MAY 27 — Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob yesterday criticised those “who are hell-bent on defending the rights of undocumented migrants in the country and how they have been detained by the government.” He is presumably referring to human rights NGO such as Tenaganita, which has raised concerns about how the government is dealing with undocumented migrants.
It must be stated categorically that Tenaganita advocates that all migrant workers are properly documented and does not in any way encourage the undocumented migrant workers to be in the county.
“Undocumented migrants” is a broad broad term which usually includes:
1. Asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution, who have not yet been registered as refugees by UNHCR, because of the long processing time,but would most likely qualify as refugees. It would be cruel and inhuman to deport this category of persons to the countries from which they fled. To do so would be to violate the internationally accepted principle of non-refoulement.
2. Migrant workers who entered the country illegally without any intention of complying with the laws of the country. Tenaganita has always maintained that this category of persons should be deported without delay.
3. Migrant workers who do not possess valid work permits. From the numerous cases that Tenagantia has handled, it is clear that the majority of those who are considered as “illegal” or undocumented are in fact victims of labour scams, human trafficking, irresponsible employers who do not obtain or renew work permits and poorly or fraudulently managed government policies and schemes. Much has already been said and written about how legal migrant workers become undocumented, especially through the negligence of the authorities to monitor the unscrupulous activities of employment agents and corrupt “bad apples” within the ranks of the authorities. These undocumented migrant workers certainly did not enter the country illegally; their “undocumentedness” was caused by systemic failures in the process of recruitment and and management of migrant workers. Tenaganita has always maintained that it is the responsibility of our government to ensure that these victims are able to obtain justice, instead of being further victimised.
Tenaganita fully supports the government’s efforts to ensure the safety of Malaysian citizens but it must be clear that this is not incompatible with upholding the rights of migrant workers who are not any lesser human beings.
Tenaganita has always advocated a lasting, sustainable and equitable approach towards managing migant workers in our country. Towards this end,Tenaganita once again expresses its readiness to work with the authorities to identify and address the root causes of the large number of undocuemted migrant workers in the country, so that we as a nation can continue to benefit from the services of legally documented migrant workers while respecting their rights and dignity.
* Joseph Paul is a member of Tenaganita, a human rights organisation and is passionately critical of abuses of power, injustice and plain folly by those in authority.
** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
