Refugee influx if more rights given? A misconception, says UNHCR rep

It is a misconception that providing refugees with a "comfortable" life will encourage more refugees to seek asylum in that particular country, said UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) representative for Malaysia, Thomas Albrecht.

"The theory is that if we make it too comfortable for refugees, that means give them the right to work, access to education and so on, many more will come.

"That is entirely a misconception. We have studied this and from what we can see, this is not a pull factor, it is a push factor," Albrecht said at a forum entitled "Refugees and the Right to Dream" held in Kuala Lumpur today.

He gave the example of South Sudan refugees who fled from the country after conflict broke out in the region in 2013. Some of them went to countries with fewer rights for refugees while some others went to countries who treated refugees better, he said.

When things became calmer in South Sudan, the refugees who gradually began to migrate back to their country were those who fled to countries with better rights for refugees, Albrecht said.

"Because they had benefitted (in the country with better rights for refugees), they had a stable situation and they could take a risk in a much better and more evident manner (to move back to South Sudan)," he explained.

He also explained the three traditional solutions the UNHCR employs to deal with refugees which were voluntary repatriation, local integration and resettlement.

Voluntary repatriation is for refugees who want to return home once things have become stable again in their home country. Local integration, he said, is a complex process which can take place in many different forms. Sometimes it is more of a temporary situation while at other times, it could lead to naturalisation for the refugees.

Lastly, resettlement is transferring refugees from an asylum country to another country that has agreed to accept them and ultimately grant them permanent settlement.

However, Albrecht acknowledged that resettlement is a limited solution as the number of refugees third countries are willing to admit has reduced over the past few years.

Heidy Quah

Meanwhile, Refuge for Refugees founder Heidy Quah, who was also part of the forum, said Malaysians tend to be alarmed when they hear about refugees integrating with the society because of a lack of awareness.

"We are brought up in the sense where we look out for our own people, fend for ourselves and build our own community. We are not really taught to share or be open with other people and other cultures," she said.

She recalled that sometimes people would walk up to their booth outside a mall and actually ask why they were helping refugees. Many Malaysians come from a place of privilege, she said, so many do not understand the stark reality that refugees have to deal with.

"I think so many of us come from a place of privilege so we don't know what it means to lack, to not have enough plus our idea of not having enough differs greatly from what it means to not have enough when it comes to the refugee community.

"We need to start looking at being empathetic and having this conversation first at schools and workplaces," she said. - Mkini