How Could Deportation become Illegal Deportation? (The Case of Deportation of Myanmar Nationals by Malaysia)

Susanto, Fransiska A.
Majid, Yasniar Rachmawati
Ikaningtyas
Nursasmita, M. Akbar

Padjadjaran Journal of International Law
Vol. 7 No. 2 (2023): Padjadjaran Journal of International Law, Volume 7, Number 2, June 2023

February 2022; Malaysia deported more than 1000 undocumented migrants from Myanmar back to Myanmar, even though a coup d’état had already occurred in Myanmar. This paper will explore the nexus between coup d’état and well-founded fear of persecution and assess the decision by Malaysia to deport Myanmar immigrants back to Myanmar with the nonrefoulement principle. This paper's findings showed a clear nexus between a coup d’état and well-founded fear of persecution to some extent; the nexus appears when the Coup creates uncertainty in citizen's live and people in a dangerous situation. Consequently, the deportation decision by Malaysia violated the non-refoulment principle, and the deportation became illegal. This paper utilized the normative method to analyze the research problem.