May 2, 2022 | DFF, Statements
In the early hours of 20th April, over 500 Rohingya refugees, including 97 women, 294 men, and 137 children, escaped from a detention centre in Sungai Bakap. It was later confirmed that 7 of those who fled were killed tragically in a traffic accident, including three young children. Over the following days, at least 467 people were re-detained, and there is a continuing effort by government authorities to find and arrest the remaining refugees who fled. As members of the international human rights community, we the undersigned are deeply concerned by this heartbreaking loss of life, and we urge the Malaysian government to conduct an immediate, thorough, and independent inquiry into the underlying circumstances and detention conditions which led to such severe levels of human desperation, and prompted an escape attempt by so many.
It is reported that a large number of Rohingya refugees are held indefinitely in immigration detention centres in Malaysia, without possibility of release. This has been compounded by the Malaysian government refusing UNHCR access to detention centres in order to conduct refugee status determination processes since August 2019. Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin has stated that refugees held at the Sungai Bakap detention centre have been detained for over two years and cannot be deported.
The deprivation of liberty of people and families seeking safety and asylum is a serious concern to us, and is a fundamental violation of human rights. The impact of detention on mental, physical, and emotional health has been extensively researched and consistently shows that people, especially those who have previously experienced traumatic events, face high levels of mental health challenges as a result of being detained. Further, ample evidence proves that the severity of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress that a person experiences is closely linked to the length of time they have spent in immigration detention.
As of 26 April 2022, the Malaysian Immigration Director-General Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud reported that there were 17, 634 migrants in immigration detention centres nationwide, including 1, 528 children. The Home Ministry has also further reported 208 recorded deaths in immigration detention between 2018 and February 15th 2022, citing Covid-19, septic shock, tuberculosis, severe pneumonia, organ failure, lung infection, heart complications, dengue, diabetes, and breathing difficulties, among others.
We strongly urge the Government of Malaysia to:
- Carry out a comprehensive review of the current policies and practices of immigration detention centres in Malaysia to ensure they are in line with international legal standards
- Ensure full transparency of the investigation and review, and make the process and results available and accessible to the public
- Proceed with immediate implementation of the ATD pilot officially launched in February 2022, and ensure Rohingya children are included within the scope of the pilot
- Simultaneously, take immediate steps to enact legal and policy changes to ensure that children are no longer detained for migration-related reasons, given that only 5 children are to be released at any time under the ATD Pilot
- Follow through on the pledges made to uphold human rights, in order to secure their seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, for example, “to implement policies and legislations that promote and protect the rights of the most vulnerable communities,” which indisputably include refugees, people seeking asylum and stateless persons, especially women and children
- Immediately release all persons registered with UNHCR from immigration detention and grant UNHCR access to all immigration detention centres to continue registration of persons of concern
- Grant access to Doctors Without Borders Malaysia, and other NGOs to immigration detention centres to ensure detainees have access to medical treatment and support services
Malaysia continually lags behind its closest neighbours in ASEAN, specifically Thailand and Indonesia, who have released hundreds of children from immigration detention into community-based care since 2018. Further, in Indonesia, the local government in Aceh has set up a task force to manage emergency response. These processes link refugee communities to support from IOM, UNHCR, Geutanyoe Foundation, JRS Indonesia, and other organisations, until the national government advises which cities they will be transferred to for sustainable and ongoing accommodation and support.
We call upon the Government of Malaysia to respond to this human tragedy with compassionate leadership and integrity, and commit to protecting the rights of refugees and people seeking asylum in Malaysia, as committed to in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the ASEAN Declaration on the Rights of Children in the Context of Migration. The Government of Malaysia must reconsider its current policies and systems of immigration detention, which are arbitrary, harmful, costly and ineffective. Instead, they should develop and implement non-custodial alternatives to detention, particularly for people in vulnerable situations, such as children, ethnic and religious minorities, women, gender-diverse and LGBTI+ people.
It is time for Malaysia to step up to its international commitments, and we stand prepared to support the Government and other civil society organisations in developing systems and frameworks for alternatives to detention, and ensuring that nothing like this ever happens again.
Signed,
International Detention Coalition
Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network
ASEAN Parliamentarian on Human Rights
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia)
Jan 31, 2022 | DFF, Statements
JAKARTA – Southeast Asian parliamentarians have urged Malaysian authorities to cease their reported harassment of opposition Members of Parliament (MPs), and allow them to fulfill their duties as representatives of the people after at least four lawmakers were called in for questioning by police in recent days regarding their involvement in anti-corruption rallies.
On 28 January, MPs Maria Chin Abdullah and Fahmi Fadzil, both who are members of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), were summoned by police in Kuala Lumpur. The pair were called for questioning regarding their involvement in a protest held outside the country’s parliament building on 20 January, which called for the head of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to be suspended for alleged improper conduct in office. Two other MPs were also called for police questioning, alongside dozens of others, for their involvement in a separate anti-corruption rally on January 22.
“It is concerning that Malaysia is continuing on the path of using state machinery to harass and intimidate opposition voices, including MPs, as part of an attempt to silence them,” said Risa Hontiveros, a Philippines MP and APHR Member. “The government’s reaction to legitimate peaceful protests calling for accountability in public office should not be to harass those demonstrating, but instead investigate their concerns. Demanding accountability and answers for corruption allegations is crucial in a democracy, and authorities must not impede that.”
At the 20 January demonstration, dozens of youth members of the opposition People’s Justice Party (PKR) gathered outside Parliament to submit a petition to Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, and House Speaker Azhar Harun, which included calls for the immediate suspension of MACC Chief Azam Baki. Baki has faced public scrutiny in recent weeks regarding excessive shares he allegedly owns in a public company. Critics say the shares risk compromising the integrity and credibility of the anti-corruption body.
The eight-point petition also called for a royal commission of inquiry to be conducted into his shareholding, amendments to the MACC Act to improve checks and balances, placing the Election Commission and Human Rights Commission of Malaysia under the control of parliament, and for improved protection of whistleblowers.
“We stand in solidarity with our fellow parliamentarians, and remind the Malaysian government that a police force should be used, not to harass and intimidate government critics, but to protect and respect the people’s right to protest and free speech. Authorities must immediately end these threats, and use the state apparatus to hold those in public office accountable to the people,” Hontiveros said.
With Malaysia recently dropping five places in Transparency International’s Corruption Index rating, there has been widespread public outcry demanding accountability for the MACC chief and for genuine institutional reforms to be implemented. A bigger demonstration, dubbed the #TangkapAzamBaki (Arrest Azam Baki) protest, saw an estimated 500 people gather in Kuala Lumpur on 22 January, with police shutting down roads in the capital and deploying anti-riot trucks. Following the protest, police reportedly “identified” more than 70 people involved in the rally, including MPs Teresa Kok and Maszlee Malik, both former cabinet ministers, who were later called for questioning.
In its annual report, Parliamentarians at Risk, published in late 2021, APHR found that legal harassment of opposition MPs in Malaysia had risen alarmingly alongside a wider crackdown on freedom of expression.
Dec 2, 2021 | DFF, Statements
Lawmakers across Southeast Asia have come under drastically increased threats and harassment in the past year, in-part due to the military coup in Myanmar, but also troubling developments elsewhere in the region, a new report by ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) has found.
The number of Members of Parliament (MPs) detained in Southeast Asia has dramatically risen this year, from just one in 2020, to 91 in 2021, APHR found in its new report Parliamentarians at Risk: Reprisals against opposition MPs in Southeast Asia in 2021. This sudden spike was largely due to developments in Myanmar, where the military seized power in a coup in February, however there have also been alarming developments elsewhere in the region, including Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia, APHR said. Although not featured in detail in the report, former opposition lawmakers have also been targeted in Cambodia.
“This year has been yet another dark year for human rights in Southeast Asia, and as our region slides deeper into the grasp of authoritarianism, elected lawmakers have been among those heavily targeted, particularly those standing up for basic decency, human rights, and democracy,” said Teddy Baguilat Jr, an APHR Board Member and former Philippines Member of Parliament (MP). “Developments in Myanmar have been particularly troubling, where the political opposition has come under assault by the junta, but there are also concerns elsewhere, with governments utilizing COVID-19 to undermine opposition MPs, and erode the important oversight role they play in a democracy.”
“On top of MPs being locked up merely for fulfilling their mandates as representatives of the people, we have also witnessed threats to lawmakers for doing their jobs, as well as orchestrated campaigns of judicial harassment and disinformation, aimed at both discrediting and silencing them,” Baguilat said.
Amid the ongoing human rights catastrophe in Myanmar, the political opposition, in particular members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the 2020 election in a landslide, has been among the most prominent targets. The junta has suspended all national and sub-national parliaments, and stripped democratically elected MPs of their seats without legal or constitutional justification. At least 90 parliamentarians remain in detention or house arrest, while many others have gone into hiding to avoid the same fate.
“Not content with stealing the result of the 2020 election away from the people, the military junta in Myanmar has sought to justify its power grab by shutting down parliament, declaring groups formed by democratically-elected MPs as ‘illegal’, and jailing almost 100 of those MPs on the most spurious of charges,” said Charles Santiago, APHR Chair and a Malaysian MP. “Over the past year, the Myanmar people have said loud and clear who their representatives are – those they elected in the 2020 election – and all international actors, including ASEAN, must condemn the Myanmar military in the strongest possible terms, call for the release of all those arbitrarily detained since the coup, including MPs, and for the country to be put back on the democratic path.”
While the situation in Myanmar has dominated headlines, lawmakers were also at risk elsewhere in Southeast Asia, notably Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, APHR said.
In Malaysia, in January the government of then-Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin used the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to impose a state of emergency, while parliament was suspended for more than seven months. Opposition politicians were among those targeted in a growing crackdown on dissent, with at least ten lawmakers interrogated or charged for expressing criticism related to human rights abuses or the suspension of parliament.
In the Philippines, disinformation campaigns, threats and so-called “red-tagging” of opposition lawmakers rose alarmingly ahead of the general elections taking place in 2022, while President Rodrigo Duterte and other senior officials made baseless accusations against left-wing lawmakers, claiming they support an armed communist insurgency. Senator Leila de Lima remains in prison, and has now been arbitrarily detained for close to five years.
Meanwhile, in Thailand, the government and its allies continued to level trumped-up criminal cases against Move Forward Party (MFP) lawmakers, while opposition MPs were also the target of widespread abuse online, often through highly coordinated “information operations” orchestrated by state-affiliated actors.
“An attack on an MP is an attack on democracy. The systematic harassment of MPs – whether online, offline, judicial or otherwise – is clearly aimed at preventing them from doing their jobs, and acting as a check and balance on behalf of the people,” said Baguilat Jr. “The role of MPs is absolutely crucial in a democracy, particularly during the pandemic of the last two years, or as elections approach, as is the case in the Philippines and Cambodia.”
“Amid the assault on democracy we are witnessing across the region, those working to protect it must come together and act as one unified voice. We call on our governments across Southeast Asia to do everything in their power to protect the human rights of all MPs, and urge our fellow parliamentarians to call out the abuses they see at every turn,” Baguilat said.
Click here for a Myanmar translation of this statement
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Click here for a Khmer translation of this statement
Click here for a Lao translation of this statement
Click here for a Malay translation of this statement
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Dec 2, 2021 | DFF, Reports
Across Southeast Asia, parliamentarians are increasingly at risk. Lawmakers who use their mandates to defend human rights or to hold power to account have for years been targeted through trumped-up criminal charges, threats and harassment, physical violence, and detention. In 2021, we continued to see MPs targeted, to a large extent because of the military coup in Myanmar and its devastating aftermath, but also due to alarming developments elsewhere.
This briefing from ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) provides an overview of human rights abuses against elected lawmakers in Southeast Asia. The findings in 2021 are stark, and APHR must unfortunately report that the situation facing MPs has only deteriorated further. The number of detained lawmakers in the region rose from just one in 2020, to 91 in 2021 due to the Myanmar military regime’s wave of arrests. In fact, Myanmar has previously been a country where APHR has rarely documented abuses against MPs, but it has now joined the ranks of Southeast Asian states repressing lawmakers.
The coup in Myanmar is the most dramatic example of a wider trend of closing democratic space in the region. In countries where APHR has previously documented abuses against MPs, such as Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, authorities continued to level baseless criminal charges against opposition MPs, while often also being implicated in or failing to prevent or effectively investigate threats, online abuse, and disinformation campaigns against lawmakers. In 2021, the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region also served as an apparent excuse to justify the silencing of democratic debate, either by targeting lawmakers exercising their freedom of expression to scrutinize official measures, or by suspending parliament, as was the case in Malaysia.
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Aug 4, 2021 | DFF, Statements
Please click here for a Malay translation of this statement
JAKARTA – Southeast Asian parliamentarians have expressed alarm about the new suspension of Parliament in Malaysia after months of unchecked ruling by the government. Amid reports that some members of the ruling coalition have removed their support for the government, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) repeated their calls to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to convene parliament for a full session as soon as possible.
“The sight of dozens of opposition MPs being prevented from entering parliament by riot police should be a major embarrassment to the administration of Prime Minister Muhyiddin, which instead of providing leadership when it is needed most, has hidden behind the pandemic so it can maintain its increasingly fragile hold on power,” said Mu Sochua, an APHR Board Member and former Member of Parliament (MP) in Cambodia.
“Recent developments further highlight the importance of parliament being reconvened as soon as possible in order to effectively scrutinize any decisions moving forward and to restore parliamentary democracy in the country.” she added.
Parliament in Malaysia has been suspended since January, when the government enacted a state of emergency, citing coronavirus as a threat to the country’s security. It reopened on 26 July but the five-day special sitting was only to brief lawmakers on the pandemic and debates were banned. A special parliamentary meeting was due to take place on August 2, but was postponed until a later date after COVID-19 cases were reportedly detected in parliament.
However, dozens of opposition lawmakers convened in central Kuala Lumpur, insisting on gathering for a session at the nearby Dewan Rakyat (Lower House), but were blocked from entering by the Federal Reserve Unit, which is usually dispatched to handle riots. The group was dispersed peacefully, but it was later reported that the lawmakers present will be summoned for questioning by police.
“While governments must sometimes take extraordinary measures to tackle health emergencies such as COVID-19, when extremely important decisions are being taken for the country and with drastic consequences on people’s human rights, it is absolutely crucial for parliament to function effectively, to ensure transparency and accountability,” said APHR’s Mu Sochua.
“MPs should also not face any judicial proceedings for merely trying to do their job as representative of the people, and conducting peaceful protest,” she added.
Background
Malaysia has faced political upheaval in the past year and a half. In March 2020 Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin emerged as the leader of a coalition with a majority of only a few lawmakers after former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed stood down. The situation has led to calls for a vote of no confidence to be held against Prime Minister Muhyiddin, as well as speculation that a snap election could take place. Earlier this year, several lawmakers withdrew their support for the Prime Minister, reportedly threatening his already slim majority in parliament. Prime Minister Muhyiddin has since promised to conduct a vote of no confidence in September.
