JAKARTA, Indonesia — A rights group on Monday criticized Indonesia over its treatment of children who are migrants or seeking asylum, saying they are placed in abysmal conditions with no way of appealing their detention.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report that Indonesia has detained hundreds of migrant and asylum-seeking children each year without giving them a way to challenge their detention. The country lacks asylum laws and allows immigrants to be detained for up to 10 years.
"Hundreds are detained in sordid conditions, without access to lawyers, and sometimes beaten. Others are left to fend for themselves, without any assistance with food or shelter," the report said.
The group said there are almost 2,000 asylum-seeking and refugee children in Indonesia as of March, and that more than 1,000 arrived in 2012. They are fleeing persecution, violence, and poverty in Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Myanmar and elsewhere.
The report was based on interviews with more than 100 migrants, including children as young as 5, as well as Indonesian officials and staff members of non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations.
It said adults and children described abuse by guards or other detainees, including being kicked, punched, beaten with sticks, burned with cigarettes and subject to electric shocks.
Ida Bagus Adnyana, director of investigation and enforcement at the immigration office, denied the allegations.
"These are not true, that is made up. We regularly remind our officers about human rights," Adnyana said. "I am the first official to be fired if these happened."
