ACR chairman James Bawi Thang Bik, who said he had personally experienced such mistreatment, said the guards manning the gates at the UNHCR office had used physical force to turn away refugees who did not make appointments with their caseworkers.
“They are not trained to handle our cases. They are not our caseworkers. They pushed and shouted at us to go back.
“They are here to control the crowd, not chase us off. Some of them shouted at us, ‘If you don’t have an appointment, go home’,” he told FMT.
James claimed there were two cases in the past three months where refugees were punched and kicked by security guards after requesting to meet their caseworkers.
FMT has reached out to UNHCR for comment.
The ACR held a peaceful protest at the UNHCR office on Jalan Bukit Petaling today.
More than 300 participants gathered outside the gates holding signs that read, “Guards are not my case officers”, “UNHCR should register us before we die” and “You have no power to turn me away”.
A UNHCR representative accepted a list of demands from the ACR, along with the documents of more than 100 unregistered Chin refugees.
The demands include having medical emergency cases assessed by UNHCR caseworkers at the gates.
James claimed public hospitals have turned away refugees seeking medical help because of their undocumented status several times.
“Although UNHCR has outlined a prioritisation process for urgent and emergency registration, including cases involving medical emergencies, these groups and orphans and the elderly continue to be neglected.
“UNHCR has failed to meet its own mandate by ignoring these critical cases,” he said.
Under the Immigration Act 1959, Malaysia does not formally recognise refugees, classifying them as illegal migrants.
Malaysia is also not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 protocol, which guarantees the rights of those given asylum in a country. This means they do not have the legal right to work and therefore have to take up casual jobs, leaving them vulnerable to detention and deportation.
As of August, about 191,470 refugees and asylum-seekers have registered with the UNHCR in Malaysia.
Among them, the Chin people from Myanmar form the second-largest group with 27,250 individuals, while the Rohingya have a total of 110,610 individuals.