Burmese Refugees "Treated Like a Commodity"

MALAYSIA: Burmese Refugees "Treated Like a Commodity"
By Marina Litvinsky

WASHINGTON, Apr 23 (IPS) - The mistreatment of Burmese migrants, asylum
seekers and refugees in Malaysia is the focus of a report released Thursday
by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

After receiving disturbing reports of trafficking in 2007, committee staff
conducted a year-long review of the allegations. The report, "Trafficking
and Extortion of Burmese Migrants in Malaysia and Southern Thailand," is
based on first person accounts of extortion and trafficking in Malaysia and
along the Malaysia-Thailand border. Committee information comes from
experiences of Burmese refugees resettled in the United States and other
countries.

Many Burmese migrants, escaping extensive human rights abuses perpetrated by
the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and the Burmese military
junta, travel to Malaysia to register with the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), for resettlement to a third country,
according to the report.

Once in Malaysia, Burmese migrants are often arrested by Malaysian
authorities, whether or not they have registered with the UNHCR and have
identification papers. Burmese migrants are reportedly taken by Malaysian
government personnel from detention facilities to the Malaysia-Thailand
border for deportation.

Upon arrival at the Malaysia-Thailand border, human traffickers reportedly
take possession of the migrants and issue ransom demands on an individual
basis. Migrants state that freedom is possible only once money demands are
met. Specific payment procedures are outlined, which reportedly include bank
accounts in Kuala Lumpur to which money should be transferred.

It has become commonplace for the authorities to use the vigilante RELA
force to periodically arrest and "deport" Rohingyas, a Muslim minority, but
since Burma does not recognise them as citizens, the practise is to take
them to the Bukit Kayu Hitam area on the Thai-Malaysia border and force them
to cross over into Thailand.

Migrants state that those unable to pay are turned over to human peddlers in
Thailand, representing a variety of business interests from fishing boats to
brothels.

Human rights activists have long charged that immigration, police and other
enforcement officials, have been "trading" Rohingyas to human traffickers in
Thailand who then pass them on to deep sea fishing trawler operators in the
South China Sea.

"People seeking refuge from oppression in Burma are being abused by
Malaysian government officials and human traffickers," said Elaine Pearson,
deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

The committee has received numerous reports of sexual assaults against
Burmese women by human traffickers along the border. One non-profit
organisation official states that "Most young women deported to the Thai
border are sexually abused, even in front of their husbands, by the
syndicates, since no one dares to intervene as they would be shot or stabbed
to death in the jungle." Women are generally sold into the sex industry.

"(The Burmese refugees) are treated as a commodity and frequently bought and
sold and we have been condemning this practise for a long time," Irene
Fernandez, executive director of Tenaganita, a non-profit group that
protects migrant workers, told IPS in January. "Our demands have always
fallen on deaf ears despite the accumulating evidence of the involvement of
uniformed officials in the trade."

The report, the first of three, states that Malaysia does not officially
recognise refugees, due in part to concern by the government that official
recognition of refugees would encourage more people to enter Malaysia,
primarily for economic reasons. Also, Malaysian officials view migrants as a
threat to Malaysia's national security.

"Malaysia does not recognise key international agreements on the protection
of refugees and foreign nationals. Nor does it apply to foreign migrants the
same rights and legal protections given to Malaysian citizens," Fernandez
said.

Foreign labor is an integral building block of Malaysia's upward economic
mobility. While Malaysia's total workforce is 11.3 million, there are
approximately 2.1 million legal foreign workers and an additional one
million illegal workers, though no accurate information is available.

While Malaysia accepts the presence of Burmese and others from outside of
the country for the purpose of contributing to the work force, persons
identified as refugees and asylum seekers on their way to a third country
are viewed as threats to national security.

In an interview with The New York Times, RELA's director-general, Zaidon
Asmuni, said, "We have no more Communists at the moment, but we are now
facing illegal immigrants. As you know, in Malaysia, illegal immigrants are
enemy No. 2."

Many of the approximately 40,000 Burmese refugees who have resettled in the
United States since 1995 have come via Malaysia.

In August 2008, committee staff met separately with officials in Malaysia's
immigration department and the prime minister's office, to convey the
committee's concern regarding the extortion and trafficking allegations.
Immigration Director-General Datuk Mahmood Bin Adam and long-time
immigration enforcement official Datuk Ishak Haji Mohammed denied the
allegations of mistreatment against Burmese migrants at the hands of
immigration and other Malaysian officials.

As reported recently in the Malaysia Star, "Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed
Hamid Albar also denied claims that thousands of illegal foreigners held at
detention centres were 'being sold off' to human trafficking syndicates. 'I
take offence with the allegation because neither the Malaysian Government
nor its officials make money by selling people.'"

However, according to the report, on Apr. 1, 2009, Inspector-General of
Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan stated that an investigation has been launched.

The flow of refugees from Burma to Thailand, Malaysia and other countries
has cost Burma's neighbours millions of dollars in food and humanitarian
assistance. The committee calls on officials of impacted ASEAN countries to
measure the financial cost of hosting refugees displaced from Burma, and to
request financial compensation from Burma's military junta for costs
incurred in caring for the refugees.

It asks the government of Malaysia to address the trafficking, selling and
slavery of Burmese and other migrants within Malaysia and across its border
with Thailand. As a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW), Malaysia is urged to consider alternatives to detention for
refugees and asylum seekers, especially for women and children.

"Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak should act on this U.S. Senate report
to protect the rights of refugees and victims of human trafficking," said
HRW's Pearson.

The report advises the U.S., in coordination with other donor countries, to
continue providing funds to facilitate sharing of information on human
trafficking among authorities of Thailand and Malaysia; and to provide
technical and other assistance to the governments of Malaysia and Thailand
so that the trafficking of Burmese and other migrants may be more actively
pursued and prosecuted.

The report is based on first person accounts of extortion and trafficking in
Malaysia and along the Malaysia-Thailand border. Committee information comes
from experiences of Burmese refugees resettled in the United States and
other countries.

The report highlights the plight of Burmese migrants who crossed Thailand
into Malaysia in the hope of registering with the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and then being resettled in a third
country.

According to the investigation, Malaysian officials have transported
migrants - including some who had registered with UNHCR - from detention
centres to the Thai border for deportation. At the border, however, migrants
are handed to traffickers unless they can pay a ransom.

"Migrants state that those unable to pay are turned over to human peddlers
in Thailand, representing a variety of business interests ranging from
fishing boats to brothels," said the report.

The Senate investigators also received multiple reports of Burmese women
being sexually abused by traffickers, including some in front of their
husbands because, as one NGO employee cited in the report put it, "no one
dares to intervene as they would be shot or stabbed to death in the jungle''
.

"[Burmese women] are sold at a brothel if they look good," recounted one
refugee. "If they are not beautiful, they [the traffickers] might sell them
at a restaurant or house-keeping job."

The committee launched the investigation in 2007 after hearing allegations
about the trafficking of Burmese migrants "with the knowledge, if not
participation" of Malaysian officials.

"The prospect that Burmese migrants, having fled the heavy hand of the
Burmese junta, only to find themselves in harms' way in Malaysia seemed
beyond belief," said the report.

While raising concerns about the role of "government officials" - which the
report defines as immigration and police officials, and the semi-official
People's Volunteer Corps [Rela] - Lugar welcomed the Malaysian police's
recent decision to investigate the allegations.

The report estimated that a few thousand Burmese have been brought to the
border with Thailand in recent years, and in particular to the Sungai Golok
in Thailand and Padang Besar in Malaysia.

It said Burmese refugees now residing in the US had provided names and bank
account details for people involved in the trafficking, which have now been
forwarded to Malaysian law enforcement officials.

The Malaysian Parliamentary Caucus on Myanmar will convene a meeting on the
Lugar Report and will seek a meeting with the Prime Minister and the new
Foreign Minister, Datuk Anifah Aman as the Lugar Report is not only most
damaging to Malaysia's international image but raises grave questions about
Malaysia's human rights commitment in ASEAN