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LUMUT, Malaysia: Malaysia on Tuesday (February 23) deported more than 1,000 detainees from Myanmar to their homeland within weeks of a coup, despite a court order halting repatriation and a storm of criticism.
The migrants, who activists say include vulnerable asylum seekers, departed in three Myanmar navy ships from a Malaysian military base after arriving in crowded trucks and buses under police escort.
The United States, the United Nations and human rights groups had criticized the plan, while hours before the deportation, a Kuala Lumpur court ordered it to halt temporarily to allow a legal challenge.
The activists were willing to argue that it should not go ahead, as Malaysia would violate its international duties by deporting vulnerable people, and the Myanmar military’s takeover of power put them at even greater risk.
READ: UN and United States express concern about the arrival of ships from Myanmar to Malaysia to pick up detainees
But the ships later sailed with 1,086 detainees, and authorities gave no explanation as to why the court order had been ignored.
Amnesty International, one of the groups that had brought the legal challenge, said that going ahead with the repatriation in defiance of the ruling was “inhuman and devastating”.
“This life-threatening decision has affected the lives of more than 1,000 people and their families, and leaves an indelible stain on Malaysia’s human rights record,” said Katrina Jorene Maliamauv, executive director of the group’s Malaysia office.
Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch, said Malaysia “had returned them to a military junta known for persecuting those fleeing the country for political reasons.”
Malaysia’s immigration chief, Khairul Dzaimee Daud, had offered assurances that no member of the persecuted Rohingya minority, not recognized as citizens in Myanmar, or asylum seekers had been repatriated.
“All those who have been deported agreed to return of their own free will, without being forced,” he said.
However, human rights groups have raised questions about the authorities’ claims that there were no asylum seekers among those returned, as the UN has not been able to make a proper assessment.
Authorities previously said 1,200 detainees would be deported, and it was unclear why the final number was less.
REFUGEES FROM CONFLICT ZONES
Officials insist that the returnees had committed crimes such as overstaying their visas, and the deportation was part of their regular repatriation program for migrants from poorer parts of Asia.
About 37,000 foreigners were repatriated last year. Malaysia is home to millions of migrants working in low-paying jobs, such as construction.
Human rights groups rarely launch legal challenges against deportations.
READ: Diverse protesters from Myanmar united in opposition to the coup
But they were driven to do so by concerns about the worsening human rights situation in Myanmar since the coup, and because some of the migrants were vulnerable.
Activists have become increasingly alarmed since authorities prevented the UN refugee agency from accessing immigration detention centers in Malaysia in 2019.
This means that the UN cannot assess whether the foreigners are economic migrants seeking work or asylum seekers fleeing persecution and conflict, who would normally be granted refugee status and the right to remain in Malaysia.
In the most recent case, those detained are believed to include members of the Christian Chin minority and people from the conflict-ravaged Kachin and Shan states, according to Lilianne Fan, international director of the Geutanyoe Foundation, which works with refugees.
Since taking power in early February, the mostly Buddhist authorities in Myanmar have gradually increased the use of force, with three anti-coup protesters killed in demonstrations so far.
Malaysia initially expressed “serious concern” about the coup, but news emerged a few days later that it had accepted an offer from the Myanmar junta to send warships to repatriate the detainees.
