Source: FMT News
PETALING JAYA: Sympathy helps but what NGOs involved in helping refugees need more is solid assistance.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) spokesperson Yante Ismail claimed that refugees were not helpless but were already finding solutions to their problems.
“It is important to know that refugees are not just waiting for help or donations.
“They are already finding solutions to their own problems, finding ways to cope while in exile and to stay strong as a community,” Yante told FMT.
However, Yante quickly added that refugees were in dire need of opportunities and long-term solutions to support themselves while they are here in Malaysia.
Among long-term solutions which the agency is trying to do are assisting refugees in voluntary deportation when conditions permit, temporary local integration, and resettlement to a third country.
She also said there were many NGOs involved in supporting these refugees.
She said NGOs in Malaysia were supportive in terms of education, healthcare, training and capacity-building, livelihood, child protection, sexual and gender-based violence, and community empowerment. Read more →