Chapter 1 – Report of the Policy, Law and Complaints Group authorities on the handling of refugees in Malaysia. Based on the National Security Council’s Directive No. 23: The Mechanism on Management of Illegal Migrants that Hold UNHCR Card, the enforcement agencies are required to verify the status of detainees who claimed to be refugees with UNHCR and upon confirmation from UNHCR, they will be released to UNHCR. However, the Commission has not seen the details of the directive. In 2015, the Commission received a total of 24 complaints involving refugees’ matters. The complaints received were related mainly to issues such as health, education, employment, vulnerability to arrests and detention, and delays in registration and resettlement. In relation to health, the complaints were about their inability to pay medical bills, especially those who had been admitted to hospital for chronic illnesses or child delivery. The Commission had to forward all the complaints to UNHCR for assistance. After several follow-ups on complaints pertaining to the detention of refugees, the Commission learned that non-Rohingya refugees, refugees with criminal records, and those who had work prior to their arrest were being kept in detention indefinitely. During the Commission’s visit to Machap Umboo Immigration Detention Centre on 3 July, the authorities of the centre admitted to not releasing the three categories of refugees as they reasoned that the purpose of their action is to protect the country from criminals and prevent refugees from seizing employment opportunities from Malaysians. On 10 August, the Commission recorded statements from four refugees. They had just been released from Immigration detention after their refugee status had been confirmed by UNHCR. Three of them were Palestinians and the other one was a Syrian. They alleged that during their detention from June 2014 to July 2015 at various Immigration detention centres, namely Langkap, KLIA, and Bukit Jalil, they had experienced torture and witnessed the inhumane treatment of detainees, smuggling of drugs and tobacco, corrupt practices, and deaths of detainees due to failure to provide necessary medical treatment. They, however, refused to lodge police reports on the incidents and wanted their identities to be kept anonymous, as they were concerned about their safety. In August, the Commission requested a meeting with the Director General of Immigration to discuss several issues, including the serious allegations of the refugees. However, at the time of writing this report, the Commission is still waiting for the meeting to be held. Nonetheless, during the Commission’s visit to the Juru Immigration Detention Centre on 2 September, the Commission informed the representative from the Immigration Department’s head office, who was attending to the Commission during the visit, of the allegations. He responded that the Immigration Department was already aware of the allegations against several of its officials. As a result, the Commandant of Langkap Immigration Detention Centre had been transferred out and several other implicated officials were being closely monitored. The Commission here recommends that the enforcement agencies, including the Immigration Department, provide a more intensive and mandatory human rights course to its officials, 91 BOOK-ANR2016-01-latest.indb 91 08/04/2016 3:32 PM