Thursday, 20 October 2011 14:00 Ko Pauk
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burmese political refugees will not be included in a detainee swap deal between Burma and Malaysia.
The Malaysian Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters on Tuesday that Malaysia checked the refugees’ status with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) before forging an agreement with Burmese Deputy Foreign Minister Maung Myint.
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| Burmese refugees and their children who have settled in Malaysia chat in their house in Kuala Lumpur in August 2011. Photo: AFP |
About 1,000 Burmese detainees who will be sent back to Burma under the recent detainee agreement are not asylum seekers or refugees, officials said.
“I’ve talked to the UNHCR and made it clear that the UNHCR will not stop those who are really eligible for refugee status. But, at the same time, please don’t use the refugee status as an excuse to dump so many people who are not eligible in our country,” the minister said.
His remarks were in response to two NGOs, Migrant Care Malaysia and Tenagantila, which are worried about the swap deal because most of the Burmese in Malaysia are asylum seekers.
Illegal foreigners including 3,000 Burmese, have been detained in 13 camps across Malaysia, Tun Tun, the official in charge of Burma Campaign – Malaysia, told Mizzima.
“They have been imprisoned for criminal offences. And when they were released from prisons or when their work permit or visa expired, they were sent to the detention camps. Some of them are illegal workers,” Tun Tun said.
Burma Campaign – Malaysia estimates that there are 500,000 Burmese including more than 100,000 refugees or asylum seekers, the second largest number among the number of other refugees in Malaysia.
Under Malaysia’s “6Ps” program started in August more than 250,000 Burmese citizens were fingerprinted to register as legal workers. Burmese social organizations have said the Malaysian government may launch a crackdown on illegal migrant workers within a few months.
Nyan Win, a Burmese worker rights activist in Malaysia, told Mizzima that if the detainees swap programme is an effort to send back people who have difficulties to return their country, the plan will be good.
“Normally, if a person has refugee status with UNHCR, the person will not be forced to return. The 1,000 Burmese detainees who will be sent back to Burma could not afford to buy air tickets. That’s why Malaysian government and Burmese government have planned to exchange detainees,” Nyan Win said.
Most of the migrants from Burma are Chin and Karen who have formed pro-democracy groups and human right groups. They stay in Malaysia by using identity cards issued by those groups, but the cards are not officially valid.
Presently, Burma is still scrutinizing the names of Malaysian detainees and the exact number of detainees is unknown.
In a press conference in Malaysia on Tuesday, the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) called for a halt to the exchange program, saying it had serious concerns about the implementation of the programme with Burma.
“We wish to reiterate that such a 'swap deal', which would see Burmese nationals returned to persecution in their homeland, serves political interests well ahead of these exceedingly serious human rights concerns. Contrary to the principles of international law upon which Asean is founded, such an agreement would only further jeopardize the dignity and security of Burmese refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia,” it said in a statement.
“The human rights situation in Myanmar, grievous as it remains, is unlikely to be able to ensure such protections, without which Malaysia cannot hope to fulfill its international obligations to ensure that human rights of refugees be protected.”
The refugee registration process should offer certainty to refugees with regards to their in-country status, and they should be provided access to both representatives from legal and nongovernment organizations, the statement said.
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