Two children died in immigration detention in the past 5 years
Two newborns have died in immigration detention from the year 2015 until January 2020, the Home Ministry said.
In a written reply to Parliament on Monday, Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin said both boys died in 2018 and 2020 respectively from bacterial infections...
Two newborns have died in immigration detention from the year 2015 until January 2020, the Home Ministry said.
In a written reply to Parliament on Monday, Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin said both boys died in 2018 and 2020 respectively from bacterial infections.
He was responding to Sekijang MP Natrah Ismail who asked the minister to state how many children under the age of 18 have died in immigration detention from 2015 to January 2020.
The baby who died in 2018 was found to have suffered from septic shock secondary pneumonia with pulmonary hypertension, he said.
Sepsis among newborns can be caused by bacteria such as E. coli or herpes simplex virus, which could happen if the mother is newly-infected, according to the US government’s Medline Plus website.
A 2012 study on neonatal sepsis in Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and Thailand found it affects 0.62 of every 1,000 babies born.
Meanwhile, the cause of death of the baby who died in January 2020 was extensive necrotising enterocolitis, Hamzah said.
Necrotising enterocolitis is the death of tissue in the intestine and often happens when the baby is premature or otherwise ill.
The cause of this disorder is not known, but bacteria in the intestine exacerbates the problem, according to Medline Plus.
According to the Malaysian National Neonatal Registry 2013 report, five percent of babies weighing 1.5kg and below at birth developed necrotising enterocolitis.
More than 1,700 children in immigration detention in 2018
According to a separate written reply to Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah last year, the government said 151 people have died in immigration detention from 2016 to September 2019.
Separately, it told senator Adrian Banie Lasimbang that in 2018, a total of 1,763 immigration detainees were under the age of 18.
Children’s rights groups have urged the government to implement alternatives for detention for children with unclear immigration status.
Last July, Malaysiakini reported that the Pakatan Harapan government had said it was in the last stages of reviewing a trial project to allow registered NGOs to care for children in such situations in homes while their immigration status is reviewed.
Currently, children are placed with their mothers under detention, but boys aged 12 and above are moved to the male section of the detention centres.
Children held in immigration raids have also been reportedly handcuffed, in breach of the Child Act which bars the handcuffing of minors and states that minors should not be held in the same place as adult detainees.
This includes a 13-year-old Rohingya boy who was arrested during an immigration raid in April, his lawyer had said.
Toddlers in detention
In July last year, two toddlers under the age of two were held for 20 days in the Bukit Jalil detention depot without their mothers.
Their mothers, Philippine citizens who held valid Malaysian work visas, had left them in the care of relatives, when a raid happened at the apartment their toddlers were at.
The case was resolved and the toddlers were deported after an intervention from the government.
Facing an uproar over the matter, the Immigration Department said all children under detention are given proper care.
Last month, Refuge for the Refugees director Heidy Quah in a Facebook posting described how a migrant who was held in detention several years ago claimed she had to use a T-shirt as a diaper for her baby.
The Immigration Department refuted Quah’s claims, and the activist is currently investigated under Section 500 of the Penal Code for criminal defamation and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998.
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