Fear and Uncertainty for Refugees in Malaysia as Xenophobia Escalates

In recent weeks, authorities in the Southeast Asian nation have scaled up immigration arrests, including through a series of raids in locked-down neighborhoods with COVID-19 clusters and large migrant and refugee populations. 

Nearly 180,000 refugees and asylum seekers are registered with the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, in Malaysia, including more than 101,000 Rohingya and 52,000 others also from Myanmar. Refugee community groups estimate tens of thousands more are undocumented, awaiting UNHCR appointments. Refugees in Malaysia lack the legal right to work, leaving most employed in the informal sector. Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and classifies refugees as illegal immigrants. Those awaiting registration are particularly vulnerable to detention and deportation.

Malaysia now says it plans to deport and blacklist people who are undocumented. It deported nearly 400 Myanmar nationals on 12 May. Already pushed to the margins with few legal protections, refugees and asylum seekers describe a new climate of fear, confronted by job losses and dwindling food supplies, the threat of arrest or deportation, and the virus itself.

Click here to keep reading. Emily Fishbein writes for The New Humanitarian.