KUALA LUMPUR: Asean should follow Malaysia’s lead in providing alternative learning centres for refugees, says United Nations Special Rapporteur Prof Yanghee Lee.
“These centres provide children with basic education and skills; this is essential to ensure that they do not become a lost generation, as Rohingya children are largely denied education in Myanmmar,“ she said at a press conference here as part of a fact-finding mission on Myanmmar’s human rights since Tuesday.
She applauded the move after visiting a centre here.
“Some of the refugees have been here for over 10 years - the problem of Myanmmar being a significant refugee-producing country is not new - and some have arrived more recently.
“There are many refugees from Myanmmar in Malaysia, which is a safe haven for them, and none of them said that they felt would be safe if they returned home,” she said.
“They shared with me their concerns, their desires for easier healthcare, education and work opportunities.
“Refugees here told me of their perilous journeys to get here. A farmer who came from Chin State in May told me that he left because he had been subjected to forced portering ans taxation by the Arakan Army, who had also taken money and his animals from him.
He had come here via Thailand with the assistance of an agent to whom he is now indebted. The journey that he undertook is similar to that of so many people who leave Myanmmar to find safety elsewhere.”
Though Lee was denied access into Myanmmar, information provided through interlocutors in Thailand and Malaysia have provided enough information to present to the Human Rights Council in September.
“Following my visit, it is extremely clear that the human rights situation in Myanmmar has created serious regional issues for Southeast Asia. These include for instance the existence of nearly 1.5 million refugees in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand; trafficking and smuggling of those from Myanmmar through the region; and the drug trade within and outside the region.
“It is incumbent on Myanmmar’s neighbours to acknowledge these most serious issues - that Myanmmar has produced them and that they continue to have significant impacts on countries in the region,“ she said.
She also raised her concerns on Singapore’s deportation of six Myanmmar nationals who are claimed to support the Arakan Army.
“The six were arrested upon their return to Myanmmar, and I am told that they are now detained incommunicado.
I am extremely concerned about their situation, in view of the recent cases of deaths of Rakhine men while in custody on suspicion of association with the Arakan Army in Rakhine State.
I urge Singapore to uphold its customary international law obligation not to return people to where they would be in danger of being subjected to torture,“ she added.
