UN Agency Takes Positive First View Of Kuala Lumpur Conference On Refugees

By Manik Mehta NEW YORK, July 6 (Bernama) -- The United Nations agency for refugees has taken a positive first view of the Southeast Asian conference held in Kuala Lumpur on July 2 on the trafficking of Rohingya refugees and illegal migrants from Bangladesh stranded at sea in May this year. In its first response, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has welcomed proposals by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to set up a task force and a trust fund in response to the "irregular movement" of refugees and migrants in the region. According to the UNHCR, the ASEAN Ministerial Emergency Meeting on 'Transnational Crime Concerning Irregular Movement of Persons in Southeast Asia', made recommendations on how to respond to the "boat crisis" involving thousands of Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals trapped at sea. The crisis had led to a high-intense diplomatic activity at the UN headquarters, with the UNHCR making frantic efforts to contain the situation. The Kuala Lumpur meeting was the latest in a series of regional meetings to respond to the much-discussed and publicised wave of refugees and migrants in Southeast Asia. According to UN sources, more than 4,800 people were allowed to disembark in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand. But hundreds have been reported as still missing or unaccounted for, although many may have quietly landed in recent weeks. James Lynch, the UNHCR's regional representative and regional coordinator for Southeast Asia, has been saying that "we fully support law enforcement actions against smuggling and trafficking". "Border security must be strengthened alongside the protection of human rights, including those of refugees. We need to ensure that victims receive prompt assistance and protection, and that alternatives to detention are found for people seeking asylum, especially children," he reportedly said, according to UN sources. The UNHCR has also offered to assist in any way it can, and emphasised its willingness to share its technical expertise in screening and seeking solutions for refugees, and to help mobilise support for ASEAN's commendable efforts to address this regional challenge. Before the Kuala Lumpur meeting began, several senior United Nations officials had strongly urged the Southeast Asian countries to back what they described as a people-centred approach to migration by adopting measures such as widening of avenues for safe and legal migration, while stepping up law enforcement to put a stop to human trafficking. While welcoming the convening of the July 2 ASEAN emergency meeting to address a people-centred approach for tackling the irregular migration in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, the officials had also called for a comprehensive and durable solution to this issue. "The meeting provides a timely opportunity to move meaningfully forward on the comprehensive and durable solution...in keeping with the spirit of unity and solidarity of a people-oriented and people-centred ASEAN," according to a joint statement issued on the eve of the meeting. The statement was by the UN High Commissioners for Refugees and for Human Rights, the director-general of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), UN special representative for International Migration and Development, and the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Despite recent progress, some important remaining tasks need to be tackled such as granting access to national and international agencies to reach refugees and migrants, rather than using immigration detention, the joint statement said. "We strongly urge (Southeast Asian) states to undertake sustained efforts to expand avenues for safe and legal migration," it said, adding that these included for family reunification and labour migration at all skill levels, while stepping up law enforcement. The joint statement also called on these states to implement UNODC's recommendation to network ports and border crossings for operations to share information and improve policies with commitments to the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime. Stressing that the creation of a continuing mechanism was key to international support for the affected states, the UN officials said such task force should guarantee the rights of all migrants and refugees while addressing the drivers and root causes of the forced movement. The dire situation of the refugees and migrants has become what one UN diplomat privately described in a conversation with Bernama as a "burning issue of our times". Besides addressing the plight of the exploited refugees and migrants, it is equally important, as many say, to stop the operations of unscrupulous gangs of traffickers who exploit the dire needs of the victims. Indeed, it is not just Southeast Asia that is experiencing waves of refugees, as boatloads of refugees from Syria, North Africa and other countries have been arriving on the shores of Europe, using the coastline of Italy as an entry point. The matter has also been intensely discussed within the European Union which is trying to address the issue. -- BERNAMA