Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah has urged source countries to help solve issues pertaining to refugees.

The Star reported him saying this at a side event of the 73rd UN General Assembly in New York yesterday.

“The burden and responsibility to tackle refugee problems... must be equally shared between governments of the source and receiving countries.

“It cannot and should not be the responsibility of solely just one side.

“Policies and measures at the global level must meet the needs of all parties as well as be formulated and implemented with effective participation from all sides,” he said at the High-level event on the Global Compact on Refugees at the UN headquarters.

The GCR, described as a political declaration to improve how the international community responds to large movements of refugees and migrants, is set to be formally adopted by the UN General Assembly in the present sitting.

It is a non-binding compact.

Refugees in M’sia can study, seek medical care

Saifuddin also touted Malaysia’s treatment of refugees, saying they were able to seek public medical care and education in the country.

According to the report, he said refugees could access medical care at government healthcare centres and were not charged treatment fees if they were found to be carrying communicable diseases.

They could also study, albeit privately, through programmes by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), NGOs and refugee communities.

Malaysia, which has not signed UNHCR’s 1951 Refugee Convention, hosts 161,146 refugees and asylum seekers from 59 countries as of Aug 31.

On its website, the UNHCR states that although refugees in Malaysia are able to access public and private healthcare services, "this is often hindered by a variety of factors including the cost of treatment, fear of moving in public in order to access those services, and language barriers."