Detained Burmese migrants stage hunger strike in Malaysia

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma

May 25, 2009 (DVB)–Around 600 Burmese migrants being held in poor conditions in a Malaysian detention centre staged a hunger strike last week in protest against their denial of access to United Nations refugee officials.

The three-day strike took place at Malaysia’s Semenyih immigration centre, where around 1500 migrants of varying nationalities, including Vietnamese, Nigerian and Indian, are held. The strike ended on 21 May.

Among the Burmese migrants kept in detention by Malaysian authorities for staying illegally in the country are a number who are recognised as refugees by the UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR).

The strike ended after camp officials agreed a meeting between the refugees and officials from the UNHCR which resulted in 45 being released, said a Burmese refugee.

“We demanded they let us meet with the UN officials and to stop the detention of those who already had served their time in the camp by deporting them back to Burma or to the Thai-Malaysia border,” said the refugee.

“The conditions inside the camp are extremely poor, and the food they gave us is nothing better than dog food and it looked so disgusting to eat.

“Some people even threw up after just seeing that,” he said, adding that pregnant women and mothers with their babies were being held inside the camp.

Burmese migrants detained in Thai and Malaysian immigration detention camps are often kept in detention by authorities without being charged.

Similarly, officials won’t deport them due to lack of assistance from Burmese embassies.

Reporting by Ahunt Phone Myat

CSW uncovers more evidence of human rights abuses in Burma

Source: CHRISTIAN TODAY

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) recently returned from a three-week visit to South-East Asia with fresh evidence of human rights violations in Burma.CSW visited the Kachin ethnic group in northern Burma with the Free Burma Rangers, and made a separate visit to Chin refugees in Malaysia.

A CSW representative heard first-hand testimony of rape, religious discrimination and land confiscation in Kachin State, and met a Chin pastor, now in Malaysia, who had been forced by Burma’s military regime to deliver a speech at a public rally denouncing human rights campaigners and claiming to enjoy complete religious freedom.

CSW also met representatives of the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) the day after the regime had ordered the KIO to surrender its arms and soldiers to Burma Army control.In a detailed report of the visit to the Kachin released on Friday, CSW quoted the testimony of a 21 year-old Bible school student who was raped and strangled by two Burma Army soldiers.

After describing her ordeal, the student told CSW that she had heard that one of the soldiers had raped many girls, but had never been brought to justice.

“Every woman should be careful. My experience is an example for other girls … I want justice to be done," she said. CSW’s East Asia Team Leader Benedict Rogers, said: “The Kachin people have a ceasefire with the regime, but the peace dividend is severely limited.

"An end to widespread killing and mass displacement is welcome, but it comes at the cost of a climate of intense restriction, discrimination, and crimes committed with impunity by military personnel.

"Similarly, the Chin people face constant religious and ethnic discrimination and severe abuse. Worst of all, these two ethnic groups feel particularly forgotten by the international community.

"It is time that their voices were heard, and that the international community responded to the political, social, humanitarian and environmental disaster in northern and western Burma.”

Troubled Myanmar

By Joe Fleishman

Myanmar authorities decided to trial their democratic leader Suu kyi raising concern all over the world. But Myanmar however has little to worry, they have seen these sorts of reaction but nothing was happened at the end. So this time there is nothing additional is threatening them.

Myanmar government is the world´s longest military regime. General public in that country is always afraid to their ruler. Their rule is also very strict. Particularly, in case of foreign relation or foreigner relation. A foreigner cannot stay at night in local´s residence. This is the case what exactly Suu Kyi is facing. Probably this awesome rule is just to keep foreigners apart from their country to collect their news.

Myanmar is generally isolated from many countries. But their main collaboration is with the communist China which has overwhelming supports on them. Moreover ASIAN nations are finding no reason to boycott them. So they are remaining stick together.

As the military rulers are managed to stay in power for many decades country´s development is doomed. They are the only refugee exporters in the whole South East Asia. Extreme poverty, less job opportunity, hunger and hoping for a better life, many Myanmar citizens flee the country towards any other nation in the world.

Thailand was captured boatful of Myanmar refugees in their coast line. In many cases Thai authorities did not wait and simply pushed them into the open ocean without food and water. After several of such incidence only one person is rescued in Malaysia. The rescued man said they have two branches. One is for north and other is for south. In north Bangladesh is a very preferred place for many Myanmar people. Particularly in northern region Rehinga´s speaks Bangla –the language of Bangladesh and like Bangladeshi people they are Muslim as well. So Bangladesh is a very good place for them.

Southern bound group is their other branch. This group´s target is little far, Thailand and if possible then Malaysia. Only few occasion people can reach from Myanmar to Malaysia. Most of them were drowned or died without food and water in the middle of the ocean. Still they continue to take the risk.

In 1991 a huge wave of refugees enters into the Bangladesh. That was annoyed the Bangladesh government. Nearly two million Myanmar refugees entered the country and both the nations were hooked on state of war. Long negotiation was able to reduce the tension for that moment. But the conflict is not over yet.

Newly formed refugee crisis is mounting pressure on critically balanced peace talks in the region. It can break at anytime. Already Bangladesh government has increased military settlement near the Myanmar border. Failing to cross the border Myanmar refugees are now choosing safety at dark night. Their border with Bangladesh is not a flat land. It is mountainous region which is full of intense forest. May be Bangladesh military is not there in the jangle but more deadly animals like poisonous King Cobra and leopards are the common visitor in there. These people are risking their life in all out to reach any country except their own.

Joe Fleishman

Joe was born in 1968, in Philippine. His mother is from Philippine and father is an American. He grew up in Manila and starts his career as a news photographer for a local newspaper. In 2001 he moved to Japan and join Mainichi magazine. He spends a significant time in India. Joe was injured in 2008 while a road side bomb hits him in a densely populated area of India. But his injury couldn´t stop his pen. He continues his job for Mainichi as a Senior Reporter.

Source: World Sentinel News

Crushing Democracy in Myanmar

By Loveleen Kaur

Aung San Suu Kyi is a living symbol of democracy and hope in Myanmar. In last two decades the military junta has kept her under house arrest for more than thirteen long years. At a time when she was about to be released after completing her house arrest term on 27 May 2009, a new allegation of breach of detention has provided the excuse for the junta to charge her and to extend house arrest thereby crushing any hopes for democracy.

Suu Kyi is barred from meeting any visitor without the junta’s permission. It is well known that how diplomats and foreign delegates have been denied access to meet her. The recent fear of her further detention looms large over the issue of allegedly meeting an American man John William Yettaw, who swam secretly across the lake of Inya. Sources close to Suu Kyi denied her doing anything illegal or wrong to be charged as the American man was a stranger and had made an accidental entry without anyone’s knowledge and refused to leave for two days before he was arrested. Though world leaders including the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and Australian Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, have ridiculed the charges as baseless and demanded immediate release of Suu Kyi, the junta seems to be determined to put her behind bars so that she is not able to campaign and participate in the much awaited junta promised fresh elections in 2010 hence not to allow any democratic movement to usher in.

Without any regard for human rights and freedom of expression, the junta has ruled the country in iron hands. From the event of Four Eights Uprising (8 August 1988) to the crackdown on Monks in 2007 and dealing with last year’s Cyclone Nargis, the junta has shown its utter disregard for democratic values and international norms of rights, justice and public accountability. While in the 1988 uprising the junta involvement resulted in the death of more than three thousand civilian protestors, the 2007 crackdown ended with deaths of more than a hundred people including many monks and recently during the 2008 cyclone it did not allow foreign aid and volunteers to enter the country till the death toll reached more than a hundred thousand.

Located on the cusp of South Asia and Southeast Asia, this multiethnic country with an estimated population of 56 million has been an international embarrassment for its record in human rights and treatment of political opponents. In this critical juncture where the last hope of democracy is being crushed, it is important to understand who among the all the stakeholders in the region can play a decisive role in bringing the junta to the negotiating table and facilitating the release of Suu Kyi.

In the past, the ASEAN despite its principle of non-intervention was successful in keeping Myanmar out of the ASEAN Chair but this has not in any way contributed to the democratic movement in the country. The EU sanctions that are in place since 2006 to limit diplomatic engagement and the US’ following a strict economic sanction policy have not been able to achieve anything in regard to the democratisation process in the country. In turn the junta has turned defensive in its actions and has dared any criticism and sanctions.

The UN has done nothing more than giving regular calls to the junta to engage with the pro-democracy forces. China and Russia have considered this as an internal matter of the country so both have not agreed with the ‘sanctions model’ to deal with the situation. China in fact has emerged to be the largest trading partner and the most important strategic partner of Myanmar.

India with initial support to the pro-democracy movement and reluctance to engage with the military government recently has gone ahead to embrace the junta led Myanmar as a strategic partner. This is clearly a policy departure where New Delhi is focussed on balancing Chinese influence in the region rather than playing any role in facilitating the release of Ms. Suu Kyi.

All these efforts altogether have contributed to the divergent approaches where the increasing need is to deal with the situation in a convergent and collective manner. When everything from strong words, international condemnations to harsh sanctions have failed to bring the junta to the table, it would not be unwise to think that an alternative and inclusive approach of collective engagement of all stakeholders with the junta has the potential to achieve the desired objective. The UN has to take the urgent initiative and a visit by Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, should be able to break the ice.

Source: IPCS News

Use refugees for labour needs

The Star Online

The predicament of Myanmar refugees in Malaysia has been grabbing international media attention. There are growing calls for the Government to address the issue.

FOR the last several weeks, the international press has been highlighting the sad plight of the more than 80,000 Myanmar refugees in Malaysia.

An explosive report by the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee that was released recently alleges the involvement of some Malaysian officials in the trafficking of these refugees. The refugees have reportedly been abused and harshly treated by other government agencies, including Rela.

The Government has until now, consistently denied all allegations of mistreatment, abuse or trafficking. The former minister of home affairs rejected these allegations outright.

The allegations themselves are not new. Malaysian and other NGOs have been voicing similar concerns for years. Malaysian print and television media have also featured investigative reports on this issue. Just google ‘Burmese refugees – Malaysia’ and dozens of sites will pop-up.

The UN High Commission for Refugees has also expressed alarm at the treatment of refugees in Malaysia. Anyone who bothers to seek out these hapless refugees, in and around our larger cities, and talk to them, as I have, will be shocked by their stories of harassment, intimidation and abuse.

Of course, there may be some exaggeration involved. Nevertheless, their stories are credible, compelling and distressing, and must be taken seriously. Denial is not an option any longer. It is to our great shame that we treat people who are fleeing from oppression in such a callous manner. It goes against the norms of decency and violates international conventions on the treatment of refugees. It even flies in the face of our own claim to be “a caring society.” Pretending that this problem does not exist in the hope that it would go away is not going to work. The issue has now gained international traction.

European and Canadian parliamentarians, together with members of the US Congress, have taken up the cry, as have many respected NGOs.

Even our own parliamentarians are demanding action. We can therefore expect more negative publicity and criticism from abroad. It is going to get very messy unless appropriate action is taken.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has done the right thing in calling for a thorough investigation. Our Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan has promised the same. Officials and others who are found to be complicit in these abuses must be brought to book. We have no obligation to defend them or cover up for them.

However, these encouraging statements must now be followed up with a more comprehensive plan of action that should include the following:

First, a policy decision must be made to recognise that legitimate refugees are different from illegal and other economic migrants. The UNHCR already has in place a credible refugee registration system. Malaysian agencies should recognise UNHCR refugee documentation and extend appropriate protection to those who hold them. The harassment of refugees must end immediately.

Second, the Government should henceforth give priority to documented refugees when it comes to recruiting temporary foreign labour. It makes no sense to contract thousands of foreign workers from abroad, and particularly from Myanmar, when we already have a huge pool of unemployed refugees within our borders.

By providing refugees with legal employment, they will be able to live in dignity while awaiting resettlement in third countries.

Third, the Government should acknowledge the work of our NGOs in caring for the refugees despite many limitations, including hostility from some government agencies.

These NGOs are already on the ground and have a good track record. With even modest government assistance, support and encouragement, they can do much to help the refugees. Fourth, the Government should take the initiative to host an Asean conference on refugees. Resettlement countries, as well as China, should be included.

The objective would be to construct a proper regional framework to prevent the abuse and trafficking of refugees and speed up their resettlement to third countries.

Myanmar’s military rulers must also be persuaded to end their campaign of terror against their own minorities.

There is, of course, the fear that extending humanitarian support to refugees would open the floodgates, so to speak.

The real problem we face, however, is not from genuine refugees but from out of control illegal immigration that is exacerbated by corruption and short-sighted labour recruitment policies. The unfortunate people fleeing from tyranny in Myanmar should not have to suffer because of this.

Najib has a unique opportunity to mend the damage done to our international image and to restore our own self-respect. Bold measures are needed, and needed quickly.

Malaysians, too, can help by reaching out to these refugees with the care and compassion that has always been our hallmark, instead of reacting with fear and suspicion.

In the final analysis, the measure of a country is not the high ideals it claims to possess but the compassion and care it shows to the weak and vulnerable in its midst. Malaysia must rise to this challenge.

Datuk Dennis Ignatius is a 36-year veteran of the Malaysian foreign service. He has served in the United Kingdom, China, the United States, Chile and Argentina. He retired as High Commissioner for Malaysia to Canada in July 2008.

Conspiracy theory behind Suu Kyi & US swimmer arrest

The beleaguered and uninvited swimmer-guest at Suu Kyi Villa, John William Yettaw

By

Salai Khen

Myanmar ruling military regime will soon charge opposition party leader Aung San Suu Kyi for the alleged intrusion of US bizarre swimmer into her lakeside villa on May 3, 2009. According to the news on several media and online journals, John William Yettwa, 53 was allowed to spend two nights at Suu Kyi villa before he was captured by security forces when he swam back to his hotel in the early morning of May 5, 2009 in Yangon.

News of Suu Kyi arrest and possible charge inundates international media. It is a well planned mine-bomb set up by military regime to destroy the likely return of Aung San Suu Kyi to Myanmar political scenario in next year military sponsored election. According to Mr. Kyi Win who is a lawyer for Suu Kyi, this nutty John Yettaw tried to meet with Suu Kyi last year and he was denied the meeting by the Noble peace laureate. The situation has been spied by Myanmar military and got the bait to fish Suu Kyi out for another long jail term by safely unleashing Yettaw on Inya lake to swim over to Suu Kyi villa but handily bundled him under arrest when he swam back on the same lake toward his hotel. This is totally bizarre.

Question concerning the old man's swimming theory to Suu Kyi lakeside villa is as easy answerable as 10 + 10 = 20 since it was an automatic locked door after entering into a single entry-house for John Yettaw. He is a dump American who knows nothing about spy network in countries like North Korea and Myanmar. He let himself swallowed alive inside a hungry crook'codile. He should read Proverb chapter in the Holy Bible about how much is the cost for the wicked.

" A wise son will bring happiness to his father but the wicked son is a heaviness to his mother".

Yangon, especially Suu Kyi residential vicinity is one of the most heaviest guarded city by military spies probably in the world under military regime from outsiders. How can one believe that a US tourist arrived Yangon on May 2, 2009 and safely swam on the next day to Suu Kyi lakeside villa and stayed over two nights there and picked up at ease on military hands when he swam back and seized all materials including the camera he used in Suu Kyi villa. Now the material evidences are there in military hand enough to prosecute Suu Kyi for another years-long prison term in order to skip her in next year election.

The world only nation without a parliament is now clearly in fear of having genuine people parliament again after looting the country for twenty years. Myanmar have no yellow and red protesters like in Thailand, no oil for US to invade and remove Than Shwe and hang him like Saddam but China as the main pillar rooted behind Myanmar military regime who caused all evils against it own innocent 53 million civilians for two decades.

This is a clear message to all Burmese and the world that this should be the Burmese military way of democracy for 2010 election.

No Inside Job. Malaysia

NST Online

Illegal immigrants use Malaysia as a transit point before moving to a third country, usually the West.

A US Senate foreign relations committee report implicating Malaysian officials in human trafficking at the Thai-Malaysian border has drawn an emphatic denial from the Immigration Department, write SUGANTHI SUPARMANIAM and ADRIAN DAVID

EXTORTION. Bribery. Close one eye. These are just some of the allegations directed at Malaysian Immigration officials accused of extorting money from illegal immigrants.

Their Thai counterparts are alleged to ignore human trafficking at the borders.

Immigration director-general Datuk Mahmood Adam has dismissed as baseless the report that his officers are on the take.

He says Malaysian and Thai officials are keeping an eye on human trafficking along their common border.

"Our department is liaising with other enforcement agencies and we have put in place several measures, which I cannot divulge. "Being a common border, it is an ongoing process to nab the culprits and bust the syndicates involved," he says, adding that several arrests have been made.

Mahmood says the situation is the same at the country's borders with Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines, with enforcement agencies monitoring the situation.

"We conduct scheduled and unscheduled enforcement operations, even in towns and villages, from time to time to weed out the culprits." Mahmood says his department has established a task force to look into the issue following allegations in a report by the US Senate foreign relations committee and by Klang member of parliament Charles Santiago as well as non-governmental organisations, including Tenaganita.

"We have been monitoring the situation over the last six months after earlier reports surfaced.

But I can assure you that the reports are not true," he says, reiterating the negative findings by the Home and Foreign Ministries.

Asked if any of his officers are involved in bribes or extortion, Mahmood says so far none has been implicated.

"There is no inside job. Our procedures in deporting illegal immigrants are there. "We repatriate them once we have established their countries of origin," he says, adding that the department could otherwise turn them over to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for further action.

A report in the Bangkok Post recently says the allegations are too credible to ignore.The report interviewed Myanmar immigrants of the Chin, Rohingya, Shan and Mon tribes allegedly fleeced and tortured by Myanmar, Thai and Malaysian enforcement officers, who received a bounty for each arrest.

Some claimed to have paid RM2,000 for safe passage to a third country. Those who failed to pay were "sold" as slaves, sexually abused or placed in jungle camps.

Children were also not spared.

It was reported that as of January, there were 27,000 Myanmar refugees registered with the UNHCR in Kuala Lumpur, with 30,000 more waiting to be processed.

Mother's Day sayings

It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't.

- Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs... since the payment is pure love.- saying by Mildred B. Vermont

Life is nothing but a series of crosses for us mothers.- Colette

Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.- Oprah Winfrey sayings

Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love.- Stevie Wonder

Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to 'jump at de sun.' We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.- Cute saying by Zora Neale Hurston

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.- Famous Tenneva Jordan

This heart, my own dear mother, bends, with love's true instinct, back to thee! -

Thomas Moore

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.- Honore de Balzac sayings

The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men - from mothers most of all, who carry the key of our souls in their bosoms. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavour by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. - Inspirational sayings by Washington Irving

How God created mother

God took the fragrance of a flower,

The majesty of a tree,

The gentleness of morning dew,

The calm of a quiet sea,

The beauty of a twilight hour,

The soul of a starry night

The laughter of the rippling brook,

The grace of a bird in flight,

Then God fashioned from these things

A creation like no other,

And when His masterpiece was through,

He called it simply...MOTHER.

Burmese refugees, miles away from home, haunted by memories of war

Northwest Asian Weekly

By Yuki Nakajima

It is a warm and bright afternoon. Burmese refugees gather at the Kent Covenant Church and wait for the Sunday service to start. They come to the church every week, hoping they can go back to Burma someday.

Burma (Myanmar), an ethnically diverse country ruled by a military regime, has been in a civil war for 60 years. In the viewpoint of the refugees, the Burmese army attacks its own people because it wants the land that people live on.

According to the World Aid Inc. Web site, there are more than 1 million men, women, and children displaced within Burma.

After moving to Seattle, many Burmese refugees are still struggling to survive.

The Burmese population is made of Karen, Chin, Bamar, Kachin, Karenni, Indian, Chinese, Shan, and other ethnic groups. The community is also religiously diverse. Many refugees fled because of the military regime’s attempt to ethnically cleanse Burma, evacuating all ethnicities except for the dominant Bamars. However, to the refugees in Seattle, it attacks everyone and only focuses on its power.

“If the military kills respected people like monks, there is no hesitation to kill us,” said WZ, who spoke on the condition on anonymity. “The military kills us even more. They don’t care about us at all.”

There are unofficial refugee camps in Thailand made up of more than 150,000 people, according to Thai/Burma Border Consortium.

Burmese refugee Gay Htoon says her life in a refugee camp was better than being in Burma, but it was still not a good life.

“Education in camp was slightly better, but I didn’t know what to do with the education [by] staying in the camp,”

Htoon said. “We were not allowed to go outside of the camp. The food provided was rice and salt. It was like a prison.”

“We cannot go back to Burma because all the land we had was evacuated. We don’t have much choice but come to the United States,” she said.

Living in Seattle is hard for refugees to get used to, but they think it’s much better in Seattle than in Burma.

“Of course it’s better to live here because in Burma, we have to struggle to stay alive without having any hope for the future,” said Burmese refugee Kyaw Oo.

“Although we have to struggle living here, at least we can see our future.”

Htoon agrees with Oo. She was a villager in Burma and one day, Burma soldiers came to her village and forced her family to work for them by doing menial labor. They took her parents away and took all the food her family had.

“The soldiers couldn’t get what they want. … They beat my dad, so of course it’s better here,” Htoon said.

Refugees like WZ, Oo, and Htoon want to go back to Burma in the future, but they don’t know when it will happen.

In order to make refugees more comfortable living in Seattle, local Burmese community members like Simon Khin works with those who are new to the area. He is planning for the second annual Burmese refugee picnic on July 26. He said the purpose of the picnic is to meet people from different cities, get to know one another, and have fun. He also said the event helps refugees build a social network for getting jobs. Burmese food will be provided, and the event is open for anyone who wants to know about Burma.

“What people in Seattle can do is to become aware of what’s going on in Burma and understand why refugees are here,” Khin said. (end)

For more information, visit World Aid Inc. at worldaidinc.org, Free Burma Rangers at www.freeburmarangers.org, or Burma Action Group at students.washington.edu/burma.

Yuki Nakajima can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

Illegal migrants using Malaysia as a transit point

The Star Online

KUALA LUMPUR: Illegal immigrants tend to use Malaysia as a transit point to move to a third country, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The Prime Minister said Malaysia was not considered a destination for the illegal immigrants but they tend to use the country or Indonesia as a prime route to go to other countries.

Citing an example, Najib said the authorities recently detained a group of people from Afghan­istan who had entered the country illegally.

“Their actual destination was Australia. The Australian prime minister called me two weeks ago on this, expressing his appreciation for our cooperation in preventing these people from entering Australia as illegals,” he told reporters after launching the Workers Day celebration here yesterday.

In Johor Baru, MEERA VIJAYAN reports that an Austra­lian refugee advocate has offered to help a Pakistani teenager move to Australia where his remaining sibling lives.

Muhamad Aqeel Karkeen Quadir Hussein, 14, is the sole survivor in a boat tragedy in the waters off Pulau Lima in Pengerang which killed his mother Zainab Quadir, his two younger siblings, Sabika, 12, and Zulqarnain, 10, and three uncles on April 27.

His father Quadir Hussein Khan Mohamad was a university professor in Pakistan who died four years ago from cancer.

Muhamad Aqeel said his only surviving family member is his 22-year-old sister Misbah Quadir who is married and living in Australia for the past 18 months.

Australian refugee advocate Kaye Bernard, who contacted The Star, said she was lobbying the Australian Government to allow the boy to live in Australia on humanitarian grounds. “If it is true the boy has a sister in Australia, she is his closest relative and would have guardianship rights over him,” she said.

Bernard said that Muhamad Aqeel may have rights under the Refugee Convention and that she had sent a letter to Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Steven Smith on May 1 on the matter.

She added that she had received a phone call from the ministry informing her that it would try and find the sister.

Although Muhamad Aqeel has maintained that the family was on a boating excursion, speculation was that they may have been refugees trying to make their way to Australia after entering Malaysia legally on April 14.

“Malaysia has been identified by Australian authorities as a transit point for immigrants to get to Australia, making the crossing by boat via Indonesia,” Bernard said.

Last month, Australia sent its senior national security adviser Duncan Lewis to Malaysia and Sri Lanka for talks to combat a surge in people smuggling.

Australian Immigration Department statistics showed that its detention centres were holding 258 people who entered the country by sea and and 65 others by air.

The figures, as of April 17, represent about 56% of the total detention population, with the top three refugee nationalities being from China, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency Southern Region Commander First Admiral Che Hassan Jusoh said 40 people from Afghanistan and Pakistan had been detained in Port Klang in recent months.

He said the agency was investigating the possibility that Port Klang and Pengerang in Johor awere being used as exit points to Batam by immigrants.

He said that here was an estimated 20 “hot exit zones” in Johor, Selangor, Malacca and Negri Sembilan used for smuggling activities and illegal entry and exit.

Federal Marine police commander Senior Asst Comm II Isa Munir said it was a challenge to keep track of foreigners, including those from Pakistan and Afghanistan, who entered the country illegally.

“The drowning tragedy in Pengerang has not been confirmed as a refugee case,” he said.

Bringing the law to Burmese refugee camps

2 May 09 - For decades or more remote Burmese refugee camps strung out along the Thai-Myanmar border have been in a kind of legal limbo, with camp leaders more or less administering justice on an ad hoc basis, say aid workers.

IRIN, Mae La - However in recent years, the Thai authorities have shown an increased willingness to assert the rule of law in these camps.

In 2006 the government gave the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) permission to assess the legal process and camp residents’ understanding of the law and their responsibilities. In the following year LAC was allowed to provide legal assistance in the camps.

LAC is run by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) currently with the support of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

“It’s the first time such a Centre has been established in a refugee camp in the world,” said Shane Scanlon, the LAC project coordinator, “and it is a global pilot project for both IRC and UNHCR.”

The Centre is currently operating in three refugee camps - Mae La in Tak Province, and Ban Mai Nai Son and Ban Mae Surin in Mae Hong Son Province. They have a total population of over 70,000 registered and non-registered refugees, most of whom are Karen, but include as well Karenni, Shan, Chin and other ethnic groups. In its initial surveys LAC found the legal situation dire. Most refugees did not know Thai law applied to them, nor what the laws were, Scanlon told IRIN.

“Huge barriers existed from the outset for refugees to access the justice system, including language barriers in understanding the legal system,” he said, adding:

“The camp communities pretty much governed themselves.”

“Justice was being administered practically exclusively by the community leadership,” according to one UNHCR staff member knowledgeable of the situation in 2006, “and such justice was not up to international standards.”

Scanlon told IRIN that LAC is working in partnership with UNHCR and the Ministry of the Interior, as well as with civil society organisations such as the Lawyers Council of Thailand in certain cases, to manage serious criminal cases.

LAC activities

LAC has a team of five specially trained lawyers to guide and advise victims and defendants. “Since it began operations, the Centre has provided legal counsel and support to more than 700 camp residents in cases ranging from serious crimes - like murder, human trafficking and rape - to civil cases involving debt and money lending contract disputes and accident compensation,” according to LAC.

Prior to 2006 in the three camps, according to UNHCR, only a handful of serious crimes were referred to the Thai justice system. Between August 2007, when the project became operational, and the end of 2008, 80 serious cases were handled by LAC and referred to the appropriate Thai authorities, and 49 referred to the Thai justice system.

LAC’s work has not gone unnoticed in the camps. “LAC has monitored crimes which occur within the camps and has helped to refer serious cases to the Thai justice system, negotiating between the appropriate Thai authorities and the refugees,” according to Khun Lay Maung, Karenni refugee committee chairperson.

Domestic violence

Most people referred to LAC are survivors of domestic abuse, and the camp leadership has asked that LAC lead a review of the way the camp justice system can adequately respond to domestic violence.

Myint Aye, chairwomen of the sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) committee in Mae La, said: “Many of our cases are criminal, most are rape cases… These we send to LAC.” She said SGBV and other groups were working alongside LAC in giving awareness training in schools and to community-based organisations throughout the camps.

A major role for LAC, according to Scanlon, is informing camp residents of the existing laws and their rights and responsibilities. More than 20 LAC paralegals - camp residents who have gone through a year’s training - advise individuals, community groups and schools about the existing laws and their rights and responsibilities. LAC also uses community theatre, outreach campaigns and civic education classes to get its message across.

“The refugee community is now more aware of the law, especially Thai law, and knows what legal and justice steps are possible, according to Karenni Refugee Committee Chairperson Khun Lay Maung, who added: “LAC organises joint workshops between the Thai authorities and community based organisations within the camp." The benefits of this legal education are not just short term, Joel Harding, IRC’s senior protection officer, told IRIN.

“Some refugees will stay in Thailand and their legal knowledge will be invaluable. Others will resettle in a third country or perhaps eventually return home,” he said, “and these legal principles, most of which are universal, will assist them well. And for those who remain in the camps for long periods, they are better prepared to seek and maintain justice in their communities.”

LAC is hopeful that in 2010, with government authorisation, it will move into other camps, including Umpium and Nupo.

Human Rights Tribune