Rohingyas refugees denied right to work in Malaysia

The recent IRINs' article Kept afloat by hope - the endless odyssey of the Rohingya illustrates the plight of refugees who are denied the right to work in Malaysia:

"More than 150,000 people are currently registered with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Malaysia, just under a third of whom are Rohingya. But Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and treats Rohingya and all other refugees and asylum seekers as illegal migrants. Registration with UNHCR can take up to two years and even with the agency’s refugee cards, they have no right to work, cannot send their children to government schools and live at constant risk of detention. Most eke out a precarious existence on the fringes of society, vulnerable to exploitation and abuse."  

Read the whole article to learn more about the plight of Rohingyas in Malaysia: 

Host economies benefit when refugees work

In an article published in Forced Migration Review (n° 44, dating Sept. 2013) Emily E Arnold-Fernandez (Executive Director at Asylum Access) and Steward Pollock argue that host economies benefit when refugees are granted the right to work. Illustrations from Australia, Thailand and Ecuador are analyzed in this article that usefully recalls why refugees should be granted the right to work. 

The article 'Refugees' rights to work' is available in PDF or in an audio- format:

PDF

mp3

-See more at: http://www.fmreview.org/detention/arnoldfern%C3%A1ndez-pollock#sthash.g9lotdf9.dpuf 

Thailand, Closed Camps, No Work Authorization lead to Stagnation and Abuse

In the report 'Thailand: Refugee Policies Ad Hoc and Inadequate' dating from September 2012, Human Rights Watch finds that Thai refugee policies are not grounded in law and cause refugees of all nationalities to be exploited and unnecessarily detained and deported. 

Human Rights Watch concluded among others that closed camps and lack of work authorization lead to stagnation and abuse. 

The report focuses on the plight of Burmese refugees, the largest current refugee group in Thailand. It examines treatment and conditions of both Burmese refugees inside the camps on the Thai-Burma border and Burmese outside the camps, who are not officially recognized as refugees. 

Refugee Livelihood and the Humanitarian Innovation project

 The Forced Migration Current Awareness blog has brought to our attention the Humanitarian Innovation Project (HIP) website where we found the following excerpts: 

“It is unacceptable that many refugees are left indefinitely dependent on international assistance, deprived of the right to work or freedom of movement. By developing a bottom-up approach to humanitarian innovation, the Humanitarian Innovation Projects aims to support sustainable, market-based solutions that build upon refugees’ own skills, aspirations and entrepreneurship” declared Alexander Betts, director of the Humanitarian Innovation Project.