Refugees is a term that only appeared around 1951. Before that those who fled the country to seek refuge in other countries were given the title of stateless people and migrants. Each recipient country visited by this group gives different treatment to this group. Due to the increasing number of refugees due to World War II, especially in continental Europe, cooperation was made to provide protection to these refugees.

1. MALAYSIA DILEMMA
IN THE RIGHT OF REFUGEES
MOHD FADZLI ROHAMI G2010177

2. The United Nation Definition
the of a refugee is someone who is.
"owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of
race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group
or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is
unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the
protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and
being outside the country of his former habitual residence, is
unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it."

3. INTRODUCTION
UNITED NATIONS HIGH
COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES
(UNHCR)
01
02
MALAYSIA PROBLEMS REGARDING
REFUGEES ISSUES
03
04
TABLE OF CONTENTS
MALAYSIA DILEMMA
PLAN AND ACTION TO MALAYSIA
TO ENHANCE THE UNHCR
05
06 CONCLUSION

4. INTRODUCTION
01

5. Estimated there were 79.5 million people forcibly
displaced world-wide at the end of 2019
Among those were 26 million refugees, half under the
age of 18 (20.4 million refugees under UNHCR's
mandate
5.6 million Palestine refugees under United Nations
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the
Near East (UNRWA) mandate
45.7 million internally displaced people
4.2 million asylum seekers
3.6 million Venezuelans displaced abroad
United Nations. 2017. “Refugees | United Nations.” United Nations. United Nations. 2017. https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/refugees.

6. United Nations Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees (UNHCR), Article 1 (A) (2) of
1951 a refugee is defined as a person who is
outside his or her country of origin, has a fear
based on factors of race, religion, nationality,
political views or membership in a social group,
and because of that fear, they are unable or
unwilling to seek the protection of the state.

7. Unfortunately, Malaysia was not party to
the 1951 Refugee Convention nor its
Protocol and does not have an asylum
system regulating the status and rights of
refugees. The absence of a legal
framework on asylum issues is a source of
great unpredictability in the lives of
refugees in the country
Malaysian law makes no distinction
between refugees and undocumented
migrants
Refugees are vulnerable to arrest for
immigration offences and they may be
subject to detention, prosecution,
whipping and deportation
However, there are various agencies in
Malaysia that aim to provide facilities and
protection for this group

8. UNITED NATIONS
HIGH
COMMISSIONER
FOR REFUGEES
(UNHCR)
02

9. In 1951, the United Nations established the
"Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
there are 5 sections and each section contains
items that must be provided by the recipient
country for refugee victims
The first part provides a definition of refugee
victims who are victims who try to seek refuge
in another country because they feel threatened
in their own country
The second section discusses the victims of
refugees and the laws of the Convention. Article
12 provides that victims of refugees shall
acquire or be placed in surviving areas
The third part of the convention discusses the
right of refugee victims to employment
opportunities in the recipient country and the
recipient country should provide opportunities
for refugee victims to secure their lives.
the fourth part is a matter of welfare that will be
obtained by refugee victims in the recipient
country. Among the important articles are
articles 20 and 22 as it is a basic requirement
that should be provided by the recipient
country
The fifth section of the convention discusses
the liberty of refugee victims in the recipient
country. Article 26 states that, refugee victims
have the freedom to move in the recipient
country and have an identity card as "refugees"
as stated in article 27
the 1951 Convention is not obsolete and how it
is implemented in these changing conditions
can be influenced by means other than the
development of complementary binding
instruments

10. UNHCR began its operations in Malaysia in 1975
when Vietnamese refugees began to arrive by
boat in Malaysia and other countries in the region
From 1975 until 1996, UNHCR assisted the
Malaysian government in providing protection
and assistance for the Vietnamese boat people
UNHCR resettled more than 240,000 Vietnamese
to countries including the United States, Canada,
Australia, France, New Zealand, Sweden, Finland,
Denmark and Norway.
During that same period, more
than 9,000 persons returned home to Vietnam
with the support of UNHCR

11. Although Malaysia has not signed this Convention
Malaysia is bound by Article 14 in The United
Nations Declaration on Human Rights, which
states: "Reconstitutes the rights of individuals in
other countries, from persecution to seek asylum“
Refugee Convention of 1951 and its Protocol of
1967 are the fundamental legal documents
define the term 'refugee' with 149 States parties
to either or both of them and define refugees'
rights and their legal obligations to protect them
non-refoulement principle which upholds that a
refugee should not be sent back to a country in
which he faces serious life or freedom threats.
now a rule of international customary law

12. MALAYSIA
PROBLEMS
REGARDING
REFUGEES ISSUES
03

13. For the past 40 years, Malaysia has been a
major destination for refugees seeking
either temporary or permanent refuge from
devastating conflicts in their home country
First entered Malaysia in 1975 at which time
Malaysia was flooded with refugees from
Vietnam
Asylum seekers include Filipino refugees
from Mindanao who arrived during the late
1970s and early 1980s, and over 50,000 of
them fled to Sabah
n the early 1990s, Tun Dr. Mahathir, opened
the door to Bosnian refugees seeking
assistance
Malaysia also continues to be an attractive
destination for refugees from Myanmar’s
troubled ethnic minorities, the stateless
Rohingya
Malaysia makes no distinction between
undocumented workers and refugees
Adaptation of the Immigration Act of 1963.
there is no recognition of refugee status in
Malaysia, and this group is treated the same
as immigrants
They are considered illegal immigrants under
this act and are subject to arrest, detention,
and deportation to their country of origin
Therefore, they have no job opportunities
and no educational opportunities for this
group of children
According to Malaysian law, these groups
can be convicted, imprisoned, whipped,
detained and released

14. Individuals who have received
UNCHR recognition can exercise
de facto basic status at the
national level.
This recognition grants them
international status and provides
them with a limited distribution of
not being convicted when
Malaysian immigration law is
enforced.
However, there was ambiguity in
the authorities' treatment of
refugees and asylum seekers
following the amendment of the
Immigration Act in 2002

15. As of June 2020, Malaysia had 177,940
registered refugees and asylum seekers with the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR). The true figure is almost certainly
higher, possibly ranging between 150,000 and
400,000. Most are from Myanmar, and some
have been in the country for three or four
generations

16. MALAYSIA
DILEMMA
04

17. Malaysia's geographical location makes it a
strategically for refugees make Malaysia
government worries about flood of refugees into
Malaysia
Malaysian government will face not only an influx
of refugee populations, but also a significant
impact as existing social problems worsen
when Malaysia signed the UN Convention, it was
exposing itself to the existing problem of illegal
immigrants and "they," namely these refugees,
who took advantage of the recognition.

18. Refugees should be treated equally to other
persons. Comparisons between the people and
the refugees in numerous ways are avoided.
Refugees should be provided with work,
education, placement, property rights, salary,
and other benefits by the government
Malaysian government, on the other hand, is
still incompetent at controlling and fulfilling the
needs of the people
People will feel ignored or even referred to as
"stepchildren" by the government in order to
protect the refugees
As a result, the people will revolt and there will
very certainly be a lot of carnage among the
refugees as a result of the government's
activities. As a result, Malaysia refuses to
engage in racial discrimination

19. Demographic balance, Malaysia is a multiracial
country with Malay/Bumiputras accounting for
69.6% of the total population, Chinese 22.6
percent, and Indians 6.8 percent in the year
2020
As a consequence of accepting the convention,
the Malaysian government will be dealing with
not only a flood of refugees, and therefore a
population and demography imbalance. This
will lead to political, economic, spiritual and
social problems.

20. PLAN AND ACTION
TO MALAYSIA TO
ENHANCE THE
UNHCR
05

21. In Dec 2016, Malaysia has been piloted three protection
schemes was namely The Registration of Asylum
Seekers and Refuges in a
Tracking Refugees Information System (TRIS)
This are linked to the issuance of a proposed ‘my refugee
card-‘‘MY-RC’. Another schemes is to establish a pilot
work rights scheme targeting 300 Rohingya refugees
and last schemes is to engaged in a Temporary
Relocation Programme for Syrian nationals
TRIS data and databases are updated daily with online
service readiness and centred service, as well as the
ability to mirror the government's profile procedure
and the second gateway
Main focus of this project is to assist the Government of
Malaysia to settle the issues that related to monitor
the status verification on refugees and asylum
seekers residing in Malaysia

22. Malaysia was urged by Human Right Watch to ratify the
1951 Convention relating to the Status of refugees and its
1967 Protocol to develop asylum and refugee protection
procedures and enact appropriate implementing
legislation. These procedures should be available to all
asylum seekers, regardless of nationality
In 2019 Malaysia’s has renewed commitment to reduce and
prevent statelessness in the country, in line with the Global
Action Plan to End Statelessness by 2024
The Malaysian Minister of Home Affairs, Tan Sri Muhyiddin
Yassin, was spoke in Geneva during a special session of
UNHCR’s Executive Committee meeting known as the
High-Level Segment on Statelessness to take stock of
progress half way through its.

23. However, due of the current situation caused by COVID-19,
the issue of refugees is not being addressed well in terms
of peace, economy, social, or humanitarianism.
The issues affecting this group, as well as their broader
implications for Malaysia's national interest and must be
studied collectively and thoroughly
The post-pandemic refugee policy must include health and
safety checks, determination of refugee status, registration
in government databases, and legal work authorization.
Thus, without diminishing the potential impact on
attracting more refugees to Malaysia, this also contributes
to the creation of conditions that will make existing
refugees more prepared and appealing for resettlement to
third countries or return home when possible

24. CONCLUSION
06

25. Most third world countries such as Malaysia are
still in the process of development and are still
new to accepting challenges from outside due
to uncertain political, economic and social
development.
Malaysia did not sign the Agreement in this
regard because it considered the liabilities that
the Malaysian Government would bear and the
geographical position of Malaysia is unique as it
is a developing country and a third world
country surrounded.

26. Malaysia offers refugees a proper treatment as a guarantee of human
rights and without equal treatment for their own people because the
process of building Malaysia in comparison with the western countries
remains short.
The issue of Malaysia not signing the Convention must not therefore be
criticized from the west, while, simultaneously, Palestinian refugees are
being further treated and innocent refugees are being targeted at by
Israel, which is the ‘most democratic’ country in the western bank.

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