Government urged to investigate officers who monitored homes

Sodomized children: Government urged to investigate officers who monitored homes

Published: Sep 13, 2024 4:42 PM

The government has been urged to investigate child protection officers, authorities and other personnel from the Child Development Department who allegedly oversaw the homes where children were allegedly sodomized.

The Child Rights Coalition Malaysia (CRCM) said the investigation should be conducted promptly and confidentially.

“(The investigation must) assess the gaps and limitations in services provided that led to the heinous crime committed against these children,” authorities said in a statement today.

On Wednesday, police raided 20 nursing homes in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, believed to be run by Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH), a group with close ties to the banned deviant group al-Arqam.

GISBH denies running the homes involved and also claims that the children in its care have been abused and sodomized.

The raids came after police filed a report on September 2 about alleged child abandonment, sexual abuse and intimidation of children at the homes.

Police initially reported that 402 children were rescued during the operation.

In the latest update, police inspector Razarudin Husain said 392 children had been rescued, more than half of whom were between four and 12 years old.

Of the rescued children, 172 have been screened for suspicion of sexual abuse, and 13 are believed to be victims of sodomy.

Sad state

GISBH denies the allegations of abuse and sodomy.

In their statement, CRCM praised the swift action of the police in rescuing the children.

However, they lamented that this reflected the “dire state” of shelters and care centres in Malaysia.

“Many of these settings are unaccredited and staffed by inadequately trained or untrained staff, including child protection workers without relevant social work qualifications, expertise and experience within the Social Welfare Department to effectively conduct case management, monitor and deliver timely interventions for children in alternative care, including institutional care, to ensure their safety and well-being.

“This is further limited by the unwillingness of the Ministry of Social Affairs to engage relevant civil society organisations (CSOs) to collectively and effectively prevent, mitigate and address child sexual exploitation and abuse in alternative care arrangements and marginalised communities,” the researchers said.

Child protection

The group called on Nancy Shukri, Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, to work with reputable civil society organisations specialising in child protection and alternative care to ensure that rescued children are provided with safe spaces, trauma support and long-term solutions for their wellbeing.

They urged, among others, the Department of Child Development to establish a team within the organization with relevant ministries and civil society organizations to develop standard operating procedures to promptly identify and manage unregistered shelters across the country.

Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Nancy Shukri

“(This is to enable) monitoring, case management, rescuing child victims from risk situations and providing protection and support services.

“This means that these care facilities, including detention centres, schools, learning centres and madrassas, should be required to have functional child protection policies, child protection procedures and confidential complaint mechanisms.

“All employees should be trained to prevent, mitigate and respond to child sexual exploitation and abuse, including online crimes against children,” the researchers said.

Long-term physical and emotional trauma

Razarudin said police are investigating to determine whether the children were separated from their parents voluntarily or forcibly by the company.

He also said that the children in the shelters belonged to the third and fourth generation, who had no formal education and were only homeschooled, which is a crime.

“Following the operation, police opened 24 investigation papers, including for violations of the Child Act 2001 and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007,” he said.

IGP Razarudin Husain

Bernama also reported that Razarudin said health checks conducted on the children revealed that 172 of them had long-term physical and emotional injuries.

Regarding the 171 people arrested during the operation, he said these were the caretakers and managers of the shelters, while 159 of them were in pre-trial detention for four to seven days.

He said people aged between 18 and 51 were being held in prisons in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.