Daily Times

Seeking asylum is not a luxury but a compulsion. It is 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, several 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 the US, 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, Taliban, 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 US President Barack Hussein Obama’s regime. The UN, International Resource Committee (IRC), human rights organisations, including media, has been vocal on that issue. The US is the largest country for resettling refugees worldwide, but it is still residing large numbers of immigrants from other countries. Even if the US 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 does 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 is only the US being criticised. Did Canada, Australia, New Zealand, European countries and the UK not sign the UN Refugee Convention 1951? These countries still provide refugees to a very small number of refugees than the US. Instead of criticising the US, UNHCR and other human rights organisations, 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 US should be resettled in other countries immediately. Has the US 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 of the people along with their children. The refugees do not even know 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 recognised by resettling in a good country.

Millions of migrants are currently waiting for the dream of resettlement in many countries

The refugees in Malaysia are like orphans who have no saviour except UNHCR Malaysia, but how can UNHCR provide millions of refugees with fewer resources? The number of refugees is increasing day by day, but the countries signing the UN Refugee Convention 1951 are probably sleeping. Human rights organisations and the media have been criticised the US 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 the 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 the US for many years. Animals in Malaysia are respected more than refugees. The government does not allow them to work, which has led many refugees to beg secretly or go to mosques, temples or gurdwaras 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 Muslim refugees so that they can eat and work for themselves until they resettle in another country. If the Malaysian government wants 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 developing 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 per cent.

Likewise, Brunei Darussalam, the richest country in the world, should also help these refugees. If the US, 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, US 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 a similar right to life like us.”

The writer is a senior journalist