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Concern for minors still locked up in Australia
Jakarta Globe - August 22, 2011
Rafendi Djamin, executive director of Jakarta-based Human Rights Working Group, said the legal proceedings against some 70 minors were progressing slowly because they had no identification documents, meaning Australian authorities were having problems determining their ages.
"They should have been deported because they are all under 18 years old," Rafendi said.
The children have been arrested along with some 500 adult Indonesians who are suspected of smuggling people to Australia. Rafendi said the youths were in fact the victims of human trafficking syndicates that had escaped justice. "They were only boat hands tasked with cooking and cleaning," he said.
Australian authorities early in July freed three minors that were being detained in maximum security prisons, sending them home to Rote island in East Nusa Tenggara.
Magdalena Sitorus, head of the Friends of Indonesian Women and Children (SAPA Indonesia), said the lack of documents confirming the detained children's ages was hampering their release.
"They do not have birth certificates," she said. "If there is goodwill from the government, a loophole can certainly be found. It could also be in the form of baptism certificates for those who are Catholic."
There was also a lack of information available about the children's cases, both from the central government and the Indonesian Embassy in Australia, Magdalena said.
"The central government has already received requests for information, but the cases cannot be discussed in detail. The embassy can only say that there have been meetings with the Australian government," she said.
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