Government-facilitated Access to Formal Labor Markets for Refugees The role of host governments in facilitating the right of refugees to engage in fairly-remunerated and dignified work has been a politically difficult challenge, with only halting progress having been made in the countries surveyed in this report. For example, while 300 participants were targeted in Malaysia’s pilot program for UNHCR card-holders, reports from 2017 indicate that only 40 individuals ultimately took part in the scheme.118 In Pakistan, while Afghan refugees are de facto permitted to engage in entrepreneurship, the legislative grounds for this practice are unclear and reports indicate that most Afghan entrepreneurs resort to running their businesses without a valid registration or under the names of Pakistan friends and family members.119 MALAYSIA In March 2017, Malaysia piloted a program aimed at facilitating 300 UNHCR-cardholding Rohingya refugees’ engagement in formal employment in the plantation and manufacturing sectors. In 2018, the Malaysian government, then led by the Pakatan Harapan (“Alliance of Hope”), also pledged to “legitimize [refugees’] status by providing them with UNHCR cards and ensuring their legal right to work.” PAKISTAN Afghans with Proof of Registration cards (issued by the Pakistani government to registered Afghan refugees) or Afghan Citizen Cards (issued to Afghans in Pakistan without documentation as part of a program in 2017-2018) can establish businesses in Pakistan.120 Access to Health Care The positive practices profiled in this subsection cover legislative and administrative actions as well as other complementary initiatives aimed at providing stateless and refugee populations access to basic state-run emergency and preventative health care services at little or no cost.121 As evidenced in this report’s sections on education and other basic rights, constitutional protections (such as equality before the law) and other universal principles often present fruitful avenues for advancing the protection of protection seekers, and these principles may also include the right to access health care services. 35 UND OING PRECARIT Y: ELE VATING P OSITIVE PR ACTICES FOR REFU GEE PROTECTION IN SO U TH AND SO U THE AST ASIA