Rights groups warn Malaysia against deporting Rohingya to junta-ruled Myanmar

Mizzima

More than 160 civil society organizations from Malaysia and across the region issued a joint statement on 23 September urging Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to abandon plans to work with Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing on the return of some 200,000 Rohingya refugees sheltering in Malaysia, warning that any such deportation would make Malaysia complicit in an ongoing genocide.

The statement, signed by 166 organizations and more than 140 individuals, was released after Anwar announced last week that he would invite the junta chief to Malaysia to discuss Rohingya repatriation, according to Malaysian and regional media reports cited in the statement.

The signatories, which include ALTSEAN-Burma, Progressive Voice, Beyond Borders, the Free Rohingya Coalition and the Arakan Rohingya Union, described Min Aung Hlaing as “the architect of the ongoing genocide against Rohingya” and reminded Anwar that the International Criminal Court is deliberating an arrest warrant for the junta leader, according to the statement.

Universal jurisdiction cases over the Rohingya genocide have already been filed in two other ASEAN member states, Indonesia and Timor-Leste, the statement said. Refoulement by Malaysia or any ASEAN government would make them complicit in the ongoing genocide, the signatories said.

Rohingya returned to Myanmar face forced conscription by the junta, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and the Arakan Army, the statement said. The junta has forcibly recruited more than 3,000 Rohingya from villages and displacement camps since 2024, according to the statement. On 29 July, the junta issued an order requiring Rohingya households in Sittwe Township to provide one person each for military service, the statement said, citing Myanmar Now.

Between 1 January and 30 August 2026, junta forces carried out 516 armed clashes and attacks, including 176 air or drone strikes, killing 293 civilians across 17 townships in Arakan State, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project cited in the statement. Rohingya continue to face sexual assault, massacres, forced labour, arbitrary detention, human trafficking and the destruction of villages at the hands of the Arakan Army, the junta and its allies, the signatories said.

Arakan State hosts 498,000 internally displaced people, the second-highest displaced population in Myanmar and 12.4 percent of the country’s four million IDPs, the statement said, citing UNHCR figures. The UN Development Programme has warned of an acute famine as the junta blocks humanitarian aid to the state, according to the statement.

The signatories rejected Anwar’s characterisation of Rohingya as a burden on Malaysia’s security and economy. Rohingya refugees account for around 0.58 percent of Malaysia’s 34.4 million population but only 0.02 percent of crimes committed between 2024 and mid-2026, the statement said, citing figures from Malaysia’s police reported by the New Straits Times.

Any repatriation must comply with the principle of non-refoulement under customary international law, which prohibits returning people to territory where they face persecution, torture or serious human rights violations, the signatories said. A return cannot be considered voluntary or lawful simply because the junta agrees to receive people, they added.

The organizations called for an immediate halt to the planned deportations pending consultations with civil society groups working on the ground and a comprehensive assessment of conditions inside Myanmar. Malaysia’s engagement with the junta must not come at the expense of its own reputation and integrity, the statement said, adding that the planned refoulement was inconsistent with Malaysia’s stand against the genocide of Palestinians.

The signatories urged Malaysia and other regional governments to allow refugees access to civilian protection and legal work, and to take concrete steps to halt atrocity crimes in Myanmar