Groups seek end to deporting of Myanmar migrants

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia —

Two human rights groups made a last-ditch legal bid on Monday to block Malaysia’s plan to deport 1,200 Myanmar migrants, which they say include refugees, asylum seekers and minors.

Amnesty International Malaysia and Asylum Access Malaysia sought an order from the Kuala Lumpur High Court to halt the planned repatriation on Tuesday. Three Myanmar military ships arrived over the weekend to bring the migrants home and are docked at a naval base.

The two groups in their legal bid named three people registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and 17 minors who have at least one parent still in Malaysia, contrary to Malaysia’s assurance earlier that there were no UNHCR cardholders or ethnic Muslim Rohingya refugees in the group.

“Sending them to Myanmar, at a time when the country is facing increasing human rights violations and violence committed in the course of a coup that led to at least two deaths over the weekend, is a cruel act that violates the international principle of non-refoulement,” or not forcing a refugee to return home and face likely persecution, they said in a statement.

They said the repatriation is also tantamount to legitimizing ongoing human rights violations by Myanmar’s military and would put the migrants at risk of further persecution, violence and even death. They urged Malaysia to immediately grant UNCHR full access to the 1,200 people.