In the last few decades, the Asia Pacific region has witnessed large-scale movements of people, both forced and voluntary. According to UNHCR, as of end-2007, there were 2.7 million refugees, 1.2 million people in refugee-like situations, 793,000 internally displaced persons and 1.6 million stateless persons. There are a number of protracted refugee situations, both in urban (e.g. in Malaysia and Pakistan) and camp-based contexts (e.g. in Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Thailand). These movements of forced migrants occur within larger, complex migration flows in the region.

However, there are significant challenges to refugee protection in the region. Only 17 out of 55 countries in the Asia Pacific region have acceded to the international legal instruments for refugee protection, and there are no related regional conventions or mechanisms. Forced displacement, humanitarian and human rights issues are not high on the political agendas of governments and they are often subordinate to national security, economic and social considerations. Many governments in the region dismiss asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons as ‘illegal’ migrants and fear that establishing proper asylum procedures will stimulate further irregular movement.

Across the Asia Pacific region, civil society response to refugee protection has been gradually strengthening, but most interactions remain at the national level; there remains uneven collaboration at sub-regional, regional and international levels. Civil society groups providing services and humanitarian relief to refugees often do not adopt a rights-based approach, while many national and regional human rights NGOs lack specific programmes focusing solely on the rights of refugees and stateless persons. Very few national and regional organisations have the resources and knowledge necessary to engage with UNHCR’s Executive Committee processes and to use international human rights mechanisms in order to lobby governments for refugee protection. There is therefore a clear need to strengthen civil society engagement on refugee rights through information sharing, mutual capacity building and strategic planning.

In view of this, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia), along with partners in the region, organised an Asia Pacific Regional Consultation on Refugee Rights in Kuala Lumpur from 20-21 November 2008 (with pre- and post-conference programmes on 19 and 22 November).

Key Objectives

• Provide a platform for the sharing of ideas, experiences and the building of capacity around advocacy on refugee rights and service provision for the realization of these rights,
• Map out key issues in the region, and identify regional processes and forums for advocacy on refugee rights within the Asia Pacific region
• Facilitate the exploration of bilateral, multilateral and collective collaboration to advance the promotion and protection of refugee rights in the Asia Pacific region through the formation of a regional network

Participants

• Human rights and humanitarian national and regional civil society organizations already advocating for and working with refugees, as well as those interested in doing so in the future
• Balanced geographical representation from the different regions - South Asia, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, Central Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific
• 120 participants, with allocations for Malaysian civil society actors and leaders of refugee community-based organizations in Malaysia
  

Key Organiser

Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia)
246 Times Square Building, 12 Fl., Room 12-01,
Sukhumvit Road, Between Soi 12-14,
Klongton, Klongtoey, 10110 Bangkok, Thailand

Tel: +66 (0)2 653 2940-1
Fax: +66 (0)2 653 2942

Email refugee@forum-asia.org 

Conference Location

The consultation (including pre- and post-consultation events) was held at the Royale Bintang Hotel and at the offices of the Health Equity Initiatives in Kuala Lumpur.