A blog by Dr Theresa Devasahayam, SI UN Representative for Bangkok
Food is intrinsic for survival and is a fundamental human right. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 posits that by 2030, it is aimed that hunger and malnutrition will be eradicated. But with the COVID-19 pandemic, this goal may never materialise. While the world is focused on the arrival of a vaccine; governments anxiously wanting to open up their economies; and the ordinary person wishing for their lives to return to what it was before the emergence of the pandemic; a more pressing concern is the growing numbers of individuals, families and communities that will go hungry. In fact, the pandemic has pushed more people into hunger and has reinforced their vulnerability to malnutrition; as well as exposed the shortfalls of food security strategies at the national level in many countries across the world. That supply chains have also affected food distribution, has undoubtedly complicated the issue. Worldwide, the number of people facing severe food insecurity could double to 265 million owing to Covid-19.[1]
Among the most vulnerable are the socially excluded such as women, older persons, differently abled communities, ethnic and religious minorities as well as migrants and refugees because they do not have access to resources as well as social networks.
Given this scenario, the question of self-reliance rears its head again. The world should not forget that behind COVID-19 are millions of people who have been displaced from their homeland because of political conflict and crisis. Southeast Asia has seen an influx of refugees in the past decade; the most well-known being the Rohingya – persecuted because of their religious minority status in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. But there are other groups of refugees as well who have fled Myanmar because of religious persecution, notably the Chin group. While UNHCR has been concerned about the outbreak of COVID-19 in refugee camps where social distancing is near impossible; there have been vast numbers of refugees who have sought refuge in Malaysia over the recent decade. By August 2018, it has been reported that there were 29,630 Chin living in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur.[2]
Although the government of Malaysia allows these refugees to temporarily reside in the country, the rights of the Chin people are not protected by the state; for example, Chin children do not have the right to attend government schools. In fact, the Chin people are regarded as illegal immigrants on Malaysian soil because Malaysia has not ratified the 1951 United Nations convention on the status of refugees and its 1967 protocol. Moreover, by law they are not allowed to engage in formal employment and usually end up working illegally in precarious jobs, bringing danger to their lives as well as their families. In 2018, UNHCR Representative for Malaysia Richard Towle made a case for giving the Chin refugees the right to work in the country, emphasizing that it would “make a huge difference” in their lives.[3]
Although the UNHCR withdrew their recognition of the Chin people as refugees who needed protection in June 2018, their status as refugees was reinstated in March 2019 after they found that “new reports and assessments” showed ongoing security concerns in the Chin state. Subsequently, Volker Türk, Assistant High Commissioner (Protection) for UNHCR, was quoted to have said: “We recognise that Chin refugees may still require international protection due to the worsening security situation in southern Chin State in Myanmar, which has resulted in new displacement.”[4] Besides it would be very difficult for the Chin children born in Malaysia to return to Myanmar to secure citizenship because of the lack of documentation.
In spite of their illegal status, the adult Chin refugees have engaged in waged work to support themselves. They have been found working mostly in the construction, retail and restaurant sectors to cover their day-to-day expenses. But Covid-19, as in political conflict, has made it difficult if not impossible for the Chin refugees to continue to engage in work to eke out a living because of the closure of businesses and various sectors resulting from the lockdown, raising concerns about a food security crisis among them. In fact there is a corollary given that often the loss of income leads to a lack of food. In fact, they, unlike Malaysians, have not received food or financial aid from the government and therefore food insecurity is a reality among them.
Because of the absence of aid from the government, local and international NGOs have stepped in to fill this role.[5] The Soroptimist International Damansara (SID) club embarked on a fundraiser in May 2020 to ensure the food security of this community through the Myanmar Refugee Community Learning Centre (MRCLC), a refugee school in Kuchai Lama in Kuala Lumpur. The reason for why civil society needed to swing into action is obvious: often governments are focused on taking care of their own people first before thinking of the non-citizens in their midst. This also suggests that the refugee status of the Chin people prevents them from being included in national social protection schemes, placing them at serious risk of rising poverty levels, the inability to access income and, in turn, intensifying food insecurity. Because of the committed work of SID, since the lockdown, Chin refugee families have been receiving basic food items such as rice, eggs, instant noodles, cooking oil and vegetables paid for from the generous donations of well-wishers.
While food insecurity can trigger displacement in some instances, conversely displacement can also trigger food insecurity in other situations. Because of the challenges presented by COVID-19, no where are countries in the world near to being on track to achieve SDG 2 and other targets of the 2030 Agenda related to food security and nutrition. On the other hand, the pandemic has only returned us to square one in terms of our efforts in dealing with hunger and malnutrition in this world. While it may take a range of strategies to ensure food security in the different countries in this current time of a public health crisis; in Malaysia, political will to preserve the provision of food as a humanitarian right regardless of who the recipient might be has to be recognised – only then can the state claim that it is playing an active role in the worldwide endeavour to embrace the “no one left behind” mandate of the 2030 Agenda. The role of the private sector should also be queried. In fact a public-private partnership might be crucial at this point of time so as to take the pressure off the state which might be focused on other immediate issues of managing the pandemic. While the private sector has been involved in the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and food to frontliners, they have forgotten the refugee community. Thus at the moment, the burden to feed this vulnerable group seems to fall on the shoulders of civil society which is limited in its capacity and whose efforts may be unsustainable should the pandemic persist for several months or even stretch for over a year. In that case, the public and private sectors cannot but step up in their role to reach out to the refugee community in the midst of society so that the latter is not forsaken.
+ Some of the ideas in this blog come from the webinar “The Future of Food Systems in Southeast Asia Post-Covid 19” co-hosted by IRRI and FAO on 5 May 2020.
[1] “Covid-19 and Food Security”, Center for Strategic and International Studies, 24 April 2020.
<https://www.csis.org/programs/global-food-security-program/covid-19-and-food-security>
[2] Hirschi, Eva (2019) “Facing an Uncertain Future: Chin Refugees in Malaysia”, 14 January.
<https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/facing-an-uncertain-future-chin-refugees-in-malaysia>
[3] R.Age (2020) “Refugees No More”.
[4] R.Age (2020) “Refugees No More”.
[5] Sheikh, Saqib (2019) “Will Refugees Be Allowed to Work in New Malaysia?”, The Diplomat, 4 June.
<https://thediplomat.com/2019/06/will-refugees-be-allowed-to-work-in-new-malaysia/>