Human Rights Watch report alleges damning state at detention centres
Published on: Wednesday, March 06, 2024
By:
FMT, Predeep Nambiar
Human Rights Watch has released a new report based on interviews conducted with 43 former detainees last year recounting their experiences in detention. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report has detailed the allegedly damning state of immigration detention centres that house refugees and asylum seekers in the country, listing claims of human rights violations and abuse.
The report, based on interviews conducted with 43 individuals detained in immigration depots, paints a grim picture of the experiences of former detainees.
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“(The interviewees) report officers forcing them to hold stress positions, hang off the wall ‘like geckos’, or do hundreds of squats and push-ups,” said the report.
According to the report, a former detainee at a depot in a northern state said: “We would get beaten when we asked for more food, took an extra mug of water to shower, or asked for a blanket for the cold.”
Detainees were also allegedly subjected to strict and arbitrary rules, with punishments, including beatings, for making noise or requesting basic necessities.
The international NGO also claimed that the detainees suffered deplorable living conditions, were deprived of medical care, and subjected to instances of torture and prolonged physical abuse, which allegedly resulted in “many” deaths.
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Former detainees were also quoted as claiming that some guards at the immigration depots were engaged in corruption.
Women and children were also subjected to abuse and neglect, the report alleged.
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“Women detainees report facing degrading treatment and gender-based abuses, such as having to do squats while being strip-searched, and having their hair forcibly cut.”
It said more than 1,400 children were detained at depots, with two-thirds of them unaccompanied or separated from their families. Many children were detained with unrelated adults, the report claimed.
Women have also given birth at the depots but remain detained with their newborns, without post-partum care and necessities such as diapers and formula, the report said.
It also recorded allegations by one migrant worker of torture at the hands of officers after he and 13 others tried to escape, with officers allegedly beating them with bricks and batons, and standing on their chests.
Two of the detainees ultimately died, the report claimed.
“Ali (an ex-detainee) witnessed officers beating a nine-year-old boy who had asked for more bread. When he asked the officers to stop hitting the child, Ali was held in a water tank overnight and beaten if he tried to stand up.
“Humanitarian staff and former detainees said conditions in immigration detention facilities are worse than in Malaysia’s prisons. At least in prison, one migrant worker said, they gave him soap and a change of clothes, and he was allowed to leave his block,” HRW said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been denied access to detention centres since 2019, preventing a review of asylum claims and leaving refugees without protection. Detainees who requested to meet with the agency alleged that they faced intimidation from officers.
Last month, home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said he had no qualms about allowing the UNHCR to visit immigration depots, adding that they had reached an agreement on the matter during previous discussions.
In light of its findings, HRW issued a list of recommendations to the government for urgent action, including improving the conditions in detention centres, releasing refugees and asylum seekers, and establishing community-based alternatives to detention.
It called for children to be released and allowed to attend school while awaiting resettlement.
It also asked that the practice of government hospitals reporting undocumented migrants seeking medical treatment to the authorities be stopped.
The rights group likewise called for the UNHCR to be allowed to check on detention centres, and urged the UN agency to quickly process refugees and resettle them in other countries.
The group held its interviews from January to March 2023. It said attempts to get the home ministry’s comment were unsuccessful.
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