Unaccompanied child refugees flee their home country to seek refuge here only to face a new set of challenges, writes YONG HUEY JIUN

IF age were a measure of one's experience, then Tha Thi (not her real name) would have experienced more than most of us ever would in our lifetime.

For at 13, the teenager, with only 2,000 kyats (RM10), and others fled Myanmar and travelled by land and sea over 14 days before reaching Malaysia.

She and her brothers are among the 50 unaccompanied and separated children now in Malaysia, most of whom are from Myanmar.

(Unaccompanied children, also known as unaccompanied minors, are children under 18 years of age who have been separated from both parents and are not being cared for by an adult who, by law or custom, is responsible to do so.
Separated children are defined as children under 18 years of age who are separated from both parents or from their previous legal or customary primary caregiver.)

Globally, although the number of refugees dropped between 2001 and 2005, the number has risen over the past two years to 11.4 million last year, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

And in Malaysia, although unaccompanied minors make up a small fraction of the 10,000 refugee children, they have special needs and are, therefore, of special concern.

Tha Thi's story is a stark example of a new migration pattern.

It used to be that violent conflicts spurred families to flee their homes together. But now, UNHCR associate protection officer Samuel Cheung says, that's not always the case.

Instead, children are often sent ahead by their parents and relatives.

Cheung says: "In that case, you see many children who are suddenly at risk.

"A child has greater needs than an adult. On top of that, when he is unaccompanied, he is truly vulnerable under almost every category."

Suhakam commissioner Da-tuk Dr Raj Karim agrees.

"Even normal children who are separated from their parents suffer from psychological and emotional trauma. If a child is separated as a refugee in a foreign country, it's even worse."

Dr Irene Fernandez, director of Tenaganita, a non-government organisation protecting the rights of women and migrant workers, says: "They should be registered as special groups of people."

Providing shelter is the No 1 concern for refugee children. With limited space, refugee community associations such as the Kachin Refugee Centre can only accommodate them for two or three weeks.

Cheung says: "Ultimately, they need to move somewhere else as more refugee children turn up at the doorstep.

"Frankly, there's nowhere to put them that could, under our standards, shelter and fulfil their long-term developmental needs."

Meanwhile, the children are placed under temporary caregivers (usually a refugee community member) until a solution is found for them.

Education is a distant hope for most of the 6,000 refugee children. Out of this figure, fewer than 2,000 have access to education.

Cheung says: "A child deprived of education is a child robbed of childhood."

The overcrowded classrooms, some of which accommodate up to 50 to 70 pupils, make for an undesirable learning environment.

The classes, organised by UNHCR through non-governmental organisations or refu-gee communities, are taught by voluntary refugee community members and local teachers who often find themselves having to stretch the limited resources available to them.

Raj, who is also regional director of the East and South East Asia and Oceania Region for the International Planned Parenthood Federation, says ignoring the situation will only allow the problem to fester.

"Uneducated refugee children will create social problems when they grow up.

"If they cannot earn a livelihood, what are they going to do? They are going to steal, rob and prostitute themselves."

Even though refugees are allowed to use government health facilities, many of them are unable to pay the medical fees.

UNHCR external relations officer Yante Ismail says: "We partner with non-governmental organisations to set up mobile clinics near the community."

There is only so much, Cheung says, organisations can do as surrogate guardians for these children.

"What they most need are mums and dads."

The UNHCR and NGOs do their best to find caregivers, adequate shelter, education and an environment of security that can nurture the growth of a child, he adds.

The UNHCR's a children-at-risk team prioritises their needs using the "best interest" determination criteria based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Raj calls for swift identification of refugees and a distinction between them and economic migrants, arguing that it is unfair for everyone to be "lumped together into one big pool".

While economic migrants flee their home country to make a better living elsewhere, refugees are forced to leave for fear of persecution.

Tha Thi says: "The junta often came looking for our sister. They also beat up our father. Fearing for our safety, our parents told us to flee."

Her stoicism belies a quiet strength and precocity well beyond her years. She doesn't know why they were searching for her sister.

Till today, she has not been able to contact her parents and does not know if they are alive.

Like many other refugees, the siblings not only have to deal with the horrors of their past, but also the grim outlook of their future.

When refugee children arrive at the host country, they are faced with another set of problems: they are neither recognised nor accepted by the host country and, hence, they are not accorded legal protection.

Fernandez says: "I would like to see the state giving recognition and documenting (how many and their status) and having strategies of intervention in areas of education, healthcare and social development."

Even though Malaysia is not party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, it has signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child, says Raj, which means it is "obligatory upon us to address the issue of refugee children" by providing them with education, health care and housing".

"We send peacekeeping troops to ensure a country's safety.

"Why don't we ensure the safety of people who need protection in our country?"

• With additional reporting by Evangeline Majawat