Nurul Izzah urges for update on migrant kids in detention centres

 

Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar has urged the government to provide an update on the alternatives to detention programme, which is meant to remove children from immigration detention centres.

“It is an outrage when we all know the priority during a pandemic is to support and save the most vulnerable segments (of society) so I think we should really request and demand an answer from the minister in charge.

“It is their duty and talking about governance, I can see a lot of announcements being made but (where is) the follow-up?” she asked.

The programme was first announced in November 2021 and about a month later, it was reported that there would be a meeting between the Home Ministry and the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development on Dec 23, 2021 to finalise the framework for the programme.

However, there have been no updates on the programme since then.

Nurul Izzah was speaking to reporters after attending the launch of Suaram’s report on prison reforms held at the Concorde Hotel in Kuala Lumpur today.

She said she intends to follow up on this issue during Parliament’s next sitting which is expected to take place in July.

International Detention Coalition representative Hannah Jambunathan who also attended the event claimed the programme was actually launched in February this year.

“However, it is now May and no children have been released from detention,” she said.

Responding to this later, Nurul Izzah said there was no reason for such a delay in the programme.

“It breaks my heart… From the Pakatan Harapan government, we have had two prime ministers since and we just want the vulnerable segments to be addressed.

“Mind you, these are children. I think when you see kids, you do not really want to taint your view as to where they come from. It is the collective responsibility of everyone concerned,” she said.

It was previously revealed in a parliamentary written reply that there were 756 children being held at immigration detention centres nationwide as of Oct 26, 2020, with 405 of them being detained without their guardians.

As of Oct 11, 2021, the number of children being detained in immigration centres had risen to 1,475.

In Suaram’s report launched today – titled ‘Reforming Prisons and All Places of Detention Moving into the Endemic Phase in Malaysia’ – they noted that while Malaysia is not a party to the United Nations Refugee Convention 1951, it has ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Subsequently, the Child Act was enacted in Malaysia. Suaram said the Act’s preamble provides that every child is entitled to protection and assistance in all circumstances without regard to distinctions of any kind.

“It should be noted that refugee children, asylum-seeking children, and undocumented children are not expressly mentioned or covered in the Child Act.

“However, from the preamble itself, it can be deduced that they can fall within the scope and protection of the Child Act,” they said. - Mkini