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Launch of nationwide petition campaign for the recognition of refugees in Malaysia
Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) Press Statement - October 16, 2009
In conjunction with the exhibition opening of No Refuge: Burmese Refugees in Malaysia, SUARAM is also launching a nationwide campaign to collect signatures for a petition entitled, "Sign the Refugee Convention and Stop the Arrests, Detention and Deportation of Refugees!"
The petition has five demands to the Malaysian Government:
1. Ensure that all law enforcement agencies (in particular RELA, Police and Immigration) respect UNHCR documents and refrain from arresting holders of these documents.
2. The UNHCR is given free and full access to asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons in all Immigration Detention Depots and Prisons so that they can verify if asylum claims are genuine and take measures to assist refugees. Recognized refugees should be released into the official care of the UNHCR while durable solutions are found.
3. Take measures necessary to fully respect the international customary law of non-refoulement, which prohibits the return of people to places where they may face persecution or threat to their life or freedoms.
4. Adopt laws and regulations concerning the status of asylum seekers and refugees, as stated in the recommendations by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), of which Malaysia is party to.
5. Ratify the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol.
Signatures for the petition will be collected in two ways, via collection of written and online signatures. The online petition is hosted at www.petitiononline.com/1951Conv.
SUARAM hopes to collect at least 10,000 signatures from Malaysians by 31 May 2010. The online and written signatures will be compiled and submitted to the Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak on World Refugee Day, 20 June 2010.
Refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons have been an invisible part of the Malaysian social fabric for decades, particularly those from Burma. However, they remain unrecognised by the Malaysian Government and are subject to human rights violations by citizens and law enforcement authorities alike. As the world pays attention to the human rights violations that have occurred in our country, it is time Malaysians recognise that refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons cannot be subject to such an inhumane state of living and we are responsible for their lives while they live here.
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