Refugees paying price of indifferent attitude
I think now the refugees should go back to the countries from where they came, because now the organizations working for the welfare of the refugees and the countries those resettle the refugees in their countries have other priorities.
The refugees who resettled by 2020 are among the lucky and last to be recognized by the 1951 signatories.
Organizations such as the UNHCR, International Rescue Committee and International Organization for Migration, etc are tired of working for the welfare of refugees.
All these organisations no longer have lost interest they once had. UNHCR offices in Malaysia and Indonesia now rarely respond to refugee requests.
Once the UNHCR office in Southeast Asia, Thailand and Sri Lanka were actively involved in resolving refugee issues but now the situation has changed. UNHCR Malaysia and Indonesia have zero performance due to the fact that these offices provide jobs to people who are not interested in their work at all.
Thousands of emails are sent to these offices every month by migrants, but a very few are answered. Racism is more prevalent in these offices because a particular sect from Myanmar is given more importance.
The UNHCR Malaysia office is currently run by security guards those cannot handle refugees and issues confronting them.
The UNHCR Indonesian and Malaysian offices did not take any special measures for the welfare of the refugees.
Both countries have so far failed miserably to resettle refugees in another country. Refugees have no redressal of their grievances on health, education, security, resettlement and immigration issues.
The Coronavirus has forced thousands of refugees from Myanmar, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Palestine to relocate to their own or third countries because they have no hope of resettlement or assistance from NGOs.
Thousands of Myanmar refugees have crossed the Malaysian-Thai border. As a result, a number of refugees in Malaysia has been reduced.
But the number of refugees that UNHCR Malaysia has not yet been updated. Refugees are left helpless after being granted refugee status, after which every refugee begins to feel like a prisoner.
As a result, they cannot return to their families or resettle in another country. They are simply trapped in the middle of nowhere.
Many refugees have left this world with the dream for a better future, but the death of a refugee does not matter to any NGO or human rights organization. Now the world has changed. Human rights no longer exist in practice.
There was a time when refugees were welcomed. Every country now considers refugees a greater burden. NGOs that talk about themselves in the name of refugees will now have to stop playing.
Refugees pay price when they are ignored. Many refugees have understood the tricks played by stakeholders which has added to their frustration.
—The writer is a Research Analyst at Kunming University of Science and Technology, China.
