Group: Refugees still in immigration detention after over a year

 

A group working for the empowerment of marginalised communities has raised concerns over the plight of refugees and asylum seekers believed to be among some 4,000 migrants placed in immigration detention for more than a year.

North-South Initiative director Adrian Pereira said the group's monitoring had in the past found refugees who were convicted of a crime, served their time in prison, and later released into the custody of the Immigration Department.

"If they do not have identification papers and money to buy their tickets, then they can't go back," Pereira told Malaysiakini yesterday.

Unlike other migrants in detention with access to consular services, Pereira noted that refugees or asylum seekers were forced to flee their countries or governments, often with no options of returning home.

In a written parliamentary response to Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin had recently revealed that there are 16,989 migrants in 18 Immigration Department depots nationwide as of March 22, of which 12,383 are men, 3,188 women, 777 boys and 638 girls.

According to Hamzah, the top three groups of migrants in immigration detention as of March 22 comprised Filipinos (6,212), Indonesians (4,722) and Myanmar (3,505), while the remaining include those from Vietnam, Thailand, India, China, Cambodia, Nepal and others.

From the total figure, 10,383 undocumented migrants had been in detention for less than six months, 2,427 between six and 12 months, while the remaining 4,176 have been detained for over a year.

In questioning the justification for prolonged detention, Pereira claimed there could be individuals profiting from the operations of the Immigration depots.

"In reality, these detention centres are huge businesses. Catering, maintenance and others, so someone must be making money from it.

"There is no social purpose or actual benefit from detaining this group (convicted refugees) because their punishments have already been done (in prison). So why are you still keeping them?" said Pereira.

UNHCR will not intervene

Pereira also claimed that convicted refugees would not receive any assistance from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), unlike others arrested and detained only on immigration grounds.

"If the person is detained because of a criminal offence, the UNHCR will not intervene and just let the person languish in a detention centre.

"They (UNHCR) use this excuse that Malaysian authorities have the right to deport anyone, but if you ask the Home Ministry, they will say 'no, wait for UNHCR to provide documents before we release the person'," he said.

"There's a grey area in this whole detention situation," he added.

The immigration laws do not differentiate between refugees and other undocumented migrants, but Hamzah, in his response, confirmed the various categories of detainees.

The minister said Immigration detainees include those remanded under the Immigration Act 1959/1963; migrants released from prison; migrants handed over by other government agencies pending deportation; and minors who had completed rehabilitation at the Henry Gurney school.

Concerning the efforts to expedite deportation and relieve congestion at the depots, Hamzah said the Immigration Department is in constant negotiation with respective foreign missions.

The early stages of the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 saw a surge in the number of new detainees after immigration authorities cracked down on migrants as part of the nationwide lockdown, also snaring tourists who overstayed and recording at least one high profile death.

Deputy Home Minister Ismail Mohamed Said previously told Parliament that 208 deaths in immigration custody were recorded from 2018 up to Feb 15 this year. - Mkini