A/HRC/44/40/Add.1 make up the majority of graduates, they are paid 23.3 per cent lower than their male counterparts.112 72. One women’s rights organization said that there were inadequate shelter alternatives and no clear financial or housing assistance for survivors of domestic violence, so the majority of women, often with their children, end up returning to abusive situations to avoid homelessness. Users of crisis shelters are generally unable to access divorce because of the cost of litigation, while proceeding without a lawyer would require undergoing a mandatory reconciliation process alongside their abuser. 73. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people are overrepresented among people in poverty as a result of persistent stigmatization and discrimination. Research in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur shows that transgender people face considerable challenges in accessing basic services such as health care and education, and experience employment discrimination that could have long-term socioeconomic implications.113 Refugees 74. Malaysia ensures that refugees and asylum seekers exist in extremely precarious conditions that all but guarantee they will fall into poverty. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) registers refugees, but that does not give them legal status in the country and they are typically unable to work, travel or enrol in government schools.114 They must generally resort to the informal sector for both work and education.115 According to UNHCR, only 40 per cent of school-age refugees and asylum seekers are enrolled in informal learning centres, from which, in any event, they do not receive certificates. There is little opportunity for refugee children to access secondary education and only a handful of refugees gain entry to universities. The lack of status or work authorization places refugees at risk of arrest and according to UNHCR, 3,539 persons of concern were detained in 2018 and 103 children were detained between January and June 2019. 75. Barring refugees from work or public education creates immense hardship for families that should be under the country’s protection and robs the country of their economic contribution. The Special Rapporteur is encouraged that the Government is considering permitting refugees to work in certain sectors. One think tank found that granting refugees the right to work would have a positive impact on the economy and public finances by increasing their contribution to GDP to more than RM 3 billion (US$ 737 million) over five years, creating 4,000 new jobs for Malaysians and bringing in RM 50 million (US$ 12 million) in taxes each year by 2024. Granting education to refugees on a par with Malaysians could increase their contribution to GDP to RM 6.5 billion (US$ 1.59 billion) by 2040, with annual tax revenues of RM 250 million (US$ 61 million).116 Stateless people 76. The Government claims not to collect data on statelessness and there are no reliable statistics on the total number of stateless persons in Malaysia. Stateless people are generally unable to access health care, education or formal work.117 The exclusion of undocumented and stateless families from a wide range of social services elevates their risk of living in poverty, while their absence from official data sets makes the extent of their vulnerability almost impossible to assess.118 77. Malaysia makes obtaining citizenship exceptionally difficult for those in any sort of unusual situation, including even children born to Malaysian parents. A child must have a 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 16 Khazanah Research Institute, The State of Households 2018, pp. 108–110. National Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, Annual Report 2018, p. 137. Human Rights Watch, World Report 2019, p. 368. UNHCR, “Education in Malaysia”; email from UNHCR to the Special Rapporteur. Laurence Todd, Adli Amirullah, and Wan Ya Shin, “The economic impact of granting refugees in Malaysia the right to work,” Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (April 2019), p. 3. UNHCR, “Ending statelessness in Malaysia”. Submission by UNICEF Malaysia, p. 1.