In conjunction with World Refugee Day tomorrow, the National Human Rights Society (Hakam) called for the government to give refugees the right to work without fear of discrimination and exploitation.

“Malaysia has been home to many asylum seekers and refugees since the mid-1970s,” Hakam president M Ramachelvam said in a statement.

“However, it has yet to implement a comprehensive legal and administrative framework to manage the growing number of people seeking refuge here.”

Ramachelvam called for a moratorium on detaining refugees, while allowing their children the right to access education and healthcare, and for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to be given access to immigration detention centres.

“The UNHCR has been denied access to the immigration detention centres since August 2019. This has left it unable to confirm (the identities) of people needing international protection,” he said.

In November 2020, the UNHCR said it had been prevented for more than a year from meeting detained refugees and asylum seekers.

The agency makes these visits to determine who should be given refugee status and allowed to leave the country.

Ramachelvam also urged the authorities to take action against the spread of xenophobia and hatred of refugees, as well as to ratify and accede to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.

Malaysia is not a signatory to either document, which guarantees the rights and protection of those granted asylum by the country sheltering them.

Putrajaya considers refugees and asylum seekers to be undocumented, or “illegal”, migrants under the 1959/1963 Immigration Act.

Ramachelvam said he hoped this year’s theme of inclusion for World Refugee Day “becomes a reality for asylum seekers and refugees in Malaysia”.