UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Tuesday criticised Malaysia for forcing Myanmar refugees to return home despite severe human rights violations by the military junta in Myanmar.
The UN body in Geneva said the Malaysian authorities are putting people’s lives at risk.
The military took power in Myanmar at the beginning of February 2021 and since then, critics of the regime have been brutally persecuted.
However, before that, hundreds of thousands of members of the Rohingya Muslim minority had fled repression and persecution in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, mainly to Bangladesh and other countries.
According to the human rights organisation Amnesty International, Malaysia deported more than 150 fugitives against their will and in collusion with the military regime in Myanmar in October alone.
They were threatened with persecution, arbitrary arrest, ill-treatment and torture.
A UNHCR spokeswoman in Geneva said according to international law, people seeking protection should not be deported to their home country if they are in danger there.
The organisation called on the Malaysian authorities to stop the practice immediately.
