June 20, 2004 was World Refugee Day. The day is celebrated all around the world with events such as conferences, stand up comedies, concerts and memorial services. It is an event that is celebrated by United Nation bodies, human rights and humanitarian enthusiasts and the general public.

In Malaysia, however, the day reminds us of the people living in our region whose lives have been marked by conflict and military aggression.

It is estimated around 50 million refugees and displaced people suffer worldwide. Refugees and displaced persons live in dangerous situations, in an unbearable state of limbo, with no way forward and no way back.

Developing countries are host to an estimated 75 percent of the world's refugees, many of them struggling to protect the rights of their own citizens. A tiny percentage of refugees are resettled to places where they can make a new start. Others return to their country of origin, but are often pressed to do so before they are ready or before their country is ready to receive them. Some are able to stay in their country of asylum, to live, work and enjoy legal rights as other citizens do.

In the developed world, in countries like those in Western Europe, North America, or Australia, it is becoming increasingly hard for refugees to find protection. These governments have introduced restrictions like stringent visa requirements, penalties on airlines that bring asylum-seekers into a country, and detention. These restrictions are designed to deter people from coming to their countries to seek protection.

World Refugee Day is a time to think about the plight and rights of refugees. It is a time to recall that for a refugee, every day is refugee day.

Over the past decades, we have witnessed numerous flows of forced migrants across political borders, fleeing from conflict that has occurred within the region in hope to seek safety and survival.

In Peninsular Malaysia, the main refugee populations are from Myanmar and Aceh. These are people who have fled their beloved country, fearing for their lives. But their safety in Malaysia remains unclear until today, causing them much anxiety and uncertainty.

Responsibility sharing

In past years, Malaysia has been involved in protecting victims of conflict, including many from Bosnia, Afghanistan, Palestine and even Iraq. Support was handed out most comprehensively during the mass exodus of Vietnamese boat people from the late 1970s onwards.

While Malaysia is not a party to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, it is nonetheless bound by the fundamental principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits any person being returned to a country where they face serious human rights violations.

This principle, outlined in Article 33 of the 1951 Convention and in numerous other international instruments and declarations of the UN General Assembly, is a norm of customary international law and is binding on all states.

Furthermore, Malaysia should not participate in any act of indirect refoulement, that is, to participate in circumstances where refoulement can potentially occur, such as deporting asylum seekers and refugees to a third country where they may subsequently face torture, persecution, or threat to life and freedom.

Whatever its position on refugee adults, Malaysia is formally obliged to care for refugee children as it is signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). According to Article 22 of the CRC, the Malaysian Government should proactively provide assistance and protection to children of asylum seekers and refugees.

The concept of responsibility sharing has long been noted as a vital aspect of refugee protection.

Under the 1967 Declaration on Territorial Asylum, "Where a State finds difficulty in granting or continuing to grant asylum, States individually or jointly or through the United Nations shall consider, in a spirit of international solidarity, appropriate measures to lighten the burden on that State. The 1967 Declaration set out the mechanism of Responsibility Sharing.

Responsibility sharing among member states have been tried and tested in various parts of the world, and there are a variety of supportive measures that can be explored.

For example, wealthier states can give financial support to international humanitarian agencies and to states with significant refugee populations. Third states may also offer to resettle selected refugees. Further, third states may intervene to reduce conflict or rebuild shattered institutions in states of origin so as to facilitate safe and dignified return

For example, the Protocol on the Treatment of Palestinians adopted by the Council of Ministers in 1965 in Casablanca otherwise known as the 'Casablanca Protocol' was a major effort to regularise the status of Palestinians in the states where they had primarily fled in 1948, and which continued to host them.

In its five articles, the Casablanca Protocol requires that Palestinians receive the same treatment as nationals of Arab host states with regard to employment; the right to leave and return to the territory of the state in which they reside; freedom of movement between Arab states; issuance and renewal of travel documents; and the same treatment regarding freedom of residence, work and movement.

The Kosovo situation is also an interesting illustration of ad hoc responsibility sharing. Several states participated in the organised evacuation of refugees from regional temporary protection, recognising that a concrete manifestation of solidarity was vital to securing minimal protection in the face of mass influx.

Temporary protection

Seeing that the notion of responsibility-sharing and regional solidarity is the paramount policy of Asean and in recognising Malaysia's good bilateral relations with neighbouring countries, the need to provide temporary protection should be considered. Temporary protection has been an effective interim response in situations of mass influx; where individualised refugee status determination is infeasible and where the international community has made a concerted commitment to provide resettlement or intervention to restore conditions for safe repatriation.

Furthermore, Malaysia as a country that subscribes to Islamic values should take note of the concept of Hijrah that marks one of the fundamental points in the history of Islam. The Hijrah refers to the Prophet's migration from Mecca to Madinah. The word Hijrah means to leave a place to seek sanctuary or freedom from persecution or freedom of religion or any other purpose. As a country that subscribes to Islam, the plight of asylum-seekers should be recognised by the government in name of Islamic brotherhood and in solidarity.

The Refugee Committee of Amnesty International Malaysia calls on the government to include relevant and interested parties, particularly the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and civil society groups active on refuge issues, in finding humane solutions for refugees, in line with existing human rights standards.

This could be done through organising a national consultation to discuss and consolidate efforts. Such an intervention would be timely, bearing in mind existing conflicts in the Southeast Asian region.

Malaysia should set a positive precedent, so that refugees and asylum seekers will have a life worth living.

K. Shan is the Refugee Coordinator of Amnesty International Malaysia.