Latest news with #UnitedNationsRefugeeConvention
The Star
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Star
Bangladesh looks to Malaysia's influence to address the Myanmar Rohingya crisis, says Yunus
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 (Bernama): Bangladesh is seeking Malaysia's influence, particularly its role as Asean Chair, to rally international efforts to address the prolonged Rohingya refugee crisis in the country. Chief Adviser to Bangladesh's government Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus said Malaysia's experience in hosting Rohingya refugees, coupled with its leadership position in Asean, places it in a unique position to push for a comprehensive regional solution. "We are hoping that Malaysia will put its influence in the whole negotiation to make sure that we can overcome this problem,' he told the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) in a special interview before concluding his official visit to Malaysia. The interview with the 2006 Nobel Prize laureate was led by Editor-in-Chief Arul Rajoo Durar Raj, Editor of International News Service Voon Miaw Ping, and Assistant Editor of Economic News Service Kisho Kumari Sucedaram. Yunus also warned that the refugee crisis has deepened amid ongoing fighting in Myanmar's Rakhine state between the Arakan Army and government forces, forcing fresh waves of Rohingyas fleeing across the border into Bangladesh. "In the last 18 months alone, 150,000 new Rohingyas have arrived, in addition to the 1.2 million already in Bangladesh. "It becomes more and more acute. And worst of it, the US cut off all the funds to maintain them. So that is a huge problem for us,' he said. The Chief Adviser said three international conferences on the Rohingya will be convened in the coming months to seek a sustainable solution. The first is scheduled in Cox's Bazar at the end of this month, coinciding with the eighth anniversary of Bangladesh assuming responsibility for hosting Rohingya refugees fleeing hostilities in their home state. The second high-level meeting will take place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September, while the third is planned for year-end in Doha, Qatar. Repatriation efforts have made little progress, further complicated by the ongoing armed conflict in Myanmar since 2021. The protracted humanitarian crisis continues to affect not only Bangladesh but also several Asean member states, including Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Malaysia, though not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, continues to temporarily host nearly 150,000 Rohingya refugees on a humanitarian basis. The Rohingya crisis began in 2017 following a military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine State, which triggered a mass exodus of Rohingya into Bangladesh. - Bernama
Saudi Gazette
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
UK to start processing Syrian asylum claims again
LONDON — The UK is to start processing Syrian asylum claims again, more than seven months after decisions were paused following the fall of the Assad regime. Asylum minister Angela Eagle said the Home Office had "worked to lift the pause as soon as there was sufficient information to make accurate and well-evidenced determinations". She said claims could now be processed, and returns to Syria conducted in line with this. BBC News understands more than 20 asylum seekers who had been living in the UK have already voluntarily returned to Syria this year - and that thousands of others could now also be in scope for returns. Ministers hope the first enforced returns to Syria could take place before the end of the year, with a senior Home Office source adding that they "wouldn't say it's a million miles away". The government has published updated guidance for officials to make decisions on Syrian UK paused decisions on Syrian claims for asylum and permanent settlement in December, after President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by a rebel offensive led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), following years of civil a written statement, Dame Angela said the pause "was a necessary step while there was no stable, objective information available to make robust assessments of risk on return to Syria".However, the move left more than 7,000 Syrians waiting for a decision on an asylum claim in majority of these are living in government-funded accommodation, such as pause also applied to Syrians who had already been granted refugee status and were initially given the right to stay in the UK for five years before being able to apply for permanent say being left with this temporary status makes it harder for people to secure a job or the move, Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council charity, said: "We know the pause in decision making had left Syrian people trapped in further limbo, unable to work, move on with their lives and fearing for their future."However, the situation in Syria continues to be unstable, and we urge the government to ensure that every asylum application is assessed on a case-by-case basis, ensuring the safety and protection of Syrians who would face extreme risk if they are returned."Figures affiliated with HTS - which is designated a terrorist group by the UK - now run the country, with HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa named as Syria's interim president earlier this the United Nations Refugee Convention, an individual must have a "well-founded fear of persecution" to be granted asylum and refugee Home Office's updated guidance on Syria states that a "breakdown in law and order or uncertain security situations do not in themselves give rise to a well-founded fear of persecution"."There are not substantial grounds for believing there is a real risk of serious harm in Syria because of a serious and individual threat to a civilian's life or person by reason of indiscriminate violence in a situation of international or internal armed conflict," it adds."All cases must be considered on their individual facts, with the onus on the person to demonstrate they face persecution or serious harm."The UK has also been gradually lifting sanctions on government's updated guidance is based on a process similar to a risk assessment that examined whether Syria was deemed a safe process is usually carried out jointly by the Home Office and Foreign Office and can only be done if the UK has some sort of diplomatic relationship with the country in this month, Foreign Secretary David Lammy met interim president al-Sharaa, as he became the first UK minister to visit Syria since the uprising that led to the country's civil war began 14 years the time of Lammy's visit, figures inside the Foreign Office believed any move to begin processing Syrian asylum claims again was likely still some months some European countries have already started to process claims, with Austria becoming the first EU country to deport someone since the fall of BBC has been told that senior figures inside the Home Office believed there was a risk that the UK could be seen as a more attractive place for Syrian asylum seekers, if European countries began processing claims and returning people, but the UK did week, French President Emmanuel Macron raised concerns about the "pull factors" attracting migrants to come to the UK on small boats, ahead of a 'one in, one out' deal signed by the UK and have previously suggested that the majority of Syrians who arrived in the UK before the fall of Assad were fleeing the regime, and some may now wish to the issue of returns, the guidance notes that following the change in government, opponents of the former Assad regime are "unlikely to be at risk upon return to Syria solely on that basis".On the situation for religious minorities, it states that Kurds, Christians, Druze and Shia Muslims are "are unlikely to face a real risk of persecution or serious harm from the state" and "the onus is on the person to demonstrate otherwise".However, it adds that Kurds in areas under de facto control of the Syrian National Army - a coalition of Turkish-backed rebel groups - "are likely to face a real risk of persecution or serious harm" based on their ethnicity or perceived political also says that although the new government has sought to assure members of the Alawite minority they will not be subject to violent reprisals, Alawites "are likely to face a real risk of persecution or serious harm from the state due to their religion and/or an imputed political opinion".Many of the former Assad regime's political and military elite belonged to the Alawite guidance notes that in March members of the Alawite minority were subject to a series of attacks which killed an estimated 800 people, with HTS-affiliated groups reported to have been involved. — BBC
IOL News
13-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Afrikaners who emigrated to the US under Trump are not refugees, say experts
The labelling of these migrants as refugees also undermines the legitimacy of actual asylum seekers escaping war, dictatorship, and systemic oppression in countries like Syria, Sudan, or Afghanistan.' Scores of Afrikaners who emigrated from South Africa to the United States are being falsely referred to as 'refugees' or 'asylum seekers,' a claim migration experts and human rights organisations say is inaccurate and misleading. Trump said he would prioritise immigration status to white South African farmers, citing alleged persecution and even going as far as referencing a so-called 'white genocide.' The claim, widely circulated in far-right circles, was based on unverified reports that white farmers were being systematically targeted for violent attacks because of their race. However, multiple investigations by international watchdogs, the United Nations, and the South African Human Rights Commission have found no evidence of a racial genocide or campaign against white South Africans.'There is no civil war in South Africa, and there is no state-sanctioned violence targeting white communities,' said Dr. Lindiwe Maseko, a political analyst at the University of the Witwatersrand. 'Crime is a national crisis, but it affects all races. The idea that white South Africans, specifically Afrikaners, qualify as refugees under international law is false.'According to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention, a refugee is defined as someone fleeing persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group, generally under circumstances of war or extreme oppression. Experts say the economic difficulties, rising crime, and land reform debates in South Africa do not meet this threshold.'There is no credible basis for Afrikaners to claim refugee or asylum status in the U.S.,' said Professor Eric Goldstein, a migration law specialist. 'Leaving for economic or safety reasons is emigration, not flight from persecution.' The labelling of these migrants as refugees also undermines the legitimacy of actual asylum seekers escaping war, dictatorship, and systemic oppression in countries like Syria, Sudan, or Afghanistan.' Using the term 'refugee' in this context not only distorts reality but insults the experiences of those fleeing real humanitarian crises,' Goldstein added. While every individual has the right to seek a better life abroad, experts agree that Afrikaners leaving South Africa under Trump's policy were not escaping persecution, but rather pursuing personal and economic opportunities, and should not be classified as refugees.
