Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim should press Myanmar's junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, to end human rights abuses during his visit to Kuala Lumpur on October 7, 2026, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Malaysian government should also halt plans to forcibly return ethnic Rohingya and other people from Myanmar, where they face persecution and other rights violations. Malaysian authorities deported about 1,500 Myanmar nationals on September 29 in coordination with junta authorities, the first batch in a series of phased returns.
"Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's invitation to Min Aung Hlaing to coordinate the forced return of people who fled military atrocities in Myanmar is an invitation for further abuse," said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The Malaysian government, which has provided protection to Rohingya and other refugees from Myanmar for decades, should halt any more returns and urge the junta leader to stop the abuses that have caused millions to leave the country."
On September 16, Prime Minister Anwar announced that he was inviting Min Aung Hlaing, who led the February 2021 military coup, to discuss the return of Myanmar nationals from Malaysia. This is Min Aung Hlaing's sixth bilateral visit to an Asian country since he installed himself as president in April following sham elections and after stepping down as commander-in-chief of the Myanmar military. Min Aung Hlaing has been implicated in many abuses, and the International Criminal Court prosecutor has requested an arrest warrant for his alleged crimes against humanity.
On September 29, Malaysian authorities sent back 1,476 Myanmar nationals-1,370 men, 79 women, 20 boys, and 7 girls, ages 8 to 60-according to Malaysia's state news agency, Bernama, aboard two Myanmar navy ships and a hospital ship from Lumut naval base in Malaysia's Perak state.
The deportations come amid a wave of public hostility in Malaysia toward refugees, particularly Rohingya, that government officials have fomented. The Home Ministry has described refugees as a financial burden, a social problem, and a security threat. Online hate speech and misinformation targeting Rohingya and migrants generally have surged this year, leading to harassment and the closure of community schools.
The transfer was the first phase of an arrangement between the Malaysian government and the Myanmar junta to return 5,000 people, initially announced by Malaysian officials in July. Based on media reports, Malaysia's Home Ministry said the Myanmar junta authorities had identified those slated for return. It did not disclose their ethnicity or refugee status, or say whether Rohingya were among them. The ministry was quoted as saying that further phased returns would follow once identification, documentation, and verification were complete.
Malaysian authorities have claimed the returns were strictly voluntary. But those deported were taken directly from immigration detention centers-where former detainees have reported physical abuse and psychological harm-raising serious concerns about whether consent was freely given.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it had no role in the operation and was not involved in identifying those deported. Since 2019, the Malaysian government has denied UNHCR access to immigration detention centers, preventing the agency from reviewing asylum claims or assisting detainees who are registered refugees. Consent given while in indefinite detention, without access to UNHCR or a meaningful protection assessment, cannot be truly voluntary, Human Rights Watch said.
A representative of the ethnic Chin refugee community in Malaysia told the media that community leaders knew of several asylum seekers among those deported, including one who had been recognized by UNHCR as a refugee.
There are no authoritative figures on the number of Myanmar migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in Malaysia. More than 224,000 refugees and asylum seekers are registered with UNHCR in Malaysia, about 90 percent from Myanmar, the vast majority ethnic Rohingya.
Since Myanmar's 2021 military coup, Malaysia has summarily deported thousands of asylum seekers to Myanmar without assessing their asylum claims or other protection needs, and in violation of a Malaysian court order. In May 2024, UNHCR issued guidance stating that people fleeing Myanmar "are likely in need of international refugee protection."
Conditions for safe, dignified, and voluntary return to Myanmar do not currently exist, Human Rights Watch said. The Myanmar military continues to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity. Junta authorities have arbitrarily arrested tens of thousands of people since the coup, and thousands have experienced torture and ill-treatment or died in custody. A day before the September deportations took place, Myanmar's military carried out an airstrike near a market in the town of Kyauktaw, Rakhine State, killing 50 people.
Rohingya face particular danger if they are forcibly returned. Myanmar authorities have long denied them citizenship and subjected them to atrocity crimes, including the ongoing crimes against humanity of apartheid, persecution, and deprivation of liberty. In Rakhine State since late 2023, Rohingya civilians have been caught in the fighting between the junta and ethnic Arakan Army forces. Both parties have carried out grave abuses, including extrajudicial killings, widespread arson, and unlawful recruitment.
Malaysian Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said on September 30 that 3,524 people had been approved for a second phase of deportation from a list Myanmar authorities submitted in a diplomatic note dated August 13. Malaysia is awaiting a date from Myanmar. About 10,400 Myanmar nationals are held in Malaysian immigration detention, according to recent reports from the Malaysian Home Affairs Ministry.
Malaysia has not ratified the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 protocol, but it is still obligated to respect the international law principle of nonrefoulement, which prohibits countries from returning anyone to a place where they would face a real risk of persecution, torture or other serious ill-treatment, a threat to life, or other comparable serious human rights violations.
The Malaysian government should immediately suspend all deportations to Myanmar, including its planned second phase, and grant UNHCR full and unimpeded access to all immigration detention centers.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should maintain the ban on Min Aung Hlaing and other junta leaders participating in the regional bloc's meetings. ASEAN members should refrain from organizing bilateral visits that undermine their collective ban on junta officials.
Concerned governments should press Malaysia to halt the returns, and expand resettlement places and support for countries hosting refugees from Myanmar. They should not treat returns arranged with Myanmar's military-backed authorities as evidence that the country is safe.
"The Malaysian government should not be outsourcing the decision about who can safely return to Myanmar to the junta authorities," Pearson said. "Prime Minister Anwar should stop the next ships before they set sail, and provide the UN refugee agency access to refugees and asylum seekers."
