PUTRAJAYA, April 4 — The Home Ministry (KDN) is currently in the final phase of reaching an agreement to share data on refugees with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to facilitate the government's next step in managing refugees in this country more comprehensively.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the matter was discussed in a meeting with the representative of UNHCR High Commission, Thomas Albrecht, in Parliament this morning.
He said the discussion also revolved around aspects of capacity development and training so that the strengths of KDN and UNHCR can be combined to take advantage of the organisation's experience in managing refugees around the world.
When asked about the training, Saifuddin said UNHCR has modules on human rights and the ability to view UNHCR data in a granular manner since the organisation has developed a registration system to manage 187,000 refugees different from KDN’s system.
"Now, there is a group of our officers who are carrying out training and capacity building programme with them (UNHCR).
“At the same time, we will provide cooperation that is best suited to the role of UNHCR in our country and this is important to deflect accusations (mainly) from those who think that the Home Ministry does not cooperate directly with this organisation (UNHCR)," he said in a press conference, here, today.
Asked whether UNHCR had expressed its intention to visit immigration depots, Saifuddin said KDN is ready to help facilitate UNHCR's application.
He said this is as the organisation believes there are asylum seekers and detainees with refugee status among the 13,000 individuals currently placed at 20 immigration depots managed by KDN nationwide.
He said UNHCR can submit a list of names and the ministry will help identify their whereabouts.
— Bernama
