Human rights advocates have called for the governments of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia to end the indefinite detention of Rohingya refugees in immigration facilities and government-operated shelters and camps.
Nearly a year after the regional refugee crisis involving Rohingya migrants made headlines across the globe, no durable solution has been found to end their plight, representatives from the non-profit organisation Fortify Rights and the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) said yesterday. They released a joint report, drawing attention to the refugees' continued lack of protection.
Those who landed safely on shore were shuffled away to immigration detention centres (IDCs) and are still being held there, said Amy Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights.
According to the report based on meetings with government officials, United Nations representatives, human rights advocates and visits to several detention facilities, detainees were often held in overcrowded cells, had little access to healthcare and no freedom of movement.
In Songkhla IDC, authorities have reportedly detained at least 40 Rohingya refugees, including a dozen boys aged under 18, in squalid conditions for more than 10 months. Detainees told NGO workers they lived in confinement and lacked opportunities to exercise or be in the open air.
Matthew Smith, a director of Fortify Rights, said such treatment of refugees was inhumane, undignified and the detention of refugee children was particularly shameful, and should end immediately. International law forbids arbitrary, unlawful or indefinite detention, including of non-nationals.
Around 200 refugees are believed to be held in IDCs in Thailand and another 200 in government-operated shelters. According to a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative in Thailand, the UN body registered 385 Rohingya in the country.
The detention facilities were not designed to hold people over a long period of time, Mr Smith added. These are not prisons meant for long-term detention but for individuals expected to be deported rapidly.
The temporary holding centres are not properly equipped for their current purpose, while Rohingya refugees' access to asylum procedures is complicated and lengthy, she said. The resettlement process is also very slow in the context of a global refugee crisis, therefore their detention can be indefinite.
Changes in UNHCR registration practices and lack of resources are also of concern, Mr Smith said. Often, the refugees have no documentation other than those provided by the UN agency.
Rohingya refugees should be issued temporary protection, guaranteed freedom of movement, access to employment, livelihood and education and representatives of Fortify Rights said.
Asean lacks a refugee framework and humanitarian rescue mechanisms, said Lilianne Fan, international director of the Geutanyoe Foundation, saying similar schemes had been designed to tackle regional problems such as natural disasters in the past.