Sign The Refugee Convention and Stop The Arrests, Detention and Deportation of Refugees

Dato' Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak,
Prime Minister of Malaysia,
Prime Minister's Office,
Main Block, Perdana Putra Building ,
Federal Government Administrative Centre,
62502 Putrajaya,
MALAYSIA

Dear Prime Minister,

We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned about the state of refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons in Malaysia. As of September 2009, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has registered around 60,000 refugees and asylum seekers but the actual number remains unknown.

Refugees flee their countries due to persecution and threats to their life, and cannot return home as long as they have genuine fear that they will be persecuted. Some of them run away to Malaysia but face constant fear of arrest, prolonged detention under inhumane conditions, whipping, imprisonment and deportation as Malaysia has not yet enacted domestic laws that recognise, protect and assist asylum seekers and refugees.

As such, we call upon the Malaysian Government to:

1. Ensure that all law enforcement agencies (in particular RELA, Police and Immigration) respect UNHCR documents and refrain from arresting holders of these documents.

2. The UNHCR is given free and full access to asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons in all Immigration Detention Depots and Prisons so that they can verify if asylum claims are genuine and take measures to assist refugees. Recognized refugees should be released into the official care of the UNHCR while durable solutions are found.

3. Take measures necessary to fully respect the international customary law of non-refoulement, which prohibits the return of people to places where they may face persecution or threat to their life or freedoms.

4. Adopt laws and regulations concerning the status of asylum seekers and refugees, as stated in the recommendations by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), of which Malaysia is party to.

5. Ratify the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol.