Rohingya Refugees Are Subject to Abuse, Human Rights Group Says

Nearly 1,500 Myanmar nationals have been deported from Malaysia, with thousands more facing return amid concerns over their safety.

By UCA News reporter

Global rights watchdog Human Rights Watch has urged Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to press Myanmar’s junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, to end human rights abuses during his visit to Kuala Lumpur.

Min Aung Hlaing arrived in Kuala Lumpur for a two-day state visit on Oct. 7 as Malaysia seeks his cooperation to send back thousands of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar.

The Malaysian government should also halt plans to forcibly return ethnic Rohingya and other people from Myanmar, where they face persecution and other rights violations, Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Oct. 7.

Malaysian authorities deported about 1,500 Myanmar nationals on Sept. 29 in coordination with junta authorities, the first batch in a series of phased returns.

“Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s invitation to Min Aung Hlaing to coordinate the forced return of people who fled military atrocities in Myanmar is an invitation for further abuse,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

“The Malaysian government, which has provided protection to Rohingya and other refugees from Myanmar for decades, should halt any more returns and urge the junta leader to stop the abuses that have caused millions to leave the country.”

Rising hostility toward Rohingya refugees

This is Min Aung Hlaing’s sixth bilateral visit to an Asian country since he installed himself as president in April following sham elections and after stepping down as commander-in-chief of the Myanmar military.

Min Aung Hlaing has been implicated in many abuses, and the International Criminal Court prosecutor has requested an arrest warrant for his alleged crimes against humanity.

On Sept. 29, Malaysia sent back 1,476 Myanmar nationals — 1,370 men, 79 women, 20 boys, and 7 girls, ages 8 to 60 — according to Malaysia’s state news agency, Bernama, aboard two Myanmar navy ships and a hospital ship from Lumut naval base in Malaysia’s Perak state.

The deportations come amid a wave of public hostility in Malaysia toward refugees, particularly Rohingya, that government officials have fomented.

The Home Ministry has described refugees as a financial burden, a social problem, and a security threat, Human Rights Watch said. Online hate speech and misinformation targeting Rohingya and migrants generally have surged this year, leading to harassment and the closure of community schools.

The transfer was the first phase of an arrangement between the Malaysian government and the Myanmar junta to return 5,000 people, initially announced by Malaysian officials in July.

Based on media reports, Malaysia’s Home Ministry said the Myanmar junta authorities had identified those slated for return. It did not disclose their ethnicity or refugee status, or say whether Rohingya were among them. The ministry was quoted as saying that further phased returns would follow once identification, documentation, and verification were complete.

Malaysian authorities have claimed the returns were strictly voluntary. But those deported were taken directly from immigration detention centers — where former detainees have reported physical abuse and psychological harm — raising serious concerns about whether consent was freely given, Human Rights Watch said.

Concerns over persecution and abuse

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it had no role in the operation and was not involved in identifying those deported.

Since 2019, the Malaysian government has denied UNHCR access to immigration detention centers, preventing the agency from reviewing asylum claims or assisting detainees who are registered refugees.

Consent given while in indefinite detention, without access to UNHCR or a meaningful protection assessment, cannot be truly voluntary, Human Rights Watch said.

Another 3,524 people had been approved for a second phase of deportation to Myanmar, media reports say.

About 10,400 Myanmar nationals are held in Malaysian immigration detention, according to recent reports from the Malaysian Home Affairs Ministry.

Malaysia has not ratified the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 protocol, but it is still obligated to respect the international law principle of nonrefoulement, which prohibits countries from returning anyone to a place where they would face a real risk of persecution, torture or other serious ill-treatment, a threat to life, or other comparable serious human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said.

The Malaysian government should immediately suspend all deportations to Myanmar, including its planned second phase, and grant UNHCR full and unimpeded access to all immigration detention centers.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should maintain the ban on Min Aung Hlaing and other junta leaders participating in the regional bloc’s meetings. ASEAN members should refrain from organizing bilateral visits that undermine their collective ban on junta officials, it added.

Featured image: Myanmar migrants to be deported are pictured inside an immigration truck in Lumut, Malaysia, Feb. 23, 2021. (CNS/Lim Huey Teng, Reuters)