A total of 150 Myanmar nationals were deported from Malaysia this month, which included former navy officers seeking asylum and intends to deport more despite the risk of arrest these individuals face in their country, four sources told Reuters.
Malaysia continues its crackdown on refugees and asylum seekers despite it being bound by the non-refoulement principle.
The principle of non-refoulement binds Malaysia under customary international law. The country is obliged not to return refugees and asylum-seekers or any person to a frontier or territory where there is a risk of persecution, torture, cruelty, and degrading treatment or punishment.
This is also despite Malaysia’s criticism of Myanmar’s atrocities since the military overthrew an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi last year and cracked down on opposition, the deportations continue.
The junta has arrested thousands of people including Suu Kyi and many colleagues, bureaucrats, students, and journalists in an attempt to smother dissent.
According to sources who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity owing to the nature of the situation, six former naval officers were deported by plane on Oct. 6 after being detained by Malaysian authorities last month.
The sources said when they returned to Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, at least one officer, Kyaw Hla, and his wife, Htay Htay Yee, were jailed. However, Reuters was unable to determine why they were detained in Yangon.
According to the reports, the two were expelled from Malaysia because they lacked legal documentation to be there.
At least three of the former officers – including Htay Htay Yee – had registered for a card that would identify them as refugees and sought protection from the UN organisation for refugees.
A spokesman for the military-led government in Myanmar did not return calls for comment.
Myanmar’s embassy in Malaysia said in a post on Facebook that 150 Myanmar nationals were deported by plane on Oct. 6 in cooperation with Malaysian immigration authorities. It did not mention that the group included former navy officers.
Reuters reported that requests for a response from Malaysia’s immigration office, foreign ministry, and prime minister’s office went unanswered.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed “grave concern” about the deportations but did not specify if it had received any asylum requests from people who had been sent away.
“People leaving Myanmar must be provided access to territory to seek refuge and be safeguarded against refoulement,” it said in a statement to Reuters. “Not only in Malaysia but throughout the region.”
“People from Myanmar who are already outside the country shouldn’t be made to return in order to receive international protection.”
The agency made no comments concerning the risks experienced by Myanmar nationals sent home.
As of end July 2022, there are some 184,980 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia. Some 158,500 are from Myanmar, comprising some 105,250 Rohingyas, 23,370 Chins, and 29,880 other ethnic groups from conflict-affected areas or fleeing persecution in Myanmar.
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