose as refugees). Nor should it emit fear among the authorities for UNCHR to continue issuing identity cards (“refugee cards”).

Who are refugees and what are refugee cards?

Refugees are persons defined and protected by international law (in particular, the Refugee Convention). For a person to be recognised as a refugee, they would first have to undergo a complex interview and fact-finding process conducted by highly skilled and trained persons (often experts in the fields, including lawyers trained in international law).

A person will only be recognised as a refugee if he or she meets certain stringent criteria stipulated by the Refugee Convention. In Malaysia, this pivotal role of determining an applicant’s status is carried out by UNHCR on behalf of the government.

Essentially, refugees are not in Malaysia on their own terms. Rather, they are fellow human beings, who flee from their country for a variety of reasons, often including, torture, murder, rape, arbitrary arrests and deprivation of citizenship.

Further, refugees are not here with the intention to live indefinitely but are usually on transit, awaiting resettlement to a third country. The refugee card, which is often the only form of personal identification for a refugee, also commonly serves as the only means for UNHCR and the authorities to identify and distinguish between a refugee and an economic migrant.


     style="display:block"
     data-ad-client="ca-pub-3556099351069683"
     data-ad-slot="4231788833"
     data-ad-format="auto">

UNHCR and refugee cards

I turn to address the point made on UNHCR’s lack of legal standing to issue refugee cards. Firstly, the issuance of an identity document by UNHCR is not only practically necessary for monitoring and enforcement exercises but also consistent with the Refugee Convention and universal principles of International Law.

The government’s stance on the issuance of this identity document is arguable. In reality, UNHCR has been present in Malaysia for more than 40 years and its involvement in recognizing and documenting refugees throughout the years has never faced much objection from the authorities.

On one end, the authorities are now questioning the legality of UNHCR in issuing refugee cards, but on the other, it is evident that refugee cards are instrumental for the authorities in identity verification exercises. In fact, in countries where the government undertakes the responsibility of issuing refugee cards to refugees, UNHCR does not issue such cards but merely facilitates the government.

It is regrettable that the integrity of the refugee recognition process employed by UNHCR is being put to question. As explained, the detailed process carried out by UNHCR’s officers before recognising an applicant as a refugee is in line with international law and standards, therefore such claims are unwarranted.

It is also inaccurate to assume that UNHCR Malaysia has been unco-operative with the authorities in the verification of the authenticity of refugee cards. As it appears, UNHCR has a dedicated system catering for law enforcers to verify the identity of a refugee in Malaysia. 

UNHCR appears also to have played an active role in assisting the authorities to verify such persons by visiting detention centers and being present during raids carried out by authorities. Further, UNHCR has shown its commitment in cooperation by sharing its database with the authorities.



     style="display:block"
     data-ad-client="ca-pub-3556099351069683"
     data-ad-slot="8801589231"
     data-ad-format="auto">

Moving forward

It appears that the focus should not be on the legality and the process of recognizing refugees by UNHCR but rather, the need to improve the security features of the refugee card to ensure that it cannot be easily duplicated and that its authenticity can be easily verified by UNHCR and the authorities.

While the physical card itself is of importance, the involvement of the authorities in the process of documenting refugees is all the more pertinent.

UNHCR is seen to advocate this particularly when it invited the co-operation and involvement of the authorities by urging them to issue biometric identity cards for refugees. Legally, the government appears to have an international legal obligation to recognise UNHCR and to co-operate with it in the international protection of refugees even though Malaysia is not a party to the Refugee Convention.

It is important that the authorities take cognisance of the importance of the identity card issued by UNHCR, and of UNHCR’s presence in Malaysia.

Instead of identifying UNHCR as the source of the problem, it should be agreed that the involvement of UNHCR in the recognition of refugees in the past 40 years has to a great extent alleviated the difficulties that the authorities would have otherwise faced in handling refugees.

Ultimately, the success of weeding out illegal immigrants from refugees is contingent on the co-operation between the authorities and UNHCR on the basis of a common understanding.

* Shaun Kang is a researcher in international law.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.

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


     style="display:block"
     data-ad-client="ca-pub-3556099351069683"
     data-ad-slot="5708522030"
     data-ad-format="auto">

UN, World Bank announce new funds for Mideast refugee crisis

October 11, 2015

LIMA: The UN and World Bank said Saturday they will increase financing for the Middle East and North Africa to help countries there deal with millions of refugees and rebuild after conflicts.

They did not put a dollar figure on the initiative, but said it would ramp up resources to deal with the “enormous humanitarian and economic toll” that conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere are taking on the region.

“The world today is witness to… the highest level of forced displacement since the Second World War,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement.

“To address the scale and the nature of the conflicts, we need new approaches. It is important that the World Bank, as a close partner to the UN, and other international financial institutions, mainstream and actively invest in conflict-affected states.”

The new loans will come in two forms, said the organizations, which are also collaborating with the Islamic Development Bank on the plan.

Under the first mechanism, guarantees from donor countries will be leveraged to issue special bonds, including Islamic sukuk bonds, which are specially structured to comply with the Koranic prohibition on charging interest.

In the second, donor country grants will be used to extend low-interest loans to the countries hosting the bulk of the more than 15 million refugees who have fled the region’s conflicts in the past four years.

“Strong global partnerships and innovative financing are essential to meet the scale of the need in these hard-hit countries,” said World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.

“It is our collective responsibility to support the Middle East and North Africa region at this critical time, and this requires significant resources — more than any one country or organization is able to provide on its own.”

The initiative was agreed on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Lima, Peru this week.

The organizations have set up a working group and asked it to finalize the details of the new financing mechanisms, as well as develop an implementation roadmap by February 2016, they said.

– AFP

The new access challenge is for refugees, says UNHCR

University access for refugees has become a major challenge for countries in Asia, which like Europe, are seeing an influx of more educated and aspirant refugees.

Unlike previous waves of refugees in Southeast Asia, refugees are arriving with higher levels of education, particularly from countries such as Syria and Iraq.

However their qualifications are not comparable qualifications to those required to access higher education in their country of asylum, a major conference on Global Access to Post-Secondary Education, or GAPS, heard last week. 

Receiving countries were so far unprepared for the influx of such refugees, according to Niaz Ahmad, programme officer in Malaysia for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, or UNHCR. Speaking at the GAPS conference held in Kuala Lumpur from 5-8 October, Ahmad said host countries had a problem of collecting data on refugees in their country, and therefore often had not begun to tackle the issue of providing education access. 

For example, it was not discovered that of a total of 152,700 ‘population of concern’ – a term used to describe refugee and displaced children – in Malaysia, only 15% were in school. This was in part because refugee children in Malaysia cannot attend publicly funded schools, he said. “We need better data on the refugee population so that we can understand their needs,” he said. 

UNHCR said refugees typically did not bring educational certificates with them, and often could not access public examinations in the receiving country for language and other reasons, and were therefore held back in their education. 

Refugees from countries in the Middle East “are well educated and want access to tertiary education, as their lives have been disrupted”, said Mimi Zarina Azmin, education associate at UNHCR’s education unit in Malaysia, a country with the second-highest number of refugees globally in an urban setting, according to UNHCR. 

Malaysia’s large refugee burden includes 100,000 refugees from Myanmar registered last year, and others from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as well as the Middle East. 

“We are trying to encourage countries and institutions to provide scholarships,” Ahmad said.

Higher education institutions in Malaysia, including foreign branch campuses have granted access and scholarships to refugees, Ahmad told the conference. 

UNHCR in the past year had signed a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, with the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, International University of Malaya-Wales and the private Limkokwing University of Creative Technology – all of twhich provide instruction in English – to provide higher education access for young refugees, the first time this had been done in Malaysia.

“They not only granted access but also scholarships,” Ahmad said. Some 50 refugees will now be able to access higher education in Malaysia under this scheme, he said.

Malaysia earlier this month said it would accept some 3,000 Syrian refugees over the next three years, with an emphasis on professional and semi-skilled people. But UNHCR said it was precisely such people that needed access to universities for further study and for their families. 

Ahmad said the MOU’s with the universities in Malaysia could serve as a model for other countries to provide access to refugees.

UN body welcomes offer to take in Syrian refugees

United Nations refugee agency UNHCR welcomes Malaysia's announcement that it will take in 3,000 Syrian refugees, but also hopes for more efforts to assist the thousands already on Malaysian soil.

Its representative in Malaysia Richard Towle said there are about 154,000 refugees from various countries in Malaysia who require assistance.

"Now is a good time to look at this," he said.

This includes providing means for the refugee community to be assisted in a "more legal way".

He said this is better than leaving them to the "rather dark area of society".

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that Malaysia will accept 3,000 Syrian refugees over a period of three years.

Towle said UNHCR has no details yet over how this will happen.

There are 970 Syrian refugees registered with UNHCR in Malaysia as at August.

Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN convention to protect refugees, despite being a transit point for thousands every year.

Refugees, including the 50,000-plus Rohingya residing in Malaysia, are considered illegal migrants and are barred from formal employment.

Some have resorted to using fake documents to secure a livelihood, a move Towle said UNHCR does not support.

Sailing season soon

Malaysia came under international scrutiny in May when boats laden with hundreds of distressed persons from Myanmar and Bangladesh washed up on Malaysian shores, after people smugglers abandoned their human cargo amid a crackdown.

Towle said the same crisis is about to hit home again, with "sailing season" around the corner.

"We do understand more boats are coming from these countries.

"We need to strategise and plan. We have learnt a lot from what happened in May," he said.

Malaysia took in several hundreds who arrived during the May crisis and housed them in holding camps in Kedah, where at least one has died from disease.

This followed the grizzly discovery of mass graves near camps used by people smugglers, along the Malaysian-Thai border in Perlis. - M'kini

Full article: http://malaysia-chronicle.com

For these scouts, "camping" means coming home

29 September 2015

© UNHCR/K Suntayodom

Reunited after seven years, resettled refugees Lwel Say (left), Lwel Gay Htoo and their aunt Tha Dah Wah stroll through Mae La camp where they were born and bred.

MAE LA CAMP, Thailand, Sept 29 (UNHCR) – They live by the motto, Be Prepared, as members of the Utah Boy Scouts of America Troop. But nothing could have prepared them for the rush of emotions that greeted them in Mae La refugee camp.

The 18 Myanmar refugee boys had flown with their scout leader from Salt Lake City in the United States to Japan for the World Scout Jamboree before arriving in Bangkok for a seven-hour bus ride to reach this camp in western Thailand's Tak province. They were visibly tired but excited as they scoured the crowd for familiar faces – loved ones they had not seen since leaving the camp in UNHCR's resettlement program almost 10 years ago.

The faces of Brothers Lwel Say, 16, and Lwel Gay Htoo, 14, lit up when they found their aunt, Tha Dah Wah, 24. "I'm very excited, very happy and I want to cry," she said. After seven years apart, the boys were now taller than her, but the younger one still clung to her hand as they walked through the camp.

The brothers have come a long way – not just in terms of distance but also experience. Born in exile, Mae La camp was the only world they knew. Daily life revolved around school, play and evening lessons with their teacher-mother. They wore old clothes full of holes and considered themselves lucky to wear flip flops where other kids ran around in their bare feet.

"We used to ask our parents – how will our future be? They always said they didn't know," said Lwel Gay Htoo.

Back then, ethnic conflict in south-eastern Myanmar seemed intractable and the refugees faced the prospect of spending a lifetime in Thailand's camps. In 2005, UNHCR started a group resettlement program to give some of them a new lease on life.

"My parents decided to register for the resettlement program because they hoped for better education for me and my brothers and sisters, so we would have better lives," said Eh Nay Ler, 17, another member of the visiting team.

© UNHCR/P Tonjunpong

Resettled refugee Eh Nay Ler shows his grandmother in Mae La camp photos of his life in the United States.

Life in the United States was not easy at first. Many struggled with the new environment, culture and language. The Lwel brothers improved their English by watching cartoons while Eh Nay Ler persisted by listening to his teachers. These young men eventually joined the Utah Boy Scouts – comprising some 100 resettled Myanmar refugees – through which they volunteer weekly and help the homeless in their new community.

"Resettling in America gave is a new, fresh start in life. It's given us freedom, rights, better education and welfare that would have been impossible if we still lived in the camp. Without the resettlement program, I could have married early or gone bad," said Lwel Say, who admitted to being "totally stubborn" and "spoilt" in the past.

Eh Nay Ler agreed: "I am very thankful for the life I've been given. Without support from UNHCR, the resettlement country and donors, I would probably be picking corn for a living with my grandmother."

Despite their gratitude, the boys clearly missed the relatives they left behind, including grandparents who felt they were too old to travel and extended family members who had either opted to stay or were unregistered and thus not eligible for resettlement under Thai regulations.

The Lwel brothers' aunt chose to stay for a university scholarship in Thailand, after which she plans to teach in the camp.

This spirit of giving back is not lost on the resettled boys. Lwel Say hopes to come back to Mae La to be a teacher when he graduates from high school in two years.

Fellow Scout Hay Soe, 16, waxed nostalgic when he visited his old school in the camp: "One day I will come back here and be a teacher. I will teach math or science because I love these subjects and I want to work for refugees in Thailand."

Nearly 100,000 Myanmar refugees have been resettled to third countries such as Australia, Canada, Denmark, Japan and the United States since 2005. Some 110,000 remain in nine camps along the Thailand-Myanmar border.

By Korapin Suntayodom & Pathamawan Tonjunpong,

In Mae La camp, Thailand

Sources : UNHCR

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

68,000 undocumented migrants detained in 10 detention depots nationwide as at 6/1/2014?

Govt urged to overcome shortage of legal workers before roping in illegals

 By Alyaa Alhadjri

PETALING JAYA: The Master Builders Association of Malaysia (MBAM) wants the government to address issues surrounding limited supply of legal workers before embarking on yet another crackdown against undocumented migrants in the country.

MBAM president Matthew Tee told theantdaily that while the association did not condone the practice of hiring undocumented migrants to work in construction sites, there were often “not enough” legal workers available to complete a project within a stipulated deadline.

“The government should understand the reasons behind the high demands for illegal workers.

“MBAM has consistently requested for the workers’ recruitment process to be simplified as delays would ultimately affect implementation of an ongoing (construction) project,” Tee said.

He was responding to the Home Ministry’s large-scale operation against undocumented migrants beginning Jan 21, after the end of a “grace period” given to both workers and their employers.

Tee also noted that the process to hire a legal foreign worker could take up to eight months, involving dealings with multiple government ministries and agencies fraught with red-tape.

“There was a time in the 90s when the government issued MBAM with a one-off quota system to bring in foreign workers in light of a similar crackdown on undocumented migrants. Some of the construction sites (at the time) were grounded,” Tee recalled.

However, in a Bernama report on Aug 5 last year Immigration director-general Datuk Alias Ahmad was quoted as saying that the lead time to process visas and permits for foreign workers in the construction industry is 14 days and not eight months as claimed by MBAM.

Tee also urged the authorities to provide clear guidelines on future raids at construction sites as MBAM members, representing almost 90% of construction companies listed on Bursa Malaysia, were “seriously affected” in the past.

“Whenever there is news of raids, most of the workers, whether legal or illegal, will flee the work sites to avoid arrest.

“It is our (MBAM) understanding that all the workers, including the legal ones, will be detained unless they can prove that they have proper documentation,” Tee said, addingthere were instances where legitimate immigration papers of foreign workers were not accepted by enforcement personnel due to lack of coordination between the agencies concerned.

Tee said it was “common procedure” for employers to keep their workers' documents in the office instead of taking them to the construction sites.

“MBAM urges the authorities to be consistent in their procedure when conducting such raids. Don't just take our workers away,” he stressed.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had also reportedly said all 2.3 million foreign workers in 10 recognised sectors were required to apply for the new I-Kad identification document by the end of this year.

Zahid said the colour-coded I-Kad, which will cost a worker or his employer RM110, will be fitted with high-tech security features such as biometric fingerprint and Nexcode mobile data security. It will be issued in stages according to sectors.

Tee, in response to Zahid, urged the government to consider charging lower fees for the I-Kad as employers were already paying levies and other processing fees.

“As we all know, the construction industry can be quite labour-intensive, which means that if an employer employs 1,000 foreign workers, he has to pay an additional RM110,000 for these I- cards,” Tee said.

Meanwhile, the crackdown is also expected to once again highlight various human rights issues pertaining to the government’s treatment of undocumented migrants.

These issues include overcrowding and poor facilities in detention depots, Malaysia’s non-recognition of refugee status, high-handed action by the authorities involved in raids as well as a perceived bias towards protecting the interests of third-party agents involved in the recruitment process.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had on Jan 6 reportedly said there weresome 68,000 undocumented migrants detained in 10 detention depots nationwide at a daily cost of RM35 per person for food and administrative matters.

This translates to a total cost of RM2.38 million a day, RM71.4 million a month and an average of RM8.56 billion a year, notwithstanding medical expenses which Wan Junaidi said could raise the cost to RM75 per person. - The Ant Daily, 21/1/2014, Govt urged to overcome shortage of legal workers before roping in illegals

Posted by Charles Hector

: UNHCR : Group Resettlement of Thai Border Refugees to End Early 2014

MAE HONG SON, Northern Thailand — The final deadline for eligible applicants for UN group resettlement to third countries for Burmese refugees on the Thai-Burma border will be sometime in late January 2014, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Vivian Tan, the spokeswoman for the UNHCR in Asia, told The Irrawaddy that eight years after the program began in 2005, and with the departure of tens of thousands of refugees to the United States since then, the number of eligible refugees is dwindling.

“The number of refugees expressing interest in this program has decreased in recent years, signaling a natural end to the program,” Tan said.

The United States first announced to camp residents in January 2013 that the group resettlement program for registered refugees would begin wrapping up this year, and a camp in Mae La, Thailand, stopped taking new applicants months ago. The announcement was made at different times in different camps, and each camp was given different deadlines for eligible applicants.

There are more than 130,000 Burmese refugees, mostly ethnic Karen who abandoned their homes in eastern Burma and fled to live in refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border in provinces such as Mae Hong Son, Tak and Sangklaburi. Many refugees have been living in these camps for more than 20 years.

Since the installation of a quasi-civilian government led by President Thein Sein in 2011, peace talks between the government and more than a dozen ethnic minority rebel groups have been a priority of the Thein Sein administration. The peace push has yielded results, with the government signing ceasefire agreements with all but two of the country’s major ethnic armed groups.

But the “peace dividend” for refugees on the Thai-Burma border has taken the form of decreasing humanitarian support amid a growing call by some for the refugees to be repatriated to their homelands.

Tan, however, said that even after the group resettlement program comes to an end, eligible refugees will still be able to express interest in individual resettlement to the United States and other third countries. “Thus, this is not the end of resettlement per se, just the end of the group resettlement program to the US,” she added.

“Eligible refugees are given several months to decide if they wished to avail of the group resettlement option. The US authorities have said the program will continue until they have processed every application received by the deadline for each camp,” said Tan.

However, the US Embassy in Rangoon denied the discontinuation of any resettlement program. According to an official at the embassy, the refugees’ admission program is ongoing and there is no halt to the processing of Burmese refugees.

“In fact the continuation of this program was specifically highlighted, as Burmese refugees continue to constitute one of our largest groups being resettled in the United States,” said the official, who asked for anonymity and did not specify whether the program referred to involved group or individual resettlement.

The official said that for the 2013-14 fiscal year, US President Barack Obama authorized the admission of up to 70,000 refugees from around the world. The top five nationalities resettled to the United States in 2013 were Iraqi, Burmese, Bhutanese, Somali and Cuban.

The United States is one of several countries participating in the program, which according to the UNHCR has so far resettled 80,000 refugees to the United States, Canada, Australia and several European countries as well as Japan.

The Border Consortium (TBC), a non-profit organization that has been providing food aid and shelter to the Burmese refugees for more than 20 years, also expressed concern over the reduction in financial support from international donors.

Mike Bruce, a spokesman for the TBC, said funding for humanitarian assistance has been reduced, with the impact of this manifested in recent ration changes.

“Rice rations are being revised in refugee camps in Thailand following reductions in funding for humanitarian food aid and a transition to needs-based and community-managed humanitarian relief,” said Bruce.

Households in refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border are now categorized as “Most Vulnerable,” “Vulnerable,” “Standard,” or “Self-Reliant.” Standard categorized households have seen a change in the rice provided for adults, and Self-Reliant households no longer receive food assistance for adults over 18 years of age, according to the officer.

In talks with more than a dozen refugees on the Thai-Burma border, The Irrawaddy was told that the shrinking financial support had made day-to-day life more difficult, between the rations cuts and a reduction in construction materials used to repair makeshift homes of bamboo and straw.

Refugees are scrambling to apply for group resettlement ahead of the program’s anticipated termination, they said.

Resettlement in third countries was the most appropriate option for them, refugees said, with uncertainty over what they might return to in Burma making that option less appealing, and their continued existence in the refugee camps made more challenging by dwindling financial support.

UN refugee chief sees a silver lining on clouds over Myanmar

Jim Pollard
The Nation July 16

Guterres, UNHCR chief

A storm of criticism has flared again over Myanmar's treatment of ethnic Rohingya - and its request to the United Nations refugee agency last week to resettle more than half a million of them to countries overseas.

But Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) - who told Myanmar's President Thein Sein it was not possible to deport the Rohingya - tried to play down the affair in an exclusive interview in Bangkok on Friday.

Guterres agreed that the Rohingya - Muslims of Bangladeshi ethnic origin at the centre of repeated crises in western Rakhine State - have endured "dramatic discrimination" and that their plight "deserves a message of humanity from the international community".

But he had only words of encouragement for Thein Sein's reformist regime.

"We have witnessed recently an eruption of some dramatic forms of violence - inter-community violence [in Rakhine State] - and this has led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people; and to a dramatic humanitarian situation for many of them.

"There is still high tension on the ground. And I believe it's important to help calm things down - to urgently deliver humanitarian aid without discrimination to the two communities, and at the same time to seriously promote a true reconciliation process.

"I had the opportunity in my visit to also suggest that, independently of the improvements that the Nationality Law might deserve, it would be important to effectively grant Myanmarese nationality to all those members of the Muslim community that have the right to it according to the law. And to find for the other members of the community a legal status allowing them to enjoy fully the rights that are necessary to lead a normal life."

The Rohingya have been denied citizenship amid claims they are "Bengalis" from Bangladesh. The request was rejected, with the UNHCR chief and staff at pains to explain it was impossible to do this, because the Rohingya were not refugees - they had not fled conflict or persecution across borders.

Treatment of the Rohingya has been condemned by some as ethnic cleansing and a state-sanctioned pogrom. Denied citizenship by Ne Win's government in 1982, tens of thousands have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh and taken to boats in recent years in search of a new life in Malaysia and other lands because of despair at their lack of rights - an inability to travel for work, or simply to marry - and a suffocating cycle of extortion and abuse by officials in Rakhine State.

Last month, at least 80 people were killed in riots between Buddhist and Muslim communities, which caused a state of emergency to be declared. Thousands saw their homes burnt and have been forced to shift to temporary shelters.

Guterres said: "It's important to realise that Myanmar is now leading a very important and positive period of transition that many people would not have thought possible just a few years ago. In this visit, to both Myanmar and Thailand, I had the opportunity to discuss perspectives of closing the chapter in a dignified way … of the Myanmarese refugees in Thailand. And this is possible today thanks to the determined way in which the Myanmar government is conducting a peace process.

"Ten ceasefires have been established. One ceasefire is being negotiated for Kachin State and there is a very clear commitment to not only peace building, which deserves the support of the international community."

Speaking after a meeting with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the UNHCR chief called on Western governments not to cut support for refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border, saying it is of "vital importance" funding be maintained till the 140,000 people in nine border camps can return.

Guterres was "very grateful" to the Thai government for hosting the refugees for nearly three decades and the fact it "recognises that no push should be made - that the voluntary character of the return should be respected, and that the safety and dignity of the refugees in that return should be a paramount concern".

He gave no indication of when the refugees may be able to return - that depended on establishing conditions on the other side "to allow all people to feel that it's safe to go back, and that they can rebuild their lives in a sustainable way".

But he was encouraged by the Thai government's "very open attitude in relation to a number of proposals to improve the conditions of the refugees" and "constructive attitude in preparation for what we hope will be a solution for one of the most protracted refugee situations in the world".

The Thailand Burma Border Consortium, which raises more than $30 million a year to supply food and materials to the camps, has been forced to cut rations for the refugees as European nations scale back donations amid a push to support projects inside Myanmar.

Guterres said: "I'd like to make a very strong appeal to the international community to maintain the support to humanitarian action in the camps … until the process is concluded.

"I want people to go back when conditions are met for them to return, to be reunifying. I don't want people to go back fleeing any aggravation if their conditions are intolerable. So the support of the international community to members of the consortium that has been operating in the area should be maintained at the present moment. That is of vital importance to the success of this whole operation."

With acute crises in Syria, South Sudan, Mali and the Congo, the world badly needed good news. The peaceful "evolution" in Myanmar, thus, "very encouraging".

"That evolution should be cherished and supported by the international community, not only in a humanitarian dimension but all things that relate to the empowerment of the country and the welfare of the people, allowing for democracy to emerge and to consolidate.

"What I hope is that these excellent signals - signs - that I have described will also, with time, allow for a positive development of the situation in Rakhine state."

Source : http://www.nationmultimedia.com

Top UN Official Offers Ideas to Quell Ethnic Strife in Burma

Lisa Schlein

GENEVA — The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, is offering to help the Burmese government reconcile the Buddhist and Muslim groups in sectarian-torn Rakhine State.

Guterres, who is on a mission to Thailand and Burma, also known as Myanmar, has presented proposals to the Burmese president and other officials for bringing the two communities closer together.

The U.N. refugee agency reports a tense calm has returned to Rakhine State, a remote region in western Burma.  In May, violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine flared after three Muslims were detained following the rape and killing of a Buddhist woman.  More than 60 people were killed and thousands of homes destroyed in sectarian clashes that followed.

U.N. refugee spokeswoman Melissa Fleming says the UNHCR continues to view the unstable situation in Rakhine with concern.  She says Guterres conveyed these concerns to Burmese officials along with his offers of help.

“We would like to state that in Rakhine State we remain absolutely committed to delivering humanitarian assistance to both populations, the Rakhine and the Muslim without any discrimination," Fleming said. "We believe that this can be a factor for reconciliation -- this aid between the communities -- and we hope that the situation will be established there, with the rule of law prevailing and a human-rights based approach.”

At the peak of the ethnic fighting, hundreds of Rakhine Muslims fled across the Naf River to Bangladesh. Their efforts to seek refuge were frustrated when Bangladesh closed its borders.

Security forces reportedly pushed back refugee boats when they arrived on their territory, leaving hundreds of people adrift in the Naf River.

UNHCR spokeswoman Fleming said the situation of people fleeing across the border is no longer acute.

“We are absolutely monitoring this and hopeful that things will return back to normal and that relations between the two communities can be re-established," she said. "But, one of the festering problems is, of course, the statelessness situation, As the nationality law stands, it is based on ethnicity and it does exclude certain groups including the Muslim Rohingya population.”

Fleming says the UNHCR believes nationality should be granted to members of the Muslim community who are entitled to have it according to the present legislation.  And, others, she says should receive a legal status that would grant them the rights required to develop a normal life in the country.

On another issue, she says Guterres asked Burmese officials to clarify why 10 local U.N. and non-governmental aid workers were arrested last month, allegedly on criminal charges. The high commissioner also asked for access to three UNHCR staff being detained. 

 

Source : http://www.voanews.com

Nursing Fellow Burmese in Thailand Against Many Odds

GENEVA -- Dr. Cynthia Maung doesn't care that much about the high-level Rio+20 United Nations conference on sustainability this week. And it doesn't matter to her that the country she lives in, Thailand, is advancing a green agenda. Dr. Maung, a general practitioner, prefers to see action on the ground to help the refugee and migrant communities living on the border with Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Dr. Cynthia, as her team calls her, is 52 years old, a mother of four and lives in Mae Sot, a Thai border town that is home to one of the largest populations of Burmese refugees displaced in Thailand. She has been running the Mae Tao clinic for the refugees for more than 20 years. The longtime Myanmar opposition leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now a Parliament member, visited Mae Sot earlier this month to address the many challenges in providing adequate health services for these vulnerable populations.

Recent natural disasters, which some experts attribute to global climate change, have plagued the region, worsening the situation for the refugees by increasing food insecurity and the spread of malaria and other diseases as well as limiting access to medical facilities.

The United Nations is working daily to provide life-saving assistance in the areas of reproductive and child health, immunizations, infectious diseases and trauma in partnership with a number of community-based health groups in the region, including Dr. Cynthia's clinic.

"I live just five kilometers from the border with Burma," Dr. Cynthia said in a phone interview with PassBlue. "We work with the displaced to provide health services, pre-natal care and to protect children from severe malnutrition. Many young people are separated from their families and have unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions."

Dr. Cynthia also runs several orphanages to help combat the threat of back-street abortions and child trafficking, which run rampant in Mae Sot. Many young migrant workers are coerced into prostitution without condom use and forced to leave their families -- victims of traffickers who take drugs and children across borders for sale.

Born to the Karen ethnic minority group in Myanmar, Dr. Cynthia fled to Thailand in her 30's, in 1988, to escape religious persecution as a Baptist and detention by the military junta during pro-democracy movements in the country. When the military made a concerted push against the Karen, many of her fellow Burmese also fled the country or went into hiding, moving quickly and without possessions. After her escape into Thailand, Dr. Cynthia remained on the border. Though she struggled to survive, she was often asked to provide medical help to the local indigenous communities and began by offering treatments for malaria and pre-natal services for pregnant women.

Many of the people she assisted were fellow Burmese who had crossed into Thailand to seek refuge in towns and villages nearby over decades.The Women's Refugee Commission, an international advocacy group based in New York, estimates that more than half a million Burmese refugees and asylum seekers have gone to live in neighboring countries. Hundreds of thousands of Burmese exist in refugee-like circumstances throughout Thailand, with at least a quarter of a million of them said to have fled human rights violations, though most if not all are treated as illegal immigrants by the Thai government.

Environmental degradation is increasing the plight of the displaced people. "We must protect human rights by monitoring rights as they are linked with the environment," Dr. Cynthia said. "Governments have to listen to the people and make them feel stronger and healthier. Human rights are affected on both sides of the border. Without human rights, there is no such thing as sustainability. The international community should engage with the Burmese and Thai governments to consider border security for the local populations instead of promoting economic needs through dam projects, which are causing environmental harm and spreading disease."

Thailand's prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, has agreed to increase investment in green technology and emphasized her country's promotion of environmental protection programs, which include conservation and integrated coastal management. Nevertheless, big business from China seems to be trumping these interests. China, in partnership with Myanmar and Thailand, is aiming to build up Southeast Asia's hydropower capacity in the next few years with billions of dollars souping up hydro dams.

Eager to please their powerful Chinese investors, the Thai government has allowed the building of dams to go unchecked to a point of ruin for many local people. Hydrodam projects on the Thanlwin River, which runs along the border between Thailand and Myanmar, have been widely criticized by Burmese migrant rights groups and environmental activists for forcing changes in water levels and causing downstream erosion.

The World Health Organization has also released studies focused on the links between water resource development projects, like hydro dams, and the frequency and transmission of malaria.

"Local town people are continuously displaced from their homes because the government is coming to make new hydro dam projects. It is a great vulnerability for women and children with no access to health services," Dr. Cynthia said. Man-made reservoirs associated with the dam projects also severely degrade water quality, damage fisheries and create environments suitable for breeding mosquitoes and other disease carriers. In May, The Lancet medical journal published a study on a deadly strain of malaria that appeared to be drug resistant spreading rapidly from the rivers in Cambodia into Thailand and Myanmar. The infection has affected many migrant workers employed on the dam projects.

Dr. Cynthia's clinic and the staff worked day and night to treat patients with the malaria symptoms. She said many cases could have been prevented if there were better systems in place to provide medical facilities for timely treatment as migrants traveled from job to job.

"There needs be a policy to protect indigenous people and the local community," Dr. Cynthia said, "because big projects for hydropower force people to leave their home and be displaced. People can preserve local knowledge and culture and make sustainable agriculture. The government can promote and preserve the environment and empower the people to be sustainable developers of their own community."

By Tala Dowlatshahi

Originally posted on passblue at the UN.

Australia rescues 123 refugees from capsized vessel

At least 123 people were rescued on Wednesday after a boat carrying asylum seekers capsized some 100 nautical miles north of Australia's Christmas Island. Up to 90 people died last week when another vessel went down in the same area.

By News Wires (text)

 

AFP - Rescuers plucked 123 people from the ocean Wednesday after an asylum-seeker boat sank en route to Australia, barely a week after another vessel went down in the same area, killing up to 90.
The rickety ship capsized 107 nautical miles north of Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean and then sank, an Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman said.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said between 123 and 133 people were on board, revised down from earlier estimates of 150.
"As we speak my best advice is that 123 people have been rescued," she told parliament as the pressure was turned up on Australian politicians to break their deadlock on how to deal with the arrival of asylum-seekers.
The incident comes just days after another boat with around 200 people on board went down in the Indian Ocean as it made its way to Australia.
Rescuers managed to save 110 people and 17 bodies were recovered from Thursday's capsize, but no other survivors have been found.
Three merchant vessels, including the MV Bison Express, a Philippines-flagged livestock carrier, were on the scene of Wednesday's disaster, which happened in Indonesian waters.
AMSA said two Australian navy ships and a spotter aircraft capable of dropping liferaft were also helping with the rescue effort in conditions described as "fair, not ideal".
In a statement, Australian Customs and Border Protection said police received a satellite phone call early Wednesday from the vessel.
AMSA "initiated an immediate response to the report and continues to coordinate the search and rescue effort".
Details were passed to the Indonesian search and rescue authority Basarnas, which said it received a report that the generator was broken and the boat was taking on water.
A photo from the MV Bison posted on the AMSA website showed a small, basic-looking boat crowded with people on its decks, apparently taken before it capsized.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said most of the passengers were believed to be Afghans and there were women and children on board, though this could not be confirmed.
The accident is the latest in a series of refugee boat disasters in recent years, as unseaworthy, overloaded vessels packed with desperate migrants struggle to reach Australia.
Most boats originate in Indonesia, but there has been a recent spike in attempts from Sri Lanka.
Though they come in relatively small numbers by global standards, asylum-seekers are a sensitive political issue in Australia, dominating 2010 elections due to a record 6,555 arrivals.
Both sides of Australian politics support offshore processing of asylum-seekers but differ on where it should be conducted.
Canberra clinched a deal last year to send 800 boatpeople to Malaysia in exchange for 4,000 of that country's registered refugees in a bid to deter people-smugglers from the dangerous maritime voyage to Australia.
But Gillard's fragile coalition government was unable to pass the required legislation through parliament without the support of the opposition, amid concerns Malaysia was not a signatory to UN refugee conventions.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott, who supports processing on the Pacific island of Nauru and turning boats back when possible, again ruled out the Malaysian solution Wednesday.
In response, Gillard pushed for a private members bill by independent MP Rob Oakeshott which would allow an immigration minister to designate any nation as an "offshore assessment country" if it was party to the Bali Process.
The Bali Process is a regional cooperative framework for dealing with asylum-seekers involving more than 40 countries.
Gillard offered, as a gesture of compromise, to re-open a detention centre on Nauru while pressing ahead with her Malaysia deal if the opposition agreed to vote for the Oakeshott bill.

Source : http://www.france24.com

Remembering the refugees among us

United Nations bring asylum seekers' plight to light through art

Thursday, June 21, 2012 - 14:21

By Reena Raj

Location: 

IPOH

AGAINST ALL ODDS: The winners of the art competition with Vernon (second from left) and Henry (right) holding up the canvas bag printed with Mary's painting

AT 12, he was forced to flee his homeland. His only link to his father now is one precious phone call a month.

All Zein Iapipd wants is for his country Palestine to be at peace so that he can return home.

Having called Malaysia home for the last five years, Zein was one of many refugee children who attended the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) World Refugee Day event at Bangsar Village 1 yesterday.

He was one of the participants in an art competition organised for the refugee children, whose winning artworks would be displayed at the mall.

He won a consolation prize for his piece, which featured a painting of a bird framed by a heart.

"I want my country to be free like a bird. I want a future for my family where we can all live in peace and love each other."

UNHCR celebrated World Refugee Day yesterday to recognise and raise awareness on their plight. Among the guests were former Miss Universe Malaysia and refugee rights advocate Deborah Priya Henry.

UNHCR representative Alan Vernon hoped the event would encourage Malaysians to step forward and help in their own capacity.

The art competition this year was held in collaboration with local bag designer Gin & Jacqie.

Gin & Jacqie designed and sponsored canvas bags printed with the artwork of first prize winner, 15-year-old Mary Mang Hou Cing. The bags went on sale yesterday.

All profits from the sales will be donated to refugee education programmes in Malaysia.

The bags will be available at www.ginjacqie.com and Cziplee, Bangsar for RM24.

Mary, from Myanmar, painted a picture in memory of her mentally-ill mother who died a few years ago.

Mary said while her mother struggled with fleeing the violence of her own country and battling her unstable mental condition, she never failed to ensure Mary felt loved, even in the most difficult times.

Mary received the first prize for her art piece titled "Love" and will have her art printed on the canvas bag to be sold under a fundraising initiative called "Art With Heart: A Refugee Art Project".

She has been living in Malaysia for three years and aspires to be a fashion designer.

As of April, there are 98,100 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UNHCR in Malaysia.

Out of these are 20,000 children below the age of 18 who do not have access to formal education and a nurturing environment.

 

Source : http://www.mmail.com.my