The Bar Council today urged the government to introduce legal provisions giving refugees access to work and gain official employment.

In addressing World Refugee Day which falls today, Malaysian Bar president Lim Chee Wee said permission for refugees to work has been granted before, but this practice has not been formally applied or gazetted in law.

NONE Lim ( left ) explained that asylum seekers have no financial aid and come here without money or possessions, and are forced to take risky informal work with low wages.

He added that there would be no risk in giving them lawful work, as Malaysia already employs migrants from the same countries.

“In fact it will reduce the need for foreign workers while improving the lives of refugees here, and protect them the danger of human trafficking or forced labour,” he said.

Lim also called on the government to announce a definite timetable for the ratification of the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol.

These conventions define who gets refugee status, gives them certain rights, and prohibits countries from expelling refugees.

“ As a responsible nation in the international community, and as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the government must live up to its international obligations,” said Lim.

He pointed out that there were 98,100 refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees at the end of April, including some 20,000 children.