Refugees to be detained until they get resettlement
Several UN-recognised Burmese refugees who have been sent to illegal immigrants detention camps in the country will be held indefinitely until they are accepted for resettlement in third countries.
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Protection Officer Kubo Shinji today said the Burmese Chin refugees will have to await resettlement as there is no regulation in Malaysia which allows for the release of illegal immigrants.
We have been told that the government is in no position to release them. We are working on their resettlement to another country to avoid deportation, Kubo told malaysiakini .
Two Burmese Chin refugee women — Tha Sui Chin and Tha Hniang Sung — were arrested last month despite holding letters proving their status as refugees recognised by the UNHCR.
The two women in their early 20s, have been held for over a month at the Langkap detention camp in Perak.
Another Chin man, holding a similar recognition letter, has been detained at the Lenggeng immigrants camp in Negri Sembilan for the past three months.
When asked, Kubo said he is uncertain if more refugees have been arrested by Malaysian authorities during the nationwide crackdown on illegal immigrants.
On March 11, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced in Parliament that 1,352 Burmese immigrants have been arrested by authorities in the past two months.
Slim chances
Meanwhile, Kubo said the group of Burmese Rohingya immigrants who were arrested in January after invading the UNHCR compound in Kuala Lumpur had reapplied for assistance from the refugee agency.
The Rohingya immigrants have reapproached the UNHCR and asked for reviews of their cases. We are handling these among the other cases, he said, adding however their chances are slim since many of their applications have been rejected at least twice previously.
We can only do a proper review if they provide new information relating to their cases, he explained.
The 28 Rohingyas entered the refugee agencys compound last month to plead for third-country asylum.
The group, referred to as rejected asylum seekers by the UNHCR, were handed over to police and are being held at the illegal immigrants camp in Semenyih, Selangor pending deportation.
The Chins and the Muslim Rohingyas are distinct ethnic minority groups in Burma. Many fled their country alleging ethnic and religious persecution by the ruling Burmese military junta.
Some 10,000 Chin and 15,000 Rohingya are estimated to be staying illegally in Malaysia.
Many now fear arrest as the government steps up on its campaign to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the country.
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