IT is not right for Malaysia to deport Myanmar people amid a coup in their home country, said Lawyers for Liberty (LFL). 

The government should at least wait till the United Nations refugees agency has confirmed the status of the 1,200 deportees, said the group.

It said deporting the people now is not only be a violation of their human rights but also detrimental to Malaysia’s foreign policy interests.

LFL spokesman Mahajoth Singh said that the move may also be in breach of the country’s international legal obligations. 

“Non-refoulement, a key principle of international human rights law, prohibits the return of individuals to a country where they would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or other irreparable harm,” he said in a statement.

The United Nations has expressed disapproval of Putrajaya’s plan to deport the Myanmar people to a home country that has been destablised by a military coup.

Early this month the Myanmar army seized power, placing civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.

Malaysian Immigration chief Khairul Dzaimee Daud said the Myanmar detainees to be sent home did not have valid travel documents or had overstayed their visas.

Malaysia is only deporting illegal migrant workers and not Rohingya or United Nations-registered refugees to Myanmar, he said.

It is not clear how the authorities established the varying statuses of the foreigners.

“The United Nations refugee agency has not been able to access detention centres since 2019, and so cannot determine whether these detainees would qualify as refugees,” said Mahajoth.

He said that the agency has also told the media that it was currently seeking more information, and pointed out that women and children in vulnerable situations may be among those held in these centres.

“Given this ambiguity, it is paramount that the government should at the very least delay the deportation process until and unless it can provide the United Nations with access to these 1,200 people to ensure that they are indeed merely economic migrants and not vulnerable or oppressed peoples.

“If the government fails to do so, it may unknowingly violate the principle of non-refoulement.”

He said Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, after meeting the Indonesian president in Jakarta, had promised to push for Asean leaders to meet to discuss the situation in Myanmar.

“At this meeting, the two leaders agreed that the military takeover in Myanmar by the Tatmadaw was a cause for concern and that their respective foreign ministers would push for an Asean-wide meeting to discuss the matter.

 “This came after the government released a strongly worded statement condemning the coup and asking the Tatmadaw to prioritise peace and stability.”

Mahajoth said if Putrajaya were to cooperate nowwith Myanmar’s new, unconstitutional leadership, it would send a signal to not just Asean but the world that it is prepared to parlay with and therefore legitimise the military.

He said the deportation exercise will spook migrant workers and cause them to go to ground out of fear of repatriation.

“Workers in sectors such as construction or F&B may report for work as normal, but avoid presenting themselves for vaccination and instead flee the authorities.

“Given that there are at least two million undocumented migrant workers in Malaysia, it is dangerous to public health to have a group this large potentially remain unvaccinated.

 “If the government is serious about addressing the Covid-19 pandemic holistically, it cannot run the risk of having migrant workers avoid this essential measure.” – February 17, 2021.