“Those arrested face protracted detention in overcrowded immigration detention centers. Migrants who are found to have violated the immigration laws are subject to substantial fines, imprisonment and in some cases caning," reads an AI Nepal press statement issued on Tuesday.
According to the statement, untrained volunteers with the People´s Volunteer Corps known as RELA often participate in immigration raids. These volunteers are often unfamiliar with the documents they are examining, but they enjoy broad powers to enter private homes without warrants, question suspects and make arrests. Some officials from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are among those caught up in the immigration sweeps this month, the statement states.
“Police and RELA agents both subject migrants to acts of harassment, extortion and violence, but RELA agents are responsible for the most rampant abuses against migrants,” the statement states. “Judges can and often impose caning on migrants convicted of illegal entry. Nearly 35,000 migrants were caned between 2002 and 2008," it adds.
“It is time for both the Malaysian and Nepalese authorities to broker a more equitable deal for migrants working in the country, and to ensure that migrant rights are fully respected,” the statement quoted AI Nepal director Rameshwar Nepal.
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