In conjunction with the 9th ASEAN Summit in Bali, Indonesia, from 7-8 October 2003, Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), Burma Solidarity Group Malaysia, Solidarity for Aceh and Penang Support Group for Aceh release the joint appeal entitled “Regionally Integrated Policy for the Protection and Well-Being of Asylum Seekers and Refugees” to the Secretariat of the 9 th ASEAN Summit in Jakarta and the embassies of the respective ASEAN country members.

Minn Kyaw
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Regionally Integrated Policy for the Protection and Well-Being of
Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Respected Ministers,

We, the undersigned, as peoples and citizens of ASEAN, appeal to you to develop an integrated plan that ensures the survival, protection and well-being of asylum seekers and refugees within ASEAN.

Over the past several decades, we have witnesses numerous flows of displaced people across political borders, fleeing from conflict that has occurred within the region. Often, these forced migrations result in the movement of people across the political borders of one ASEAN nation-state into that of another.

As ASEAN Foreign Ministers have noted in the past, these are regional issues and cannot be confined to being the ‘internal affairs’ of its members. ASEAN Foreign Ministers have, at various times, noted the gravity of such issues to the region, and discussed ways of handling these problems together with United Nations bodies.

THUS,

MINDFUL of ASEAN’s desire to protect regional peace, stability and harmony in conformity with humanitarian principles,

RECALLING that Foreign Ministers at The Special ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting On Indochinese Refugees, on Bangkok, 13 January 1979 declared in their Joint Press Statement that they

…agreed on the urgency of intensifying joint ASEAN efforts to secure more expeditious and increased departure of… [displaced] people for permanent settlement in Third Countries, as well as to secure a wider range of countries to offer permanent settlement opportunities to these people…

And that they

…welcomed the efforts of the UNHCR to solve the problem and urged the international community to give more meaningful support to the UNHCR…

As well as

…emphasized that the continuation of the refugee problem, apart from causing difficulties to ASEAN countries, would seriously affect the stability of the region…

RECALLING that ASEAN Foreign Ministers, along with other participants at the First Meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) held in Bangkok on 25 July 1994, expressed a firm conviction to continue to work towards the strengths and the enhancement of political and security cooperation within the region as a means of ensuring a lasting peace, stability, and prosperity for the region and its peoples.

RECALLING that the Declaration of Commitments on Children in ASEAN adopted by the 4th Meeting of the ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Social Welfare (AMRSW) in August 2001 includes a commitment to

(1) Promote regional cooperation for the survival, development, protection and participation of ASEAN children, as an integral part of ASEAN’s efforts to improve the lives of peoples in the region.

(15) Protect children from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect, trafficking and exploitation while at home, in school and in the community.

(16) Protect children from armed conflict, victimisation or deprivation of a childhood rooted in peace and joy.

(17) Give priority to children in rescue and relief operations during calamities and natural disasters in the provision of services to alleviate their trauma and hasten their reunification with their families.

(18) Establish a child-centred juvenile justice system which fully safeguards children’s rights and promotes children’s reintegration to society.

RECALLING that all members of ASEAN have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and, with the exception of Indonesia and Thailand, currently hold no reservations concerning Article 22, which states that

1. States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure that a child who is seeking refugee status or who is considered a refugee in accordance with applicable international or domestic law and procedures shall, whether unaccompanied or accompanied by his or her parents or by any other person, receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance in the enjoyment of applicable rights set forth in the present Convention and in other international human rights or humanitarian instruments to which the said States are Parties.

2. For this purpose, States Parties shall provide, as they consider appropriate, co-operation in any efforts by the United Nations and other competent intergovernmental organizations or non-governmental organizations co-operating with the United Nations to protect and assist such a child and to trace the parents or other members of the family of any refugee child in order to obtain information necessary for reunification with his or her family. In cases where no parents or other members of the family can be found, the child shall be accorded the same protection as any other child permanently or temporarily deprived of his or her family environment for any reason, as set forth in the present Convention.

RECALLING that two ASEAN members, Philippines and Cambodia, have ratified the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees as well as the 1967 Protocol,

BEARING IN MIND that the protection and care of asylum seekers and refugees can be economically burdensome members of ASEAN,

BEARING IN MIND that many asylum seekers and refugees, while being citizens of other members of ASEAN are in genuine fear for their own safety in their country of origin,

WE URGE YOU TO

Develop a regionally integrated policy for the protection and well-being of asylum seekers and refugees

Create a tripartite Working Group for the Protection of Asylum Seekers and Refugees comprising representatives from civil society groups in the region working on forced migration issues, government parties, and United Nations bodies,

Establish a cost-sharing Special Fund that ASEAN members can draw upon in ensuring the protection and well-being of asylum seekers and refugees within their nation-states, administered by the Working Group,

Conduct detailed examination of the question of burden-sharing in the spirit of solidarity with respect to the protection and well-being of asylum seekers and refugees,

Provide local protection and humanitarian assistance to displaced people under threat,

WE ASK YOU TO

Recognize the UNHCR’s classification of individuals as being asylum seekers and refugees

Assist, with generosity, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) initiatives and programmes,

Adopt a regional refugee status determination procedure, in partnership with the UNHCR,

Ensure that the UNHCR have access to undocumented migrants detained in detention centers and prisons for the purposes of determining their status either as asylum seekers or refugees.

WE URGE YOU TO

Facilitate humanitarian and democratic political solutions of conflicts, which have been recognised as being essential for durable peace and stability of the Region,

Respect, in line with customary international law, the principle of non-refoulement.

AND LAST, but not least,

To follow in the footsteps of Philippines and Cambodia in ratifying the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees as well as the 1967 Protocol,

SIGNED

Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)

Burma Solidarity Group Malaysia

Solidarity For Aceh

Penang Support Group for Aceh