The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Malaysia’s refoulement of Myanmar’s most vulnerable must stop, says UN refugee agency
Malaysia’s forced return of asylum-seekers to Myanmar has meant that hundreds of Myanmar nationals have been “sent back against their will” to the troubled country in the last two months, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday.
There have been “multiple reports” of deportations since April which run contrary to international humanitarian law, UNHCR spokesperson, Shabia Mantoo, told journalists in Geneva.
“According to information received by UNHCR, an asylum-seeker from Myanmar was deported on 21 October from detention despite UNHCR interventions...Such deportations of refugees and asylum-seekers amount to refoulement.”
Myanmar has been gripped by civil war since February 2021 and sending people back there has exposed them “to harm and danger”, the UN agency spokesperson insisted.
She described the principle of non-refoulement as “a cornerstone of international law” which was “binding on all States”.
The development follows a wider appeal from the UN refugee agency to countries in the region to stop forced returns of Myanmar nationals seeking safety from serious harm.
“Sending them back to the country is placing countless lives at risk,” said Gillian Triggs, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection.
Myanmar’s neighbours should end the “indefinite detention” of asylum-seekers and refugees from the country, the senior UNHCR official maintained, while also expressing concern at the ongoing indiscriminate violence against civilians across Myanmar, since the military coup.
Fighting has also continued between the Myanmar military and ethnic armed groups in some border areas which has driven people to flee within the country and across borders, Ms. Triggs noted.
Tuesday’s alert from UNHCR echoes serious and widespread concerns about the fate of those who have fled Myanmar. At last month’s Human Rights Council session, UN-appointed independent human rights expert Tom Andrews reported that conditions had “gone from bad to worse, to horrific for untold numbers of innocent people in Myanmar”.
Some 1.3 million people are now displaced inside Myanmar, Mr. Andrews noted, with 28,000 homes destroyed, villages burned to the ground and more than 13,000 children killed.
A food crisis is also looming in the country, the top rights expert continued, with 130,000 Rohingya in de facto internment camps and others suffering deprivation and discrimination rooted in their lack of citizenship.
ends
STORY: Malaysia Deportations to Myanmar - UNCHR
TRT: 1 min 34s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 25 October 2022 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Wide, UN Geneva flag alley.
- Medium, press room with speakers and participants, seated.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH), UNHCR spokesperson, Shabia Mantoo: “UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, is seriously concerned over the continued deportation by Malaysia of asylum-seekers from Myanmar back to their country, placing lives at risk.”
- Medium shot, journalists taking notes.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH), UNHCR spokesperson, Shabia Mantoo: “According to information received by UNHCR, an asylum-seeker from Myanmar was deported on 21 October from detention, despite UNHCR interventions.”
- Close, press conference host speaking in the background.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH), UNHCR spokesperson, Shabia Mantoo: “Such deportations of refugees and asylum-seekers amount to refoulement.”
- Medium shot, journalists taking notes, speakers on TV screen in background.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH), UNHCR spokesperson, Shabia Mantoo: “The situation in Myanmar is forcing people to flee to seek safety within the country and across borders. UNHCR appeals to the Malaysian authorities to abide by their international legal obligations and ensure the full respect for the rights of people in need of international protection.”
- Medium, participants.
- Medium, host speaker looking at her notes.
- Close-up, TV screen showing host and speaker.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“A series of new Israeli operations and settlement plans in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, risk seriously undermining the viability of a Palestinian state and the realisation of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination,” the UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva today.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNIS
UN voices concern over chemical spraying incident on Lebanon’s Blue Line
The UN reiterated concerns on Friday at reports that Israeli forces sprayed herbicide over areas north of the Blue Line separating Lebanon from Israel. The development poses a “serious humanitarian risk” to civilians living there, said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), briefing journalists in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Five patients evacuated as Rafah reopens while ‘too many stayed behind’ – WHO
As time is running out for thousands of critically ill patients in Gaza, hope is alive for medical evacuations to increase with the reopening of the Rafah crossing in the southern part of the Strip, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNOG , OHCHR
This Sunday marks five years of crisis in Myanmar. Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights, and James Rodehaver, chief of the Myanmar team, today spoke on the conduct of recent military-imposed elections, deploring the failure to respect the fundamental human rights of the country’s citizens. The process served only to exacerbate violence and societal polarization.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Brutal Gaza war erased years of progress on education, in an “assault on the future itself” – UNICEF
Restoring Gaza’s shattered education system is “lifesaving” and getting children back into schools must be an immediate priority, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , HRC
Volker Türk, the UN Human Rights High Commissioner, made the following remarks during a briefing to a Special Session on Iran at the Human Rights Council.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , UNOPS , UNIS
Amid the launch of President Trump's Board of Peace and reconstruction talks on Gaza, UN aid agencies insisted on Friday that what Gazans need most is immediate relief from the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe there.
2
6
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences , Images | HRC
At UN, war crimes probe pledges to continue to work for all impacted by Hamas-Israel conflict
As President Trump launched the international Board of Peace plan for Gaza on Thursday, top independent rights experts tasked by the UN Human Rights Council with investigating grave abuses linked to the Hamas-Israel war pledged to continue their work seeking justice and accountability for all.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said Tuesday UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk was outraged by the repeated large-scale attacks by the Russian Federation on energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN warns against repeating abuses in South Kordofan that occurred in El Fasher.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Mozambique floods heighten disease, malnutrition risks – UN agencies
Catastrophic flooding in Mozambique is causing massive disruption to lives and livelihoods across the country, increasing the risk of disease and exposing urban areas to crocodiles, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OCHA
Yemen: Children are dying and it’s going to get worse, aid veteran warns
In Yemen, renewed political instability threatens and economic woes linked to the war to complicate the already difficult task of helping vulnerable people suffering from deepening hunger, illness and displacement, the UN's top aid official there said on Monday.