{"id":100680,"date":"2026-09-30T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=100680"},"modified":"2026-09-30T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:00:00","slug":"malaysia-un-agency-urges-safeguards-after-refugees-returned-to-myanmar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=100680","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia: UN agency urges safeguards after refugees returned to Myanmar"},"content":{"rendered":"


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<\/p>\n

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Deportation of Rohingya refugees began on Tuesday, according to reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are concerned by these returns at a time when people sent back to Myanmar may face serious risks, and some within the group may be in need of international protection,\u201d said UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Edem Wosornu.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No prior access<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Although Malaysian authorities said the process was voluntary, she noted that those returned had been held in immigration detention.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis raises serious questions about whether decisions to return were genuinely free and informed,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cUNHCR did not have access to the individuals to assess this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Rohingya are a mainly Muslim ethnic minority group in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation where the military and various resistance groups are locked in civil war.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Myanmar\u2019s military, which seized power in a coup in 2021, has repeatedly targeted the Rohingya community, notably in 2017, when a widely condemned military operation in Rakhine state forced several hundred thousand people to flee to other countries in Southeast Asia.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, more than a million Rohingya have settled in Cox\u2019s Bazar, Bangladesh.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Safeguards and protection<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n

While UNHCR fully recognized Malaysia\u2019s sovereign responsibility to manage asylum and migration, it urged authorities to ensure that returns are subject to robust safeguards, such as individual assessments and access to protection procedures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Decisions to return must be voluntary and assessed outside detention settings, the agency noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moreover, no one should be returned to a country where they may face persecution, torture or other serious threats to their life and freedom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UNHCR stressed that until conditions in Myanmar allow for safe, dignified and sustainable returns, States must continue to provide access to asylum and uphold international protection obligations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The UN agency highlighted the need for greater regional and international support towards achieving both a political solution and an end to hostilities in Myanmar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deadly airstrike in Rakhine<\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, the UN’s top humanitarian deplored an airstrike on a market in Rakhine state on Tuesday that killed and injured dozens of people.<\/p>\n

\u201cCivilians must be protected,\u201d Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher wrote in a post on social media, stressing that “international humanitarian law must be respected.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres has strongly condemned the airstrike and called for those responsible to be held to account.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Deportation of Rohingya refugees began on Tuesday, according to reports.\u00a0 \u201cWe are concerned by these returns…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"yoast_head":"\nMalaysia: UN agency urges safeguards after refugees returned to Myanmar - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168491\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Malaysia: UN agency urges safeguards after refugees returned to Myanmar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168491\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-30T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790781259_image560x340cropped.avif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Malaysia: UN agency urges safeguards after refugees returned to Myanmar - 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