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Rights group calls on Malaysia to stop caning migrants
Agence France Presse - June 3, 2009
Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Friday urged Malaysia to abolish caning, saying that tens of thousands of migrant workers living there had received the "inhuman and degrading" punishment in recent years.
Amnesty cited a statement in the Malaysian Parliament last week that local authorities had caned at least 34,923 migrants between 2002 and 2008. Sixty percent were from Indonesia.
"Amnesty International urges the Malaysian government to rid the country of this cruel punishment," the London-based group said.
"Whipping someone with a cane is cruel, inhuman and degrading, and international standards make clear that such treatment constitutes torture."
Apart from Indonesians, those caned were from Bangladesh, India, Burma, Nepal, the Philippines and Thailand. Malaysia, Southeast Asia's third largest economy, has 2.2 million migrant workers who are the mainstay of the plantation and manufacturing sectors.
The caning sentence was added to Malaysian immigration laws in 2002, amid concern over the ramifications of having a large migrant workforce.
Under the laws, those staying in Malaysia illegally are subject to a mandatory whipping of up to six strokes of the cane, fines and up to five years in jail.
Caning is also carried out for serious offenses including rape and drug trafficking.
"Those caned often carry scars, psychological as well as physical, for years," the rights group said.
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