Second Meeting between CDU and Chin Sub-ethnic Refugee Group Held

ACR

The second meeting between UNHCR's Community Development Unit (CDU) and the Chin sub-ethnic groups was successfully held at the Chinese Assembly Hall on the evening of 18 June, 2009. The meeting lasted for two hours. The main issues discussed were:

(1) the relationship between UNHCR and the Chin subethnic groups; and (2) the community visits by the CDU to the sub-ethnic groups. Regarding the relationship between CDU and the subethnic groups, it was agreed that only the previous participants in the meetings should be allowed to participate in the meetings in order to avoid repetitive discussions. Otherwise, the involvement of new members may create problems on the issues already discussed due to a lack of experience.

In the meeting with CDU, only 36 groups could participate out of 56. With regard to CDU's community visits, Madam Mimi stated, “We have visited 28 sub-ethnic groups. We had discussions about the community and a fundraising program. We cannot do anything concerning registration."

When asked about the Outreach and Protection Intervention (OPI) Unit which does much of the detention registration, Madam BAF replied, “Concerning detention, the names of detainees, jail/camp, and body number of the detainees cannot be reported to the OPI office through mail or fax.” She also said that they would base registration off CRC/ACR lists for new registration. GBU, one of the NGOs in Malaysia that mainly focuses on women rights, also gave an explanation about human rights. It was strongly advised that every group should participate in their trainings for the betterment of their community. If interested, community representatives were encouraged to contact: gbvmalaysia@gmail.com.

They explained Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights,” and Article 3, which states, “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person” and Article 4, “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.”