PUTRAJAYA: The Home Ministry is mulling opening more temporary shelters for foreign children held at Immigration Department depots.
Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said his ministry would submit a proposal to open more Baitul Mahabbah centres before the tabling of the 2025 Budget.
"The Home Ministry will propose the opening of more Baitul Mahabbah centres to remove 1,300 children held at 19 detention depots nationwide," he said at a press conference at the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Council appreciation ceremony here.
He said children placed at Baitul Mahabbah centres would receive informal education and healthcare.
"They can do activities and play in a better environment.
"Currently, there are Baitul Mahabbah centres in Nilai in Negeri Sembilan, Papar in Sabah and Bekenu in Sarawak."
He said three more centres would open this year in Kedah, Kelantan, and Johor, involving an allocation of RM10 million.
He said the three centres had housed 170 children aged 10 and below.
"They will stay there for two to five months until the embassies complete their travel documents.
"Of the 170 children, some have been repatriated."
Previously, it was reported that the government was upgrading three premises to establish Baitul Mahabbah centres for children aged 10 and under held at Immigration depots.
In March, a global human rights watchdog urged the government to stop detaining migrant children at detention centres. (https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2024/03/1021919/human-rights-watchdog...)
In Human Rights Watch's report titled 'We Can't See the Sun: Malaysia's Arbitrary Detention of Migrants and Refugees', the watchdog said the government's practice of arbitrarily detaining children at Immigration detention centres violated international laws.
It said such detentions, whether they only involved the child or a child detained along with his or her family member, violated children's rights.
The report said such centres were not in the child's best interests as they could have a significant long-term impact on the child's mental health and development.