UNHCR urges Malaysia to stop deportations of Acehnese Indonesians, demands access

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Saturday urged Malaysia to stop deporting Acehnese Indonesians to Indonesia's island of Sumatra.

UNHCR has been approached by a number of Acehnese Indonesians who seek refugee status, and whose asylum requests should be heard.

"We are very worried, since genuine refugees in need of international protection may well be among those sent back by Malaysia," said Sadako Ogata, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The UNHCR repeated its call for access to detention centres in Malaysia which are believed to hold thousands of Indonesian illegal immigrants. Around 500 of the detainees may be refugees and asylum seekers from Aceh. "I regret that our repeated requests for access to the detention centres have not been granted," Ogata said.

Earlier this week, a decision by the Malaysian authorities to deport large numbers of illegal migrants back to Indonesia sparked riots in several detention centres in Malaysia which left at least nine people dead. Many more suffered injuries. UNHCR is deeply concerned about the violence and loss of life.

There are several thousand Indonesians from Aceh in Malaysia - a small fraction of Malaysia's large population of illegal immigrants.