Release Trafficked Rohingya Child Brides Suhakam Urges Ministry

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In a visit to an immigration detention centre in Langkawi last August, Suhakam child commissioner Noor Aziah Mohd Awal said she met Rohingya girls who had been trafficked to Malaysia as child brides.
Nine months on, she believes the girls are still detained at the facility.
In an online press conference today, Aziah said her appeal to the Home Ministry for their release has thus far returned void.
“I have written to the minister (Hamzah Zainudin) and the ministry and requested (that) something has to be done. I actually suggested that the Council for Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (Mapo) look into this.
“Because this is about trafficking. Because these (girls) should be rescued and put in a place of safety.
“That has been done but we have no response from the ministry,” she said.
Neither she nor Suhakam officers have paid a second visit to the depot but Aziah (above) suspected the children were still locked up.
“I’m not sure but I think they are still there in Langkawi,” she said.
Elaborating, she said she had interviewed Rohingya girls aged between 13 and 16 when at the “overcrowded” depot, located at the Kem Bina Negara Wawasan in Ulu Melaka, Langkawi.
They were arrested in June 2020 when marine police intercepted a refugee boat that had encroached on Malaysian waters.
Of the 269 onboard, there were reportedly 138 adult women, 80 adult men, 26 boys, 23 girls and one deceased woman.
“Many of the young girls who came unaccompanied, they were here for marriage. That, to me, is trafficking and also child marriage,” she said.
Malaysiakini had contacted the Home Ministry for more information.

Suhakam commissioner Jerald Joseph
According to official figures, there were 1,340 Rohingya refugees at immigration detention depots as of July 2020.
Suhakam’s own data estimated that there were five Palestinian refugees at such centres as of April 2020, said commissioner Jerald Joseph.
“You can’t send them back. They should be allowed out into society not as free persons but with the recognition that they (have) a UNHCR card and are temporary residents here.
“We are not sure why we are keeping them here, some (have been detained) for years, when there is no possibility of deporting them,” he said.
Jerald once again implored the Immigration Department to allow UNHCR officials into detention centres. This would enable identification of refugees and asylum-seekers from other undocumented migrants.
The department has denied the UN refugee agency entry since August 2019.
Blocking access
According to him, the department’s apparent reason for blocking access was it was working on its own refugee identification system.
“From what we were made to understand, there is a policy - a Malaysian policy for the verification of asylum-seekers - that will be in sync with UNHCR procedures. Which is a good thing [...]
“But I think it's taken too long and I don't think you need to suspend UNHCR’s functions just (because) you are getting that policy in place. You can do both in tandem,” Jerald remarked.
Malaysiakini has contacted the Home Ministry for comment.
Meanwhile, Jerald called for an inquest into every death-in-custody case.
He also called for detainees to be given access to a medical professional before they were locked up to ascertain their pre-existing medical conditions and history.
In the first half of 2020, he disclosed that Suhakam had recorded 23 death-in-custody cases at immigration facilities.
Over that same time period, 188 such deaths were recorded in prisons.  - Mkini

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