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Refugees in Indonesia told assimilate but not settle
JAKARTA, Indonesia – Fatema Barbari tears up as she recounts how police forced her family and 50 other refugees to flee a makeshift camp outside the immigration detention center in Jakarta, Indonesia’s sprawling capital. “They ordered us to leave at night,” Barbari, 39, said as she looked around at her husband and two children at…
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Malaysia’s Rohingya Refugee Women’s Theatre Company
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Inside a YMCA gymnasium, an actress takes the stage and the audience goes quiet. Members of Malaysia’s state security forces are in attendance. The scene set is a family living room. An actress mimes as if to clean. There’s nothing subversive in this scene. A male actor steps on stage looking…
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Malaysia: A Refugee Conundrum
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – “People always ask me, why are you helping refugees when there are people, here at home, who need help? “This is home for refugees”, said Heidy Quah, recipient of the 2017 Queen’s Young Leaders Award for her work co-founding Malaysia’s Refuge for the Refugees. Quah, aged 23 years, founded the Kuala…
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Malaysia’s Rohingya Network – CBC The World this Weekend
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The Rohingya community in Malaysia is trying to help fellow Rohingya who’ve recently fled their homes in Myanmar to live in refugee camps in Bangladesh. The Rohingya in Malaysia view themselves as the lucky ones. They’re viewed as illegal migrants, not refugees, but they’re essentially allowed to contribute to society and…
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One Rohingya’s struggle to empower women in Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Tucked away upstairs at a shopping plaza in this city’s north end is a small storefront turned classroom for dozens of Rohinyga women and children. The sound of these women reciting English phrases, laughing and the occasional cries of kids can be heard in the stairwell. Its founder, Sharifah Husain, 24,…
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Malaysia: Rohingya must be consulted before repatriation
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – A Rohingya repatriation deal is being hailed as a “first step” by the Bangladesh government, but many argue the plan is premature. Myanmar’s Rakhine state is the ancestral home for Muslim-majority Rohingya, but those living there face discrimination, violence, and segregation. Human rights group Amnesty International calls it a “system of…
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Malaysia: A Rohingya safe haven?
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Inside a television studio a small team of four prepare the daily news bulletin featuring horrendous stories of rape, murder, forced exile, and the lack of an international response to these crimes. But this is no ordinary television news station. It’s fully staffed by Rohingya refugees broadcasting online, sharing news and…
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North Korean Defectors Help Escapees Reach China on ‘Underground Railroad’
SEOUL, South Korea – When she crossed the border from North Korea to China, Ann Kang understood it was only a temporary feeling of freedom, one that could be taken away in an instant. The real difficulty, she knew, lay ahead in crossing into Laos and Thailand, where true freedom awaited. It’s a similar story…
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A Plan to Resolve one of Asia’s Longest Refugee Situations
MAE SOT, Thailand – The UN refugee agency field office in Mae Sot has been working for the last 15 years in nine refugee camps along Thailand’s western border. These camps are home to 102,777 refugees from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Iain Hall is senior field coordinator at UNHCR in Mae Sot. He’s been doing…
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Peace and Reconciliation in South Sudan begins on radio airwaves
KAPOETA, South Sudan – Loka John sits down on a blue plastic chair in the Singaita 88.3 FM newsroom. The 23-year-old sets his notebook on the table in front of him and flips it open to an empty page. He scrawls a few notes with his pen. The news meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. Monday…
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Adam Bemma 