Seeking asylum is not a luxury but a compulsion. It’s not a
privilege but an alienable right. This right is directly related to the
universal right of life and limb. No human being can be deprived of this
basic fundamental right. With the advent of new regional and international
crises, number of populations have been forced to leave their homeland in
the hope of finding a better place to live. But with each passing day the
miseries of the refugees are growing by leaps and bounds. Especially after
9/11, each country has started monitoring the refugees from a very narrow
and microscopic view. The developed countries like USA, UK, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand and other European states are reluctant to allow free
access to those people who have fled from the tyrannical regimes or the
atrocities of militant groups like ISIS, Talibans, Boko Haram and others.
All the first World countries are imposing more and more restrictions upon
their movement. Recently the President of the United States of America,
Donald Trump has reduced the number of refugees from all over the world to
resettle in his country, which was ninety thousand during the former U.S
President Barack Hussein Obama's regime. The United Nations (UN),
International Resource Committee (IRC), Human Rights organizations including
media has been vocal on that issue. U.S is the largest country for
resettling refugees worldwide, but it is still residing large numbers of
immigrants from other countries. Even if U.S President Donald Trump reduced
that number, it is his choice whether or not to allow anyone to come to his
country and the majority of the American people do not want the refugees to
resettle in their country that’s why they elect a leader like Donald Trump.
But the strange thing is that why only US is being criticized. Did Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, European countries and UK not sign the UN Refugee
Convention 1951? These countries still provide refugee to a very small
number of refugees than U.S. Instead of criticizing the U.S, UNHCR and other
Human Rights organizations, why not urge Canada, New Zealand, Australia and
European countries to increase the number of refugees to be resettled so
that refugees who are not accepted by the U.S should be resettled in other
countries immediately. Has the U.S taken all that right to resettle refugees
in a high number?
It is also the responsibility of these countries who raised their voices
against human rights abuses, to increase the number of refugees in their
country immediately. Because millions of such migrants are currently waiting
for the dream of resettlement in many countries. In many countries young
migrants are not allowed to work because of non-resettlement nor travel to
any other country. It seems as if these people have become frogs of a single
well whose hopes of resettlement have also been drained. Many refugees in
Malaysia are forced to beg on the streets as a result of lack of assistance.
They beg from the people along with their children. The refugees do not even
know from where to bring the money for a day's meal? Just like that,
begging, hunger and poverty have become the destiny of refugees. Many young
people cannot marry because of lack of resettlement, who are getting old in
waiting that one day they will be recognized by resettling in a good
country.
The refugees in Malaysia are like orphans who have no savior except UNHCR
Malaysia, but how can UNHCR provide millions of refugees with less
resources? The number of refugees are increasing day by day, but the
countries signing the UN Refugee Convention 1951 are probably sleeping.
Human Rights organizations and the media have been criticized the U.S
President only. If these countries, by one voice, increase the number of
immigrants, then the number of refugees from all over the world will
decrease. There are currently 175,000 asylum seekers and refugees in
Malaysia, with the majority of migrant cases being sent to the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) and United States Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS) has been pending for many years, whose files may have gone
awry. But their requests to the DHS and USCIS have not been yet ruled out,
with thousands of refugees applying for resettlement requests for
resettlement in U.S for many years. Animals in Malaysia are highly respected
than refugees, the government does not allow them to work, which has led
many refugees to beg secretly or go to mosques, temples or Gurdwaraas to
take their meal.
Malaysia is a Muslim country, if it cannot provide services to non-Muslim
refugees, then they should take care of their own Muslim refugees, so that
they can eat and work for themselves until they resettle in another country.
If Malaysian’sGovernment want to reduce the number of refugees from their
country, then they should provide them with complimentary travel documents
(honorary passport) and open their airports and borders to travel to other
develop countries. So that they can voluntarily travel to a good country
like Turkey, which allowed many refugees to enter Europe, which would reduce
the number of refugees in Malaysia by less than fifty percent.
Likewise, Brunei Darussalam, the richest country in the world, should also
help these refugees. If U.S, Canada, Europe, UK, New Zealand and Australia
have signed the UN Refugee Convention 1951, then why rich countries like
Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Muscat, Turkey and Bahrain can't
give shelter to their Muslim refugees? These countries are Muslim, but
according to Islamic rules they are not helping their Muslim refugees. On
the other hand, U.S President Donald Trump also refuses to accept Muslim
refugees. If this is the case, what will happen to the refugees? Which angel
will come into the world to help these refugees? If the developed countries
have a humanitarian element, then they will have to pay more attention to
their migrants than animals. Sooner than later a campaign will start one day
where even animals will be forced to chanting slogans like "Save Refugees,
they have similar right to life like us".
The writer is a senior Journalist He can be reached at [email protected]
Mobile No, +60109301521