Rohingya asylum seekers leave UNHCR camp, issued letters on status

comments     Yap Mun Ching     Published     Updated

The group of 11 Rohingya Burmese who sought refuge at the United Nations refugee agency compound last week have left the premise after being assured their asylum applications were being looked into.

They decided to leave the compound over the weekend after they were interviewed and issued with letters confirming that they were refugees whose applications for asylum were being processed.

The men entered the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) compound last Thursday out of desperation after police raided the area where they lived.

Protection Officer Kubo Shinji said the group left after deciding to wait for the result of their asylum applications outside the compound.

"It was a spontaneous departure and did not involve the police or the UNHCR. There was no reason for us to find out why they left. They left in the same way as they entered the compound," he added when contacted today.

The Rohingyas are an ethnic minority Muslim community from Burma's northwestern Arakan state who claim ethnic and religious persecution by the Rangoon military government.

Kubo said the men were issued with letters certifying them as refugee seekers who were waiting for result of their applications.

Temporary protection

"The letter, issued to all applicants, state that these individuals' cases are being assessed and therefore, they are in need of temporary protection," the UN official said.

He said the letters would also be translated into Bahasa Malaysia to allay the asylum applicants' fear that the local police may not fully comprehend the content of the UNHCR letters.

"However, we cannot guarantee respect by the police or immigration officials. We made sure that this was properly communicated to the individuals," he said in reference to the official non-recognition of UNHCR refugee status by Malaysian authorities.

Last month, three similar groups of asylum seekers sought refuge with UNHCR. They fear they may be prosecuted or forced to leave the country after the blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants expires on July 31.

Under the new provisions in the Immigration Act, illegal migrants risk whipping and a maximum fine of RM10,000 or a jail term not exceeding five years.

It was learnt that the first two groups of rejected Rohingya asylum seekers who were arrested by police after refusing to leave the UNHCR compound, had since been handed over to Thai immigration authorities for deportation back to Burma.

Missing women

On a related matter, Kubo said a third country has accept two Burmese Chin women who were arrested by police in February despite holding letters stating their status as UNHCR mandate refugees.

However, the Protection Officer said the two women had left the illegal immigrants' detention camp in Langkap, Perak, and had not been in touch with the refugee centre.

"Their case had undergone several postponements. The interview for these women was supposed to be done in April but it was delayed to May and later to June. The women lost the energy to wait," he said.

He added that the places will be cancelled if the agency does not receive word from the women as resettlement offers are non-transferable as they are assessed specifically based on individual cases.



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