Malaysia: UN agency urges safeguards after refugees returned to Myanmar

The UN refugee agency, UNHCHR, has voiced concern over Malaysia’s decision to return 1,476 people to Myanmar amid an ongoing civil war and a dire human rights and humanitarian situation.

Deportation of Rohingya refugees began on Tuesday, according to reports. 

“We are concerned by these returns at a time when people sent back to Myanmar may face serious risks, and some within the group may be in need of international protection,” said UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Edem Wosornu. 

No prior access 

Although Malaysian authorities said the process was voluntary, she noted that those returned had been held in immigration detention. 

“This raises serious questions about whether decisions to return were genuinely free and informed,” she said.  “UNHCR did not have access to the individuals to assess this.” 

The Rohingya are a mainly Muslim ethnic minority group in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation where the military and various resistance groups are locked in civil war. 

Myanmar’s military, which seized power in a coup in 2021, has repeatedly targeted the Rohingya community, notably in 2017, when a widely condemned military operation in Rakhine state forced several hundred thousand people to flee to other countries in Southeast Asia.  

Today, more than a million Rohingya have settled in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.  

Safeguards and protection 

While UNHCR fully recognized Malaysia’s sovereign responsibility to manage asylum and migration, it urged authorities to ensure that returns are subject to robust safeguards, such as individual assessments and access to protection procedures. 

Decisions to return must be voluntary and assessed outside detention settings, the agency noted. 

Moreover, no one should be returned to a country where they may face persecution, torture or other serious threats to their life and freedom. 

UNHCR stressed that until conditions in Myanmar allow for safe, dignified and sustainable returns, States must continue to provide access to asylum and uphold international protection obligations. 

The UN agency highlighted the need for greater regional and international support towards achieving both a political solution and an end to hostilities in Myanmar. 

Deadly airstrike in Rakhine

Meanwhile, the UN's top humanitarian deplored an airstrike on a market in Rakhine state on Tuesday that killed and injured dozens of people.

“Civilians must be protected,” Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher wrote in a post on social media, stressing that "international humanitarian law must be respected.” 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned the airstrike and called for those responsible to be held to account.

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