COMMENT The drive to Ipoh from Kuala Lumpur had begun at 6am that grey January morning. The 15-year-old car rattled the whole 210km, drowning out the Eagles who were attempting to suggest she be 'Takin' it Easy'.

She had never heard of Asrama Akhlak Silibin before, let alone  become acquainted with directions to the place. Fortunately, Ipoh was a small enough town and one could stop a passer-by and ask for directions.

As she approached her destination - the public hostel for delinquent boys, the prospect of meeting T, a 13-year-old Sri Lankan refugee who had been arrested two months previously, brought on a sense of regret that children must bear these experiences.

The boy’s mother had contacted her to say that T had been arrested for fraudulently attempting to obtain a Malaysian passport.

A Malaysian “agent” had promised the boy’s mother that for a sum of money they could ill afford, the boy would be brought to Malaysia, a Malaysian passport obtained for him and he would then be accompanied to Germany. (Sri Lankan passport holders can’t buy a plane ticket and head for Germany from Sri Lanka. Entry is prohibited.)

Now, instead, the mother was guilt-stricken over the ordeal she had led her son into. Her grief was heightened by the fact that T was being held with other boys who had been charged with criminal offences. She said they were mean to him and used obscenities against him.

The approach to the hostel was nondescript. Chainlink fence, gravel road and a sentry’s post just inside the gate. The sentry was an aged Indian man. He asked, “Who are you here to see?”

“T,” she said, “Do you know him?” He did.

He said the boy was well-behaved and kept to himself. The other boys were tough with him and certainly didn’t speak his language. T spoke some English but the boys didn’t. The sentry was the only Tamil speaker in the hostel.

He told her to go on to the office where an officer showed her to a waiting room. Walking through the corridor to the waiting room, in the compound of the hostel, she saw a slightly built boy sitting alone.

She had guessed right. The officer went up to him, tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to her. He walked over with the officer in a manner that suggested he was used to doing what he was told.

His large eyes were intelligent, full of strength yet filled with resignation. And an unspoken shame.

She smiled at him and said, “I’m a lawyer. I’m trying to do what I can to get you out of here. How has it been for you so far? Are they good to you? Do you get enough to eat?”

“It's all right. Did the human rights commisioner send you?”

She had over-estimated her Tamil. She didn’t understand the word for 'human rights' in Tamil and he repeated himself in English.

On the lookout for a means of escape

After telling him that he would be brought to court in two weeks, she interviewed him for his background.

He was born in Chavachchari but moved to Vavuniya in Sri Lanka, which had been an area badly bombed during the war. He had seen dead bodies numerous times.

His mother, fearing for his safety, had been on the lookout for a means of escape for him. When an agent approached them, offering the very escape they were looking for, they took it.

T came to Malaysia with his grandmother but she was asked by the agent to leave after he had settled in. He lived with the agent for a few days and realised something was amiss when he was introduced to a stranger by the agent.

The stranger took him to the Immigration Department in Alor Setar to try to obtain a passport for him. He was arrested suddenly - handcuffed; the stranger disappeared and he was kept in a lock-up for several days.

T was charged with attempting to falsely obtain a passport under Section 12(1)(c) of the Passports Act and was remanded in the hostel.

He was able to send word home that he had been arrested and his mother arrived in Malaysia, but was not able to get any help until she spoke to the commissioner for human rights.

Two weeks later when he was brought to court - in Belantik which is in the middle of nowhere some 300km from Kuala Lumpur - in spite of the two-month detention the welfare officer had not prepared the report of his conduct and the matter was postponed for another week.

The following week, he admitted to the offence, the sessions judge recorded the admission and he was given a custodial sentence of three months' imprisonment from the date of arrest. Then, he was to be deported immediately. It was useless to claim trial as he would only have to remain in remand for several more months.

He was not allowed to travel with his mother even though she was present in court with him. She found her way to the departure hall at Kuala Lumpur International airport, never knowing if he would be in time for his flight.

Minutes before the boarding gate was to close, the Immigration officers turned up with T.

T’s mother called just before they boarded the flight. Like most other mothers glad to resume their roles, as she handed the phone to her son, she said to him, “Say 'thank you' to the auntie."

 

RENUKA T BALASUBRAMANIAM is a lawyer graced with the opportunity to work with children in detention.

Campaign to end the immigration detention of children

                   

The campaign to end the immigration detention of children will be launched on March 21 this year at the 19th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

At the event, the International Detention Coalition (IDC) will invite various specialists to speak on the issue and present a policy paper that outlines a new model for preventing the immigration detention of children.

The IDC has found that the detention of children is widespread, even if it is difficult to quantify. In a recent survey of 21 countries on detention issues, the IDC found that there is an increase globally in the use of migration-related detention, with many countries continuing to detain migrant, asylum seeker and refugee children.

Reports included children being detained in closed refugee camps, alongside convicted criminals in jails or in immigration detention centres.

Many children are unaccompanied or are separated from their caregivers where they may be vulnerable to sexual abuse and lack of adequate medical care and education.

The goal of immigration control can be better achieved and with fewer harms by seeking not to detain children. Conceptually, this would require that states commit to the following three principles:

  • Undocumented child migrants are, first and foremost, children.
  • The best interests of the child will be a primary consideration in any action taken in relation to the child.
  • That the liberty of the child is a fundamental human right.