A safe world is our shared responsibility

“IN 2013, my whole family had to leave Yangon. A madrassah near my house was burned down. The children were burnt with the school. I feel heartbroken because they destroyed our masjid, our young children, our houses, our properties.

“I didn’t want to stay there anymore. I feel very sad because we are originally from Myanmar. In Myanmar, it was as if we were underwater; we couldn’t breathe.”

The pain and suffering shared by Zainal Abidin reflected the sad stories encountered by an estimated 65.3 million refugees or displaced people worldwide.

These people are forced to flee their homes due to wars, conflicts and human crises across several parts of the globe, such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Burundi, Nigeria, Somalia, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This figure also includes those affected by widespread famine caused by climate change and global warming in countries in Central America, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Considering the great need for global awareness, attention, and assistance for refugees, the United Nations General Assembly, on December 4, 2000, proclaimed June 20, 2001 as the first World Refugee Day. That year also marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention.

The convention, signed by 145 State parties, defines the term “refugee” and outlines the rights of the displaced, as well as the legal obligations of States to protect them.

It has been 15 years since the declaration was released, with the aim of gaining full support from the global community to welcome and help refugees to fulfil their every fundamental need.

However the reception of the declaration is somewhat disappointing.

The lives, survival and security of refugees are often compromised due to immigration policies of particular countries.

As such, refugees are frequently denied entry into the countries they seek refuge in.

As a result, they are stranded in places with little or no amenities, or worse still, on rough seas having to endure what was once described by a spokesman for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) as a “maritime ping-pong game with human life”.

These refugees, many of whom are women and children, have to risk their lives by crossing national borders and navigating deep seas.

At times, the horrific journey ends with tragedy, like what recently happened to a baby who was amongst at least 25 victims found drowned by humanitarian organisations in the sea between Libya and Italy on May 27 this year.

Praises should be given to Turkey, Lebanon and Pakistan for hosting more than one million refugees. In fact, in Turkey alone there are about 2.5 million refugees seeking protection and shelter.

However, there is a clearly disproportionate burden on a small number of countries, even though The Refugee Convention had established the principle of sharing responsibilities and burdens.

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are more than 150,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers as of April 2016 in Malaysia.

Of these, nearly 140,000 are from Myanmar, while others are from countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Palestine.

The Malaysian Government made two significant announcements last year with regard to the protection of the basic rights of the refugees.

Firstly, to allow Rohingya refugees to seek employment in certain economic sectors.

Secondly, to accept 3,000 Syrian refugees over a period of three years and to offer them shelter, apart from employment and education for their children.

In tandem with the aspiration of the Government to shelter the refugees, it is timely for the Government to ratify the 1951 Convention without delay.

On top of this, the Government also needs to immediately implement the initiatives stated above to help the refugees who are already within Malaysia.

By providing the refugees with the right to work and earn a living, this would not only lighten their suffering but also help to raise local productivity and competitiveness, and to boost the local economy as well.

Apart from this, the Government also needs to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement to reduce or prevent greenhouse gas emissions and scale up efforts to reduce the har­sher effects of climate change.

In the long run, this would help to avoid more people fleeing to other places and jurisdictions.

In Muslim communities, the spi­rit of helping others, particularly those in greatest need, such as refugees, is something that comes naturally, especially in this holy month of Ramadan.

It is driven by faith and the spirit of brotherhood, which does not recognise gender, colour and race.

Likewise, it is a fundamental principle in Islam to protect others and prevent any further harm and danger that threatens the quality of life, such as the effects of climate change.

Both these values are deeply related to the protection of human survival and preventing the loss of a generation, strongly upheld by the syariah through its higher objectives (maqasid al-syariah); namely to protect religion, life, intellect, dignity, progeny and property.

Wan Rosilli Abd. Majid is an Ikim Fellow. The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.