UN agency asks KL to hire refugees<\/p>\n
Reuters, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Malaysia should allow 50,000 refugees, many from neighboring
\nIndonesia and Myanmar, to work in the country legally in order to
\nmake up for a labor shortage, the UN refugee agency urged on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
Volker Turk, representative of the United Nations High
\nCommissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said Malaysia's recent
\nexpulsion of more than 100,000 illegal foreign workers had
\ncreated a void.<\/p>\n
\"You have a refugee population here who cannot be deported,\"
\nTurk told reporters at a meeting organized by the agency. \"Why
\nnot use this population? Why not allow them to work legally?\"
\nMalaysian Home (Interior) Minister Azmi Khalid could not be
\nimmediately reached for comment.<\/p>\n
The UNHCR says 40,000 of Malaysia's refugees are registered
\nwith it, among them 20,000 from Indonesia's war-torn province of
\nAceh, and 10,000 members of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority.<\/p>\n
Malaysia is not yet a signatory to the 1951 Convention on the
\nStatus of Refugees, which has been ratified by 145 nations. It
\nviews refugees as illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n
Late last year Malaysia agreed to let the Rohingyas stay in
\nthe country temporarily, which meant they need no longer fear
\ndeportation, but Turk said the policy had yet to be implemented.<\/p>\n
\"We harbor hopes that this decision will be implemented by
\nWorld Refugee Day on June 20. That would be the best gift for all
\nthe refugees here,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Turk said Malaysia had detained about 900 refugees in its
\nillegal labor crackdown in March.<\/p>\n
The crackdown followed an immigration amnesty, during which
\nmore than 100,000 illegal foreign workers -- mainly Indonesians
\n-- left in return for freedom from prosecution, but the exodus
\ncaused some acute shortages of unskilled labor.<\/p>\n
Malaysia relies on foreign unskilled labor to do dirty, poorly
\npaid work that locals shun, but the number of illegal immigrants,
\nestimated at 800,000 or more ahead of the amnesty, causes the
\ngovernment a fiscal and administrative headache.<\/p>\n
But their sudden departure hit a range of industries such as
\nthe construction and plantation sectors, leading to concerns
\namong economists about the potential impact on economic growth
\nand on inflation through higher wages.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/un-agency-asks-kl-to-hire-refugees-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}