UNHCR says willing to share refugee data with Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is willing to share its refugee database with the government, but this is subject to the signing of a bilateral agreement.

"We have not been asked to share our database, but if and when we are, this would be considered in line with normal international practice on privacy and confidentiality.

"This is also subject to signing a proper bilateral agreement on data protection and privacy with the government, which is what we do elsewhere in the world when governments asked us," UNHCR Malaysia representative Richard Towle (pix)  said on Thursday.

Towle clarified that they were in discussions with the government on how to work together to deal with the registration of refugees.

"The government has introduced a pilot project to trial a new system of registration and we are working closely with the government and the appointed company to trial that, and if the government decides to roll out a full registration scheme, we would certainly look to see how we can support this, including data sharing arrangements," he told The Star Online.

Towle was at the launching of a four-day refugee festival titled Inclusion For A Better World.

He was commenting on a statement by Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed that the UN body refused to give the exact number of refugees from its database.

Towle said that UNHCR’s registration exercise for refugees involved an interview and an assessment on whether the refugee needed protection.

"If they need protection we gather basic biometric data with a ten-point fingerprint and retinal data and other data which we collect, (only) then we issue an identity card," he said.

Towle claimed that for many years, the government did not want to be involved in the registration of refugees process and therefore, UNHCR had to do it on its own.

"Two years ago, we asked the government if they would like to be part of the registration system and to have a joint card (but) were told they did not want to be involved in the registration of UNHCR refugees," he said.

As of June, there are almost 150,000 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia.

The launch of the festival proceeded with poetry readings, artwork display and a movie screening by Syrian, Ahmadi and Tamil refugees.

The festival at Black Box in Publika ends on Sunday.