UNHCR has failed to resettle refugees in third countries, says Mohamad

 

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan. - Bernama pic

KUALA LUMPUR: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has failed to resettle refugees in third countries, says Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

He said most Rohingya refugees in Malaysia held UNHCR cards, but the agency had resettled only about 5,000 refugees over the past two to three years.

"The majority of these Rohingya refugees are UNHCR cardholders.

"We asked UNHCR to send them to third countries, but UNHCR has failed to do so.

"That is why we are reviewing the presence of UNHCR in Malaysia," he said in reply to Datuk Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik (PH–Balik Pulau) in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Mohamad said the agency should serve as a body that resettles refugees in third countries, as it did during the Vietnamese refugee crisis in the 1970s, but this was no longer happening.

He said many countries that usually accepted refugees, such as Australia, the United States and Germany, had closed their doors and adopted anti-immigrant policies.

Mohamad said repatriation was not an option as Rakhine State was no longer under the control of the Myanmar government.

He said it was now under the Arakan Army, whose violence against the Rohingya was even more brutal.

"Sending the Rohingya back means we are sending them back to be slaughtered.

"I will not agree. I state in this House that I will not agree to sending people to be slaughtered," he said. - NST