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Amnesty calls for refugee rights in Malaysia
Irrawaddy - June 16, 2010
Saw Yan Naing – International human rights group Amnesty International (AI) on Tuesday called on the Malaysian government to provide better rights to the country's refugees – most of whom are Burmese.
In a report titled "Abused and Abandoned: Refugees Denied Rights in Malaysia," released ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20, the London-based organization said that refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia are frequently subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention in appalling conditions, caning, extortion, human trafficking and deportation back to the persecution that they fled.
An invitation to participate in World Refugee Day on Sunday in Chiang Mai.
The report documents the plight of refugees and asylum seekers who have reached Malaysia, where they are refused legal recognition, basic protection and the right to work by the Malaysian authorities.
"Refugees should be able to live with dignity while they are in Malaysia," said Chris Nash, the head of refugee and migrant rights at AI. "The government should move immediately to issue refugees official ID cards and grant them the right to work."
In February, Malaysian Home Secretary Hishammuddin Hussein proposed the introduction of government ID cards for UN-recognized refugees, and stated that refugees should be able to take on "odd jobs,"' though not be entitled to full rights to work. However, no concrete steps have been taken to introduce the ID cards since then, the rights group pointed out.
Malaysian government ID cards would give refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia some immediate protection from arbitrary detention, harassment and extortion by police and the People's Volunteer Corps (RELA), who routinely refuse to recognize cards issued by the UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR.
"There is a long way to go for Malaysia on refugee rights, but government-issued ID cards are a start," said Nash. "This is the right time for Malaysia to take this very simple, but concrete and positive step that will make a huge difference to the lives of tens of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers in the country."
A media officer who works voluntarily with the China Refugee Center in Malaysia said that arrests, detentions and extortion are daily problems for refugees because they are not officially recognized by the Malaysian government which is not a signatory to the UN's 1951 Refugee Convention.
"If the government signs the Refugee Convention, the refugees can fully receive their rights," he added.
Aung Naing Thu, a Burmese activist in Malaysia, said that Burmese opposition members and activists who stay in Malaysia face difficulties in organizing political activities.
"We have to ask the Malaysian government for permission if we want to hold an event," he said. "If we try to stage an event without their permission we will be arrested."
Kyaw Kyaw, the chairman of the National League for Democracy-Liberation Area (NLD-LA) in Malaysia, said a special crackdown against illegal aliens that was launched by the Malaysian immigration, police and RELA is the most dangerous predicament for illegal Burmese refugees, migrant workers and activists who say raids can be launched anywhere and at any time.
RELA continues to operate in a climate of impunity, despite recent Malaysian government assurances that the organization will cease to be involved in immigration enforcement, said AI.
While Malaysia accepts the presence of hundreds of thousands of Burmese and other migrants within the workforce, persons identified as refugees and asylum seekers on their way to a third country are viewed as threats to national security, according to a report titled "Trafficking and Extortion of Burmese Migrants in Malaysia and Southern Thailand" released by the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
In addition, a report released this week by the US Department of State titled "Trafficking in Persons" also confirmed that RELA arbitrarily detains refugees and asylum-seekers, and is involved in trafficking.
Refugees were particularly vulnerable to trafficking and there was limited progress in convicting traffickers despite government efforts, said the report. In an interview with The New York Times, RELA's Director-General Zaidon Asmuni said, "We have no more Communists at the moment, but we are now facing illegal immigrants. As you know, in Malaysia, illegal immigrants are enemy No. 2."
There are 84,200 refugees and asylum seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia, while there are at least 500,000 unregistered migrants. More than 90 percent of the registered refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia are from Burma, according to AI.
Many of the approximately 40,000 Burmese refugees who have resettled in the United States since 1995 have come via Malaysia, according to the report by the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
AI also called on third countries to increase their resettlement of refugees currently in Malaysia.
Resettlement provides a small number of refugees with the opportunity to rebuild their lives in countries such as Australia, Canada, the United States and in Europe. However, there has been a notable lack of resettlement of the Muslim Rohingya people who are from Burma, said the rights group.
Meanwhile, rights groups in Chiang Mai, Thailand, will hold an event to mark World Refugee Day on June 20, which will include a World Refugee Day film and a short discussion about refugees and migrant workers in Thailand.
Burmese refugees in Thailand are mostly ethnic Karen who fled from their hometown in Karen State due to human rights abuses suffered at the hands of the Burmese army.
According to the most recent figures from Thailand-based Karen Human Rights Group, more than 60,000 villagers remain displaced and in hiding in the jungle in Karen State as combined troops from Burma's government forces and the breakaway Karen rebels, Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, become have become more active in southern Papun District and northern Paan District since May 2009.
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