(May 18): The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has offered to help Putrajaya identify migrants who need international protection following the Rohingya crisis that has left thousands of refugees stranded at sea.
UNHCR external relations officer Yante Ismail said that those rescued are likely to be a mix of refugees and economic migrants.
"UNHCR has offered its expertise in interviewing the different groups to determine who are in need of international protection, and who are not," she said in a statement today.
"UNHCR has also offered its assistance to the government in its efforts to support those who have arrived. This includes medical and other provisions, and technical advice on how to process the group."
This comes after some 1,100 Bangladeshi migrants and Rohingya refugees came ashore on Langkawi island last week and are now being held at the Belantik immigration detention depot in Sik, Kedah.
Of those detained at the depot, 392 are Rohingyas (203 men, 107 women and 82 children under the age of 12) while the remaining 717 are Bangladeshi men.
"UNHCR understands that the group includes some 700 persons from Bangladesh who may not need refugee protection and who, with the cooperation of their government, may be able to return home without delay," Yante said.
She said UNHCR's concern was for the small number of Rohingyas in the group whom, she said, were likely to need international protection and cannot return to Myanmar.
However, Yante also noted that UNHCR has yet to receive a response from the government to participate in the operations but added that it was ready to mobilise if it receives the go-ahead.
"As it has done for many years, UNHCR will support the Malaysian government in conducting all matters related to the processing of refugees, including registration and status determination, and providing welfare assistance including health, education, and other social support.
UNHCR also said today it was "deeply concerned" about the humanitarian crisis that has seen Malaysia receiving brickbats from the international community for turning away boatloads of refugees who were fleeing Myanmar and Bangladesh.
"Over the last week, alarming unconfirmed reports emerged suggesting that boats carrying vulnerable people from Myanmar and Bangladesh have been pushed away, raising concern for the welfare of the men, women, and children on board who may be in need of urgent medical and welfare assistance.
"Clearly, this serious humanitarian crisis requires a comprehensive regional response, which UNHCR fully supports. Efforts must be directed towards finding and disrupting the networks of unscrupulous smuggling and trafficking agents, and also to giving life-saving protection to their victims at sea," Yante added.
Last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also promised action against human traffickers but remained silent on specifics and steps to help the scores of starving Rohingyas and Bangladeshis adrift at sea after being turned away from countries in the region, including Malaysia.
More than 1.3 million Rohingyas – viewed by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities – live in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.
AFP reported that Malaysia had turned away two boats carrying hundreds of migrants after supplying them with fuel and provisions.
The UN is pleading for countries in the region to keep their borders open and help rescue those stranded. – The Malaysian Insider