Malaysia began repatriating thousands of Myanmar nationals back to the war-torn country in a phased program that’s being criticized by the United Nations refugee agency and human rights organizations.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government said Tuesday that 1,476 people held in immigration detention centers in Malaysia were being returned in the first stage of a plan to repatriate 5,000. The program was a “voluntary and phased repatriation” plan coordinated with Myanmar, according to the government.
The move sparked concerns among groups like the UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency, given the large Myanmar population in Malaysia, including 126,000 Rohingya refugees and asylum-seekers.
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