NGOs: Tracking refugees not the way to go, hear our concerns before implementing TRIS

KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 — Refugee rights groups said that the government’s decision to track the whereabouts of United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) cardholders in Malaysia is “invasive, dehumanising and open to abuse.”

“Refugees are one of the most persecuted people globally and we therefore hope the Malaysian government wouldn’t use punitive technology to rob refugees of their right to seek asylum or live with dignity,” representatives from NGO group Alliance Of Chin Refugees and Beyond Borders said in a joint statement today.

This comes after the government approved the adoption of the Tracking Refugees Information System (TRIS) for UNHCR cardholders in Malaysia last Friday.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said in a media conference on July 23 that the system would be used to identify their purpose of living in the country, whether for employment reasons or “to carry out other matters.”

“What are the ‘other matters’? The protection of refugees has been fashioned out to be about securitisation. As such this is worrying, given the arrest and detention of refugees during immigration raids. Not to mention being nabbed by the police even if they have valid UN cards.

“This system will only add to the risk factors they face in the country, as refugees will become easy targets for arrests, detention and even deportation despite Malaysia being bound by the non-refoulement principle.

“TRIS would also further control freedom of movement of refugees, who are already afraid of being stopped by authorities, when in transit. And this will severely hamper their livelihood as well,” the NGO groups said in response to the Larut MP’s statement.

Hamzah also said that the TRIS database system has gone through years of trial and has been handed over to a company to ensure safe data large-scale data collection.

TRIS is Malaysia’s database system on UNHCR cardholders and asylum seekers introduced to streamline the management processes along with the data collection, registration, profile storage, analysis and reporting processes for the Malaysian government.

Compared to previous data collection methods, the TRIS system is said to more comprehensive as it adds personal details into the system such as facial recognition, sound recording, biometric fingerprints and the whole profile of the refugee and asylum seeker’s family.

According to the UNHCR website, Malaysia hosts some 181,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, with about 103,000 Rohingyas from Myanmar and the remaining from others such as Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, and Somalia.