UN Urges Malaysia to Halt Deportation of 5,000 to Myanmar Following Arakan Market “Massacre”

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has called on Malaysian authorities to immediately halt plans to deport about 5,000 Myanmar nationals, as more than 108 civilians, including children and women, were killed or injured in airstrikes by the Myanmar military on the town of Kyauktaw in northwestern Arakan State.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement issued yesterday, Tuesday, that Monday’s airstrike hit a market housing more than 200 shops, killing 50 people and injuring at least 58 others. He said the attack was one of the deadliest airstrikes in the region since the February 2021 military coup.
Türk stressed that the attack raised serious concerns regarding violations of international humanitarian law and called on states to uphold the principle of non-refoulement and refrain from returning those stranded to an environment lacking minimum levels of safety and where the risks of persecution, torture and forced recruitment are increasing.
Türk also called on the international community and host communities, such as Bangladesh and Malaysia, to provide alternative solutions that would ensure the protection of hundreds of thousands of people who have fled and safeguard their fundamental rights to asylum and safety.
The airstrikes come amid an intensifying military campaign by the Myanmar military in Arakan State, where aerial bombardment has targeted civilian objects, hospitals and crowded markets, leaving dozens dead and injured, destroying medical facilities and triggering widespread forced displacement.
Malaysia hosts about 200,000 Myanmar nationals, with the Rohingya forming the largest group among them, comprising 128,000 refugees living across several communities and shelters in the country.