CARAM Asia Reaffirms its membership of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network

Thursday, October 15, 2009

As a network committed to advocating for the rights of mobile populations, last year CARAM Asia was invited to attend the first Asia Pacific Consultation on Refugee Rights arranged by Forum Asia in order to increase the capacity and advocacy tools of local refugee groups. Following this consultation, participants agreed to form a loose regional network was formed known as the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) to share information concerning ongoing issues.

Last week, CARAM Asia attended the second annual meeting of APRRN members which was held in Bangkok. This year’s meeting sought to build on the existing relationships formed last year, while simultaneously strengthening both the solidarity and communication within the membership. It is extremely positive to note that over the past year, the membership has increased by at least a 25%.

It is a testament to the members and the hard work of the steering committee, that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) increased their own participation in this event. The UNHCR, led by the South East Asia Regional Coordinator Raymond Hall, agreed with the civil society delegation that there was a need to increase the lines of advocacy and communication of the two parties in order to best advocate for refugee rights in the area. Further means of lobbying states to adopt the 1951 Refugee Convention was also discussed as well as other issues that related to the mutual beneficial capacity of the two parties.

CARAM Asia used the opportunity to highlight the cross cutting issues facing both refugees and migrants including the right to health issues. Moreover the network was able to place a regional perspective on the treatment of mobile populations as well as to expand on our existing contacts within the field. Over the four days, wider issues were raised including the treatment in detention centres as well as the increased vulnerability faced by women and girls. As a member of this network CARAM Asia has continued its participation in both the Right to Health Working Group (RTHWG) as well as being a member of the geographical South East Asia team.

CARAM Asia will continue to work as a proud member of this new network in order to advocate for the rights of mobile populations especially those that relate to health and gender.

2nd Asia Pacific Consultation on Refugee Rights A Success

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

By Kitty McKinsey, In Bangkok, Thailand - UNHCR News Stories

BANGKOK, Thailand, October 12 2009 (UNHCR) – With more refugees on the move but few Asian countries giving them a warm welcome, representatives of civil society and non-governmental organizations from 19 Asian and Pacific countries have met in Thailand to strategize on how to press for greater refugee rights.

The second meeting of the UNHCR-backed Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN), which wrapped up last Saturday, brought together more than 100 individuals representing advocacy groups from a broad region where protection of refugees often depends on political discretion rather than written laws.

"Much of Asia is a vacuum in terms of asylum law and institutions," Raymond Hall, UNHCR's regional representative and regional coordinator for Southeast Asia, told the opening session. "Our strategy should be to encourage governments to change this and to take a greater degree of ownership over refugee protection.

"With large-scale irregular migration and increasing numbers of people seeking asylum, the day may come when governments close down the fragile protection space that does exist," he warned.

Groups within the APRRN campaign for an end to detention of refugees – a major problem in many Asian countries – and try to improve refugees' access to basic services, such as health care. They also fight to ensure refugees' access to legal aid, and look out for the rights of girls and women.

Eileen Pittaway, director of the Centre for Refugee Research in Australia, advised refugee advocates to be cautious in how they represent refugees: "We can assist them in making their voices heard, not speak for them."

Tom Vargas, UNHCR's Bangkok-based senior regional protection officer, said he was pleased with the growth of the network since its establishment a year ago in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. "We are very enthusiastic about working with them," he stressed. "They can add new impetus to advocacy for asylum-seekers at the national and regional level."

Vargas said the big change "is that NGOs have usually focused on the rights of their own nationals, but now they are fighting more for the rights of non-nationals, for refugees."

In a dialogue with UNHCR, representatives of the NGOs and civil society groups expressed concern that many refugees in Asia have trouble getting identity cards and are subject to arbitrary arrest and detention.

"We are functioning in a region," Hall agreed, "where asylum-seekers and refugees have little legal protection, and where an asylum-seeker is almost by definition an illegal immigrant in the eyes of the law."