IOM yesterday witnessed the signing of an agreement between
Australia and Malaysia designed to combat people smuggling and
discourage asylum seekers from risking their lives in small boats
to reach Australia.

Under the agreement, which was signed by Malaysian Home Affairs
Minister Dato' Seri Hishamuddin bin Tun Hussein and Australian
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen in Kuala Lumpur, over the next
four years Malaysia will send 4,000 recognized refugees to be
resettled in Australia, and Australia will send 800 newly arrived
"boat people" to Malaysia, where their asylum claims will be
processed.

IOM will play an important role in helping both nations to
implement the agreement, notably by facilitating the movement of
the 4,000 refugees from Malaysia to Australia.

"We already move around 7,000 mainly Burmese refugees every year
from Malaysia. These are people who are referred by UNHCR and
accepted for resettlement by third countries. This deal will
increase our caseload by about 1,000 people a year for the next
four years – something that we welcome," says IOM Malaysia
Head of Office Valerie Dourdin-Fernandez.

IOM provides medical screening, cultural orientation and makes
all the necessary travel arrangements for refugees leaving Malaysia
to start new lives abroad.

IOM is also planning to expand its activities in Malaysia, in
close collaboration with the government and UNHCR, to help Malaysia
to provide adequate care and maintenance for the 800 "transferees"
arriving from Australia.

"We are currently looking into ways to complement services
already provided by UNHCR, NGOs and the government to ensure that
these people's stay in Malaysia is safe and dignified," says
Dourdin-Fernandez.

The services will include an option that will allow any
transferee who decides to abandon his or her asylum claim to
voluntarily return home to their country of origin with IOM. IOM
will arrange travel documents, air tickets, exit permits and,
depending on the destination country, reintegration assistance.

IOM doctors will also screen new arrivals at a Malaysian
government reception facility to identify vulnerable individuals
who may need special help.

Transferees will be expected to move out of the reception
facility and into the community after a maximum of six weeks and
IOM is looking into how it can help them to find affordable
housing, health care, jobs and education for their children.

For more information please contact:

Chris Lom at IOM's Regional Office for Asia & the Pacific in
Bangkok

Tel: +66.819275215

E-mail: "mailto:clom@iom.int">clom@iom.int