Refugees and Displacement

Overview

This overview provides a synopsis of the current knowledge base. Having considered all the information, we make sense of it by taking a stab at the following: 1) What are the priority issues that deserve attention, 2) What are opportunity areas that community or voluntary organisations can already take action on, and 3) What knowledge gaps deserve further investigation?

Objectives

• To develop a first-stop resource directory by populating a page on socialcollab.sg relevant for audiences/ readers based in Singapore,
  • To learn about the issue of refugees and forced displacement and the situation in South East Asia
  • To expound on how people can contribute, what key organizations and community groups there are in Singapore, regionally and internationally

Background (refugees in SEA)

Over a million refugees currently reside in Southeast Asia. Countries in the region have also had a long history of hosting refugees since the World War 2 period, including Singapore. This is a result of past and ongoing regional conflicts such as the Rohingya refugee crisis and internal conflict in Myanmar.

History of Refugees in SEA

After World War 2, conflicts such as the Chinese Civil War resulted in a large-scale movement of refugees, and between countries in Southeast Asia. Thailand has played host to refugees from Myanmar for decades, while the end of the Second Indochina War in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam also sparked an influx of refugees from these countries to Thailand and other neighbouring states such as Malaysia. Many refugees who were known as “Boat People” also undertook perilous journeys by boat to escape Vietnam, leaving for destinations in the region such as Hong Kong, The Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. The map below indicates the movement of refugees within Southeast Asia following the end of the Second Indochina War.

Southeast Asian states adopted a mix of policies in handling the Vietnamese refugee crisis, providing refugees with shelter in certain instances while turning them away at other times. Following a 1979 conference convened by the United Nations, third countries in the West (including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, the United States and Australia) agreed to facilitate the resettlement of Indochinese refugees. Vietnam also agreed to control the exit of refugees. The numbers of refugees leaving by boat have declined as more refugees were able to utilise alternative means to travel to transit countries or directly to the West where they were resettled. The map below indicates where most refugees from Indochina were resettled from 1975 to 1997.

ASEAN Policy on Refugees

Apart from Cambodia and The Philippines, ASEAN states have not signed the Refugee Convention/Protocol which guarantees asylum seekers and refugees rights such as non-refoulement. Asylum seekers are often treated as illegal immigrants under national laws and are at risk of being repatriated to their home country. The map below shows countries in ASEAN that have signed the Refugee Convention/Protocol.

ASEAN countries have also reached the following agreements pertaining to refugees:

Agreement	Description
1966 Bangkok Principles (ASEAN states except Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos)	Defines refugees according to the 1951 Refugee Convention Agreement to respect principle of non-refoulement Affirms right of all individuals to seek asylum Acknowledges sovereign right of states to grant or refuse asylum Nonbinding, states not required to implement policies and laws after agreeing to principles
2012 ASEAN Declaration of Human Rights	Affirms right of all individuals to seek asylum Right to seek asylum must be in accordance with laws of the state or related international agreements Most ASEAN states do not have national laws regarding asylum seekers and refugees

Present Situation

Most refugees in Southeast Asia come from Myanmar and are displaced as a result of Myanmar’s protracted ethnic conflicts. Refugees and asylum seekers usually journey to Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia. Apart from Myanmar, refugees and asylum seekers in Southeast Asia also come from countries such as Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan and they are concentrated mostly in Malaysia, which has around 20,000 of such refugees and asylum seekers. Refugees and asylum seekers from South Asia, the Middle East and Africa heading to Australia have also used Indonesia as a transit point in the past, with the number of refugees arriving in Australia by boat falling from a peak of over 6000 in 2010 to less than 10 in 2020.

Priority Issues

Singapore

Click here to view the section on Singapore.

ASEAN

Although the situation in Southeast Asia has been largely stable after the Cold War with Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia joining ASEAN, there has been a large increase in the number of internally displaced persons and refugees in the region in recent years. Events which have led to this increase include the Rohingya Refugee Crisis, protracted internal conflict in Myanmar, as well as internal displacement in Mindanao and Marawi caused by internal conflict in The Philippines.

Singapore

Singapore's history of hosting Vietnamese refugees

Origins

When the Vietnam War ended, many asylum seekers fled to Southeast Asian countries on ships and fishing boats requesting asylum due to the political situation in Vietnam. The first wave of Vietnamese asylum seekers arrived in Singapore in 1975 after the fall of Saigon.

In response, the Singapore Government conducted Operation Thunderstorm, intercepting, quarantining and preventing them from entering Singapore. Over 8000 refugees and 64 ships were stopped by the Singapore Navy over a 14-day period. These asylum seekers were mostly turned away and given food, fuel and other provisions to continue their journey. However, some 108 of these asylum seekers who were fishermen were eventually offered permanent residency by the Singapore government in October 1975.

Despite the measures taken under Operation Thunderstorm, further waves of Vietnamese asylum seekers arrived in Singapore over the next few years due to the deteriorating political situation in Vietnam. In response, a new policy was thus imposed by the Singapore government in October 1978.

This policy allowed asylum seekers recognised as refugees to temporarily stay in Singapore if they were picked up by cargo vessels outside Singapore waters. The country where the ship was registered in also had to assure the Singapore government that the refugees would be resettled in its territory. All expenses for the refugees’ stay in Singapore were funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as well as the Singapore Red Cross and Catholic Welfare Charities. The diagram below shows the number of asylum seekers entering Singapore from 1977 to 1987.

The Hawkins Road Refugee Camp

The Hawkins Road Camp in Sembawang was set up in 1978 to host asylum seekers recognised as refugees awaiting resettlement in a third country. A former British army barracks, the refugee camp was considered more humane, with better living conditions than other camps in the region due to its relatively lower population.

Refugees were only allowed to stay for 90 days at most, and the camp could not contain more than 1000 people at any time, although some exceptions were made. They were given a $2.50/day allowance by the Red Cross and were allowed to leave the camp at specified hours. Medical and other services such as education and mail were provided by the UNHCR in coordination with the Red Cross and the Catholic Welfare Charities. A fee of $8000/month was also charged to UNHCR for lease of the camp.

In 1989, the Comprehensive Plan of Action was passed, which imposed stricter rules on resettling Vietnamese asylum seekers to third countries. Many asylum seekers were denied refugee status and faced forced repatriation to Vietnam. This contrasted with previous practices where asylum seekers were generally recognised as refugees.

Asylum seekers who had their refugee claims denied refused to leave the camp and engaged in protests, hunger strikes and even suicide attempts. The camp eventually closed in June 1996 when the last refugees were voluntarily repatriated back to Vietnam.

Singapore's current policy and position on refugees

Singapore has not acceded to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol of the Status of Refugees. The Singapore government’s stance after it stopped hosting Vietnamese refugees is that Singapore is not in any position to receive any asylum seekers due to its limited land space. This stance is also partly caused by the negative experience it had in hosting Vietnamese asylum seekers as third countries failed to resettle them as promised after the Comprehensive Plan of Action was passed in 1989.

As reiterated by the late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1978, “You’ve got to grow calluses on your heart or you just bleed to death.” The same sentiment was repeated in 2015 by a spokesperson from the Ministry of Home Affairs, “As a small country with limited land, Singapore is not in a position to accept any persons seeking political asylum or refugee status, regardless of their ethnicity or place of origin”. This came following an exodus of some 5,000 asylum seekers from Bangladesh and Burma looking to land somewhere in Southeast Asia.

There is no national framework or legal definition relating to refugees nationally in Singapore, and any potential asylum seekers claiming refugee status are dealt with under the 1959 Immigration Act. This act states that asylum seekers are subject to penalties such as caning, imprisonment and deportation if found guilty of violating the act, as they are considered to be “prohibited immigrants.”

Despite such constraints, the UNHCR has been able to carry out refugee status determination for asylum seekers referred to it by the authorities, while the Singapore government has indicated its willingness to assist asylum seekers in departing to third countries for resettlement by providing humanitarian assistance. However, there is a possibility that some asylum seekers might be convicted and deported under the Immigration Act instead of being referred to the UNHCR as Singapore does not recognise the international customary law of non-refoulement. Thus, persons of concern who turn up on Singapore’s shores will most likely face one of two scenarios i.e. detention and/or deportation.

Ultimately, Singapore’s position is that it is willing to provide humanitarian assistance through donations and aid to refugees displaced by conflict such as the Rohingya, but the responsibility of taking care of them falls on stakeholders directly involved such as the neighbouring countries hosting them.

Perception towards refugees and migrants

A 2019 study conducted by Advocates For Refugees - Singapore (AFR-SG) interviewed over 30 Singaporeans aged between 20 to 70+ on their perceptions towards refugees and migrants. These were the findings from the survey:

Understanding of Refugees

For Many:

•       Perceptions on Refugees are largely shaped by the media
•       Issues on refugees are distant

They largely believed that:

• Refugees exist due to lack of government protection from conflicts involving issues such as race and religion
• Refugees were helpless and could lose their lives if they had nowhere to go, although some felt instead that they had a choice between leaving or staying on
• Refugees were mostly from South Asia or the Middle East
• Singaporeans should be compassionate towards refugees as fellow human beings

Singapore's Policy on Refugees

Most who were interviewed:

• Felt Singapore should not host refugees due to its limited land capacity and resources, with other more pressing domestic issues to be resolved
• Thought that refugees mostly originate from the Global South (countries with lower gross domestic product which are located on one side of the so-called global North–South divide)
• Believed that refugees need to be able to contribute to the economy for Singapore to host them-by working in physical, blue collar labour
• Were concerned about taxpayer money being spent to support refugees if Singapore hosted them
• Believed that many Singaporeans would “protest” if the government decided to host refugees, due to the above reasons

Many also felt that:

• Having refugees in Singapore would affect Singapore’s socio-political order due to varying cultural norms, practices and behaviours
• Refugees would affect Singapore’s security with issues like rising crime rates, and associated countries accepting refugees with these issues

A quote from one respondent reflects this concern:

“I think Singaporean’s mental and emotional health are not ready for this... It’s not that refugees are dangerous, but integration into the community, laws and regulations to be set in place for protection, education and jobs to be shared, living space etc.. to ensure their quality of living. And we also need to vet refugees, how many terrorists are hidden within them?”

Despite such views:

• Most felt that Singaporeans should help refugees overseas by donating or volunteering overseas
• About half of respondents were open to Singapore hosting refugees to study/work, if they could contribute to the economy and sufficient economic and infrastructural resources and steps are taken to integrate them well into society

Definitions

Refugees (forced displacement)

Asylum Seekers

Internally Displaced People

Stateless People

Principle of Non-Refoulement

Climate-induced migrants

Example of Different Refugee Crises

Refugees among Thai-Burma Border

Thailand shares a 2,401 km long border with Myanmar. According to the UNHCR, Thailand currently hosts around 91,755 refugees from Myanmar in their nine Royal Thai Government (RTG)-run temporary shelters on the Thai-Myanmar border, in addition to refugees living in Bangkok and surrounding urban areas. Within the camps, most of the refugees are of Karen, Karenni and Burmese ethnicity, some of whom have lived in Thailand since the mid-1980s after fleeing conflict between ethnic armed groups and the Myanmar military.

The conflict dates back to 1949, when the Karen armed struggle for equality and self-determination quickly spread all over the country alongside the government’s growing subjugation of ethnic areas. The situation worsened in the 1960s when Ne Win took over the government in a military coup and established an authoritarian regime, with a series of military attacks against the Karen National Union (KNU) eventually culminating in a massive and brutal offensive in Eastern Myanmar, driving 10,000 Karen refugees into Thailand’s Tak Province. This marked the beginning of the refugee outflow from Myanmar to Thailand.  

Today, Myanmar is once again under direct military rule. The Myanmar military, known locally as the Tatmadaw, has been increasing their attacks on Karen people, as shelling and mortar bombs have been happening regularly for months, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee.

Thailand is not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees and as such, lacks comprehensive domestic legislation to protect refugees and asylum-seekers. Refugees along the border are restricted from accessing national institutions (e.g. health and education) and from moving outside the camps for reasons other than accessing livelihood opportunities.

Since 2016, the official practice of the Thai government has been to focus on ‘voluntary return’ and ‘resettlement’ of refugees to third countries. More than 1,000 refugees have returned to Myanmar since October 2016 through the Facilitated Voluntary Return (FVR) programme led by the governments of Thailand and Myanmar with the support of UNHCR and partners. However, a large majority have not expressed an interest to return.  

Lao Hmong Refugees in Thailand

The Hmong refugee experience is founded in their alliance with American Cold War efforts in Laos in the Vietnam War. From the 1960s to 1975, the US recruited the Hmong for their fight against communism, with agreement from the Hmong who saw communism as a threat to their autonomy and independence.

More than 19,000 men out of the 300,000 Hmong people living in Laos were recruited into a CIA-sponsored secret operation known as Special Guerrilla Units (SGU) while others enlisted as Forces Armees du Royaume, the Laotian royal armed forces, in what is known today as “the Secret War”. The Secret War weighed heavily on the Hmong and the people of Laos, with an estimated death toll of 3,000 Hmong soldiers and 6,000 more wounded that year.

The year 1973 marked the end of the Vietnam war as the North Vietnamese government captured Saigon and signed the Vientiane Agreement on September 14, giving the Communist Pathet Lao more control of the Lao government. From 1975 onwards, the Pathet Lao overthrew the Laotian monarchy and launched an aggressive campaign to capture or kill Hmong soldiers and families who sided with the CIA. This forced thousands of Hmong to flee to the jungles of Laos or to Thailand, with between 1,000 to 3,000 Hmong being airlifted by the US to Thailand.

Those who remained in Lao D.P.R. formed the Chao Fa political party with a headquarter in Phoua Bia, to defend their freedom and rightswhile others fled to Thailand or got resettled in countries like the US, France, Canada and Australia.

Those who remain in Lao D.P.R. continue to worry for their safety. Since 2016, there have been sustained military incursions into the jungle area around the Phou Bia region. The Lao military have increasingly made it difficult for the Hmong to live in the area, limiting their access to food, housing, water, sanitation, and healthcare by building installations and bases and destroying shelters in the area. Since early 2017, the Lao military have reportedly used tanks and heavy artillery and fired indiscriminately into Hmong territory, with such attacks continuing to date.

Many who decided to flee crossed the heavily patrolled Mekong River to Thailand, where they lived in refugee camps set up by non-governmental organisations like the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR), the International Rescue Committee and the Thai Ministry of the Interior. However, since the mid-1990s, the Thai government closed all official refugee camps in Thailand, and those who still resided in the camps were sent to transit camps to await repatriation to Laos. Several thousand also fled to the rural areas of Thailand, or to Wat Tham Krabok, a Buddhist monastery where a local religious leader organised shelter and services. The Hmong community at the monastery was tolerated by Thai officials only until 2003, when they decided to close the complex, which led to a resettlement programme for Hmong refugees to the US.

Because of America’s role in the US-led war in Laos, approximately 90 percent of Hmong refugees have been resettled to the US. According to a US congress bill, nearly 200,000 Hmong refugees (and others such as of Lao, Khmu, Mien or Yao descent) have resettled in the US as permanent residents or have become citizens since 1975. Most of them live in the areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. However, in 2020, the Trump Administration submitted a proposal to deport thousands of Hmong and Lao Americans who have committed crimes back to Laos, a proposal that was later met by a US Congress Bill to defer their removal, grant authorisation for employment and prohibit the detention of the Hmong.

Rohingya Refugee Crisis

The Rohingya people are an ethnic Muslim minority group living in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar who have faced many years of institutionalised discrimination. They trace their origins in the region back to the fifteenth century, when thousands of Muslims came to the former Arakan Kingdom. Before the most recent exodus in 2017, majority of the estimated one million Rohingya in Myanmar resided in Rakhine state.

The discrimination against the Rohingya dates back to 1962, when General Ne Win incited a military coup and came to power in Burma. Since then, successive Burmese governments have rejected Rohingya claims of their Burmese roots, instead claiming that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The Rohingya have been the targets of violent and large-scale crackdowns, such as Operation Dragon King in 1978 and Operation Clean and Beautiful Nation in 1991, which have forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee Burma into Bangladesh.

The creation of the 1982 Citizenship Law further marginalised the Rohingya by excluding them from the country’s 135 “national races” entitled to Burmese citizenship, effectively rendering some 800,000 Rohingya in Burma stateless. Later in 1992, a border security force called the Nay Sat Kut-kwey Ye or NaSaKa was established in North Rakhine, further imposing restrictions on the Rohingya such as on their right to marry and to travel freely.

Most recently in August 2017, a mass exodus occurred, with more than 700,000 Rohingya forced to flee from Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh. This happened after Rohingya militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked police posts and killed 12 members of the security forces, inciting a security crackdown where the Myanmar military, backed by Buddhist mobs, burned their villages and killed civilians.  

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are currently more than 880,000 Rohingya refugees living at the Kutupalong and Nayapara refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar region, which have grown to become the largest and most densely populated camps in the world. Some Rohingya refugees have also sought refuge in other countries, with Malaysia hosting around 101,000 refugees, India hosting around 18,000 refugees and smaller numbers settling in Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand and other countries across the region. Approximately 600,000 Rohingya remain in Myanmar, with 142,000 internally displaced (IDP) and confined to closed IDP camps

There continues to be a lack of durable solutions for Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, especially as Myanmar has not shown signs of creating conditions for the safe, dignified, and voluntary return of the refugees. In light of that, in May 2021, nearly 20,000 Rohingya refugees have been relocated from the refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar to the controversial Bhasan Char Island. The move to this island was made before there were proper consultations on the island’s emergency preparedness, habitability, and safety, and has been particularly controversial considering refugees’ pleas to be returned to the mainland

Internal Displacement in Mindanao, Philippines

Since 1969, active conflict in Mindanao between the Philippine government, Moro Muslim groups, and other armed groups has caused widespread displacement and infrastructure and shelter damage.

In 2014, a peace agreement between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Philippine government successfully led to the formal establishment of an autonomous region called the Bangasmoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in 2019. Despite this, violence related to the exclusion of armed groups from the peace process, continued across Mindanao throughout 2019.

Most recently, conflict reignited between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFR) and the Bangasmoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a fringe group inspired by the Islamic State which broke away from the MILF after the signing of the peace agreement

On March 18, 2021, AFP fired mortars at alleged BIFF areas, leading to a gunfight between them around a market along a provincial highway . The firefights and mortar shells led to the displacement of more than 66,000 people in the Philippines’ southern Maguinadanao province.

Despite this, the AFP seems to be more focused on its stated goal to end the country’s armed communist insurgency by 2022, despite heavy criticism that the AFP is using this campaign to harass, arrest and kill legal progressive activists and critics of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Vietnam Montagnard Refugees in Cambodia

Montagnard, or “highlanders”, is a term that has been used since the French Colonial period to describe some 30 hill tribes who live in the Vietnamese Central Highlands, each with their own language and distinctive cultural heritage. Since 1975, Montagnards have faced persecution from the Vietnamese government for supporting America in the Vietnam War and for practising forms of Christianity that Hanoi brand “evil way” religions.

Although originally animists or spirit-believers, some Montagnards were converted to Christianity by Catholic missionaries during the French colonial period, and Protestant missionaries later became increasingly active among these highlands in the Southern Republic of Vietnam. During the Vietnam War between 1954 and 1975, the Central Highlands were contested between US-backed anti-Communist Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) and insurgents linked to the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), and many Montagnards who converted to Christianity ended up allying with the US.

After the 1975 Communist victory in the Vietnam War, the Montagnards were targeted by the Communist Vietnam government as traitors and US spies. They began persecuting the Montagnards, executing some of their leaders and limiting their cultural rights, education and employment opportunities. This forced the Montagnard to flee from Vietnam, often to Cambodia and Thailand, though some managed to be resettled in North Carolina in the United States. The rest of the Montagnard either live in what amounts to little more than house arrest in Phnom Penh, locked up in Bangkok’s Immigration Detention Centre, or in limbo on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Most recently, those who fled to Cambodia in the wave that started in 2014 have been deported or returned “voluntarily” back to Vietnam. As for Thailand, though they are less likely to be repatriated to Vietnam, they continue to live in precarious situations without legal documents and access to employment or education, leaving them at risk of abuse and arrests.  

Internal Displacement in Mawari, Philippines

The Battle of Mawari was a five-month-long firefight between the Philippine government security forces and militant groups affiliated with the Islamic State.

The conflict started on May 23, 2017, when members of the Maute Group (MG) ambushed a military vehicle that was reportedly on a mission to serve a warrant of arrest for Abu Sayaaf Group’s (ASG) leader, Isnilon Hapilon, who was believed to be hiding in that area.

Tensions intensified as MG multiplied their forces and reportedly occupied civilian structures like schools buildings and churches, with the Philippine government carrying out heavy bombing of the city to drive out the insurgents. This led to the displacement of nearly 98% of Mawari’s population and the destruction of infrastructure and homes.

Though the siege ended on October 23, 2017, much of the population continues to be displaced even today. According to the UNHCR in May 2020, more than 120,000 people currently live in transitory sites or home-based settings in Lanao del Sur. Despite the fact that these transitory shelters offer more protection than in Sarimanok Tent City, the journey to rebuild a better life continues.

Moving forward, the Philippine government has estimated rebuilding costs at $1.6 billion, with a goal of finishing by the first quarter of 2022.

Climate-Induced Migration: Pacific Islands Rising Sea Levels

Southeast Asia is amongst the regions most affected by global rising temperatures but has also been seen to be one of the least prepared. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, between 2008 – 2018, 54.5 million people in Southeast Asia were displaced by weather-related natural disaster. The Global Climate Risk Index by environmental group Germanwatch also states that four Southeast Asian countries - Myanmar, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand – were among the 10 countries in the world most affected by climate change in the past two decades.

The effects of climate change have been shown through rising sea levels, increasingly frequent and extreme weather patterns, and intensifying rainfall. Massive human migration is expected from these consequences, especially with 77 percent of Southeast Asians living along the coast or in low lying river deltas.

In 2020, more than 500,000 people have been displaced due to weather-related disasters such as Typhoon Phanfone and Vongfong in the Philippines and Indonesia’s capital being inundated by region-wide flooding twice.

Resource Directory (Overseas)

This page was populated by volunteer researchers and writers in June 2021, as part of RAW 2021, an annual campaign held in conjunction with World Refugee Day on 20 June.  

RAW 2021 is organised by Advocates For Refugees - Singapore (AFR-SG), a volunteer-led ground up movement promoting the dignified and humane treatment of refugees and forcibly displaced persons.

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