When COVID hit Asia, mixed messages about refugee vaccines Coronavirus pandemic News

Medan, Indonesia – Earlier this month, dozens of Rohingya refugees landed on an empty island off the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province.

The the refugees had been at sea for more than 100 days, After leaving Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh on a rough wooden fishing boat, and living on the uninhabited island of Idaman, local fishermen saw the island as a resting place for fishing trips.

By June 5, one day after arrival, 81 refugees, including children, had been vaccinated against COVID-19.

“Refugees were included along with the local government,” the humanitarian coordinator of the Nasruddin Geutanyoe Foundation, an NGO that provides education and psychosocial support to refugees in Indonesia and Malaysia, told Al Jazeera.

“When we found them, there were no food, water or electricity on the island in crisis, so the locals brought them food and we also brought them 50 water tanks,” he added. “It felt on the ground that we needed to share our vaccines with refugees to protect them as well. No one complained that vaccines were given to refugees.”

Humanitarian groups, NGOs and the general public in Aceh province have praised Rohingya refugees for their inclusion, but asylum seekers, refugees and immigrant workers in other parts of Southeast Asia have been less fortunate.

Hard line

When Nasruddin assessed the 81 refugees on the island of Idaman, he was told they wanted to go to Malaysia. Some had family members who already lived there, and others said the country had a more liberal policy towards refugees than its neighbors.

But like most countries in Southeast Asia, Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention and although the government has said it will include all those living in the country, it has taken a tough role against undocumented migrants and refugees, including the Rohingya.

“In February, the cabinet decided that all foreigners would receive a free vaccine for the benefit of the pandemic recovery, including refugees and undocumented migrants,” Lilianne Fan, one of the founders and international director of the Geutanyoe Foundation, based in Kuala Lumpur, told Al Jazeera.

“The COVID-19 Immunization Group and Science Minister Khairy Jamaluddin as coordinators of the vaccination program have been advocates for this approach.

“However, the latest document from the Interior Minister says that not vaccinating those who do not have a valid document, along with the new crackdown on undocumented migrants, contradicts the government’s previous stance and simply encourage more people to hide and slow the recovery of the Malaysian pandemic. “

Malaysia joined her a strict second closure after an increase in coronavirus cases in early June – hospitals and intensive care units were extended to the limit. The Ministry of Health announced 6,440 new cases on Friday.

The government has stated that it will facilitate the blockade when more people are included, and Khairy has consistently stressed that the program will include everyone living in the country.

Why did authorities throw disinfectants at undocumented migrants in an operation last night?

What is the purpose of doing this? Isn’t that going to be detrimental to health?

I hope @KKMPutrajaya @DrAdhamBaba @DGHisham he can advise them properly. pic.twitter.com/JJqXwyIGU9

– Norman Goh (@imnormgoh) June 7, 2021

As in the first closure last year, Malaysia has once again stepped up operations against undocumented migrants.

Malaysian Interior Minister Hamzah Zainudin has stated that PATI – an acronym for undocumented people in Malay – will be arrested and sent to immigration detention centers.

This month, he stressed that undocumented migrants must “surrender” before being vaccinated.

In early June, a video from Bernama State News Agency showed 156 undocumented migrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar sprayed with disinfectant after their arrest in Cyberjaya, near Malaysia International Airport.

Last week the immigration department shared a message on its Facebook page – which looks like a poster from an action movie – with the headline “Migrant Rohingya migrants are not welcome”. After a shout, but not before it spread among the refugee communities, it was wiped out.

On Monday, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission expressed concern over “recent statements representing migrants, undocumented or irregular immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers as a threat to the country’s security and safety and as a risk to Malaysian health” and called on the government to rethink its approach.

“Fearing undocumented aliens and threats of detention is detrimental to the ongoing efforts to overcome the pandemic and gain herd immunity,” he said, stressing the clear differences in the situations of migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers.

Malaysia closed its borders in the first sharp closure last year when immigration officials raided several areas in areas that were in “improved” detention. Rights groups fear that further harassment will prevent people from facing the key vaccine to end the COVID pandemic in Malaysia. [File: Lim Huey Teng/Reuters]

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) registered about 57 percent of the 179,570 refugees registered by the Rohingya at the end of May.

According to unofficial estimates, the country could have three million undocumented immigrants, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Extensive problem

Mixed messaging against refugee vaccines is not from Malaysia.

In a statement released in early June, the UN refugee agency warned that a shortage of vaccines in the Asia-Pacific region was endangering the lives of refugees and asylum seekers.

“Refugees remain particularly vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19. Overcrowded facilities, along with limited water and sanitation facilities, could increase infection rates and contribute to the exponential spread of the virus, ”UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said in a statement.

There are nearly 900,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, making it the largest and most populous group of refugee camps in the world. According to Mahecic, there are a number of COVID-19 cases in the camps it increased tremendously in the last two months.

As of 31 May, there were more than 1,188 confirmed cases among refugees, more than half of which were registered in May alone.

None of the fugitives from Cox’s Bazaar have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Mahecic added that in many regions of Asia Pacific, there was not enough vaccination to surround them, with groups like migrant workers and asylum seekers being sidelined.

UNHCR saw “alarming growth” in the number of coronavirus cases among refugees and asylum seekers in countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, he said.

It seems that Indonesia has at least started to solve more problems.

UNHCR says COVID-19 has begun to accelerate in the crowded refugee camps at Cox’s Bazaar, but the Rohingya who live there have not been vaccinated [File: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]

Elsewhere in the country, Aceh has begun to follow suit, according to the IOM, which in early June placed more than 900 refugees in the Indonesian city of Pekanbaru in Riau province in collaboration with the local government.

“IOM applauds the Pekanbaru Municipal Government’s response to making vaccines available to the city’s refugee community,” Iiani Indonesia’s Ariani Hasanah Soejoeti, Indonesia’s national media and communications manager, told Al Jazeera, adding that all refugees in the city are now 18 years old.

“Vaccines are one of our most critical and effective tools to prevent outbreaks and to keep individuals and therefore the entire community safe and healthy,” he said.

“The virus knows no boundaries or nationalities; and neither should our solidarity. “