Malaysia continues mass refugee deportations regardless of warnings from the UN about unsafe situations in an energetic struggle zone.
Printed On 5 Oct 2026
Almost 1,500 Myanmar refugees and migrants deported from Malaysia have arrived of their war-ravaged nation below an opaque repatriation scheme closely criticised by human rights teams and the United Nations refugee company.
The 1,479 returnees, transported from Malaysia on board two navy warships and a hospital ship on Tuesday, arrived in southern Yangon early Sunday, Nay Lin Tun, a regional authorities minister, stated.
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They’re amongst 5,000 Myanmar nationals who might be repatriated in phases from Malaysia, the place greater than 10,300 others are being held in immigration detention centres, in accordance with the nation’s Dwelling Ministry.
Malaysia insists all returnees agreed to voluntary repatriation, however rights screens have raised considerations that Myanmar refugees had little selection and warned that situations for return stay unsafe.
The UN refugee company stated this previous week that its employees weren’t allowed to fulfill the Myanmar nationals to substantiate whether or not their choices to return “had been genuinely free and knowledgeable”.
Rohingya make up the vast majority of Myanmar refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia, nevertheless it stays unclear what number of members of the persecuted Rohingya are among the many returned group.
The deportation was carried out throughout escalating raids on refugee communities in Malaysia by immigration officers, which led to the detention of greater than 50,000 refugees in 2026.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim introduced the repatriations in July towards a backdrop of rising xenophobia in direction of refugees, significantly the Rohingya.
Kuala Lumpur is transferring forward with plans to return a second group of greater than 3,500 refugees and migrants, saying they’ve precipitated monetary, social and safety burdens.
Whereas Malaysia is just not a celebration to the UN Refugee Conference and treats refugees as undocumented migrants, it’s dwelling to about 215,600 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
This consists of greater than 126,000 primarily Muslim Rohingya refugees.
Myanmar pledged final month that returns might be “protected and dignified”.
However Yap Lay Sheng, a senior human rights specialist with Fortify Rights, advised the AFP information company: “There’s no telling how the regime would deal with returnees.”
Myanmar has been accused of committing genocide towards the Rohingya Muslim minority. Earlier this yr, the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice (ICJ) opened its first genocide case it has heard in full in additional than a decade.
The UNHCR and rights teams stated returnees might face persecution and compelled navy conscription in an energetic struggle zone. Myanmar has been embroiled in a civil war for the reason that navy seized energy from the elected authorities in 2021.
The struggle has killed greater than 100,000 individuals for the reason that coup, according to the Armed Battle Location and Occasion Knowledge (ACLED) mission.
Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing, the navy coup chief who was put in as civilian president in April, is anticipated to go to Malaysia quickly to debate the repatriation scheme.
