Malaysia: UNHCR pleads case for refugees

from Reuters AlertNet:

The United Nations refugee agency asked Malaysia on Tuesday not to arrest and expel thousands of refugees in the country when authorities launch a crackdown on illegal immigrants in January.
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"We in the UNHCR care for people who cannot go back," said Volkder Turk, Malaysia representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

"Obviously for people who are refugees, we think there's very good reason for them not to be arrested," he told reporters.
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UNHCR said there are about 28,000 refugees in Malaysia, about 10,000 of them from Indonesia's war-torn Aceh province, and another 10,000 are members of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority.
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