U.S. Senate Releases Report on Abuses in Malaysia, Raids Continue

Even as the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations publicly released its report documenting the mistreatment of Burmese migrants in Malaysia, the Malaysian authorities continue to conduct raids on refugee neighborhoods in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. CHRO calls for UNHCR to take immediate action to intervene on behalf of detained Chin refugees and asylum seekers.

The Malaysian authorities rounded up and detained some 300 migrants, including small children, during raids in the Imbi neighborhood of Kuala Lumpur late Wednesday night, April 22. Over 100 Chin refugees and asylum seekers are among those arrested, including 14 children and two pregnant women. The authorities have been conducting similar raids throughout the city with increasing frequency during this past month.

In the midst of ongoing raids in Malaysia, half the world away, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations publicly released its report Trafficking and Extortion of Burmese Migrants in Malaysia and Southern Thailand, calling on the Malaysian government to address problems of trafficking and other abuses in Malaysia. The report findings include the involvement of Malaysian officials in the arrest, detention, and extortion of Burmese migrants and refugees; mistreatment of detainees in detention facilities, including whippings and torture; and the transfer of Burmese migrants and refugees to traffickers for payment. Burmese migrants and refugees in the hands of traffickers are subject to further extortion and mistreatment and are at risk of being sold into the fishing or sex industry. The report is based on a one-year investigation by the Senate Committee and includes information provided by NGOs, including CHRO, as well as first-hand testimony from trafficking victims.

“Chin refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia have long been subject to abuse and exploitation by Malaysian officials and their operatives,” said Salai Bawi Lian Mang, Executive Director of CHRO. “We appreciate this initiative by the U.S. government and hope it will put pressure on the Malaysian government to act responsibly towards migrants and refugees living within its borders.”

The 106 Chin refugees and asylum seekers caught up in the raids earlier this week are currently being held in Bukit Jali police station. According to Kennedy Lal Ram Lian, coordinator of the Chin Refugee Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, “No one has been released- not even UNHCR card holders.” More than 10 Chin detainees are UNHCR-recognized refugees awaiting resettlement to a third country. If they are deported to the border, they are at risk of being sold to traffickers.

 

According to the report, any person involved in the trafficking of migrants and refugees may be subject to prosecution not only in Malaysia and Thailand but also in the U.S. under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Based on the report findings, the proposed recommendations of the Committee include:

     * Investigation and prosecution of persons involved in the trafficking of Burmese and other refugees;

    * Increased assistance to victims of human trafficking in Malaysia;

    * Increased funding to local community leaders and political activists to combat the trafficking of persons from Malaysia into southern Thailand;

    * Consideration of alternatives to detention for refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia;

    * Free and unhindered access for UNHCR officials to all Malaysian facilities where Burmese persons and other asylum seekers are detained;

    * Promotion of refugee protection standards in Malaysia.

The full findings and recommendations of the Senate committee report can be found online at:http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html.

The Chin community represents one of the largest refugee communities from Burma living in Malaysia. For more than ten years, the Chin people have fled to Malaysia to escape persecution, torture, and severe oppression in Burma. In Malaysia they are the constant target of harassment, arrest, detention, and deportation by the Malaysian authorities. They are unable to work, receive an education, access healthcare services, or find acceptable living accommodations.

Chin Human Rights Organization

2-Montavista Avenue, Nepean, ON K2J 2L3, Canada

Tel: +1.510.223.0983

www.chro.org

Chin Human Rights Organisation: Chins In Delhi Need Fair Humanitarian Support

Van Biak Thang
Chinland Guardian
06 April, 2009
The Chin people stranded as refugees in India’s Delhi are in ‘extremely poor’ conditions with very limited access to humanitarian relief and in serious need of effective protection and services, a report released by Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) said today.
The report Waiting on the margins: An assessment of the situation of Chin refugees in Delhi documented the ‘vulnerable’ living conditions of the Chin refugees with limited protections available to them and also highlighted the long awaited-and-delayed process of refugee issues handled by the UNHCR in India.
Salai Bawi Lian Mang, executive director of CHRO, said: “So many Chins in Delhi live in deplorable conditions - without jobs, without basic amenities, and without access to social services. In fact, the Chins are refugees in desperate need of protection, but it takes years to gain protection by the UNHCR. Meanwhile, the Chins are living on the bare margins of society in Delhi.” The report said: “Due to long processing delays at UNHCR, it takes on average more than two years to receive refugee recognition - four times longer than mandated by UNHCR guidelines. As a result, more than half of the Chin population in Delhi have cases pending with UNHCR and are not yet recognized as refugees. Without UNHCR-recognition, Chins are not eligible for essential social services and humanitarian relief provided by UNHCR-partner organizations.”
There are, according to CHRO’s report, currently some 75,000 to 100,000 ethnic Chins from Burma living on the India-Burma border in India’s north-eastern state of Mizoram and an estimated 4,200 living in Delhi, making it the largest asylum-seeking population from Burma in the second-largest metropolis of India.
Sixty-six percent of the Chin population in Delhi are, the report added, unemployed and even those employed earn only Rs. 70 (US$1.35) for 10 to 12 hours per day.
The report, while acknowledging, said of the programmes and services provided and supported by the UNHCR as ‘inadequate and ineffective’ so as to meeting the needs of Chin community. Access to such programmes is still limited to UNHCR-recognised refugees and more than half of the Chin population in Delhi are not even eligible to benefit from the programmes, it added.
CHRO urged the Indian government and the UNHCR to make sure the Chin people get unhindered access to effective protection and services including healthcare, education, accommodation and employment opportunities, and to minimize processing delays and corruption from obtaining protection. It also called for improving the current ‘inadequate’ humanitarian programs for the Chin community.
Since late 2006, the Chin people have been facing SPDC-neglected food crisis caused by a plague of rats that destroy food and crops following a once-in-fifty-year cycle of bamboo flowering phenomenon.
Due to an ongoing severe ethnic and religious persecution, and human rights abuses committed by Burma’s long-standing military regime, hundreds of thousands of Chin people have been forced to leave their homes in Chin State into neighbouring countries and beyond.
Chin Human Rights Organisation has produced a series of documentary reports including Religious Persecution: A Campaign of Ethnocide against Chin Christians in Burma in 2004, The Chin People of Burma: A Struggle for Survival in 2006, and Critical Point: Food Scarcity and Hunger in Burma’s Chin State in 2008.

Hundreds At London’s Chin Famine Concert

About 350 people last Saturday turned up at the combined event of ‘Chin Famine Live Aid Concert’ and the ‘61st anniversary of Chin National Day’ in London, filling up Chiswick Town Hall in support of famine victims in Chin State, Burma.

The event, aiming to raise awareness and fund for the famine-hit victims and celebrating the Chin National Day, was organised by Chin Community in the UK (CCUK).

Timmy Ni Khuai, Vice-Chairman of CCUK, gave a short speech on the history and importance of Chin National Day, which falls on 20 February. A short presentation on the Chin famine was also given, which was followed by a special ‘relief fund’ collection with a duet from Thang Kim and sister Gloria Mang Man Cing.

“It’s been a successful event. This surely raises awareness, more fund and sends a stronger message to the people about the Chin famine.

We all should keep praying and doing something for our brothers and sisters who have been facing food crisis in the jungle,” said Miss Dim Lian, Secretary of CCUK as she thanked the CCUK members, the audience and those who helped make the event possible.

A variety of traditional foods from Burma, including Chin traditional corn soup called ‘Sabuti’, was available at the event from generous donations of individuals, groups and organisations such as Burma Democratic Concern.

The proceeds will be sent, yet to be confirmed, to the ‘unreached’ Chin villagers of Southern Chin State in the remote bamboo jungle which is not accessible by roads.

The audience had been wowed by cultural dances, fashion shows in different Chin dresses, Chin stand-up comedy, great performances by the Hornbill Band and singers including a talented Mizo singer Dadudi.

A series of ‘Chin Famine Live Aid Concert’ has since last year been organised in collaboration with Chin Human Rights Organisations (CHRO) in countries including Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Australia and Europe.