Hishamudin said as of August 2024, there are 191,470 registered refugees and asylum seekers, a tiny figure compared with the two million undocumented migrants in the country.

“The number of refugees compared with undocumented workers is nothing. But we are so stingy when it comes to refugees,” he said at the 37th LawAsia conference here today.

Hishamudin said the total number of state parties to the refugee convention is 146, including Asean countries Cambodia and the Philippines.

“I’m embarrassed that Malaysia is not one of the parties that acceded to the convention and its 1967 protocol,” he said, expressing hope that the government would ratify the convention.

However, Hishamudin said persuading the government to accede to the refugee convention is no easy task.

“The government’s position is that the people must understand the issues and be ready to accept Malaysia’s accession to any human rights treaty.

“Therefore, education, public awareness and political will are pivotal to accession to the refugee convention,” he said.

The former Court of Appeal judge also raised concerns about the challenges the refugees face, including no access to public education, exploitation, physical and sexual abuse, as well as limited access to healthcare.

Meanwhile, UNHCR refugee status determination officer Costantino Giordano said refugees are often mistakenly labelled as undocumented migrants in Malaysia.

“It’s important to have a proper refugee status determination system to identify who is a refugee and who is not.

“You cannot send a person back to a country or territory where they will face persecution and serious threats to their life or freedom,” he said.