Amnesty International India asks Sarbananda Sonowal to release people from detention camps

Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization with its headquarters in the United Kingdom focused on human rights has issued a media statement urging Assam Government to release the detainees in detention camps in Assam.

Amnesty Internation India states in its statement, “While steps taken by the Assam Government to release over 700 prisoners to contain the novel coronavirus (COVID19) outbreak are welcome, the Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal must ensure that those declared foreigners and detained across the six detention centres of Assam are also released immediately.”

“In our 2018 briefing on the detention centres in Assam, Between Fear and Hatred: Surviving Migration Detention in Assam, Amnesty International India found that the authorities indefinitely detained Indian citizens who were declared foreigners in a discriminatory manner. It also documented appalling living conditions including overcrowding, separation from families, lack of segregation between different categories of prisoners, high levels of depression and inadequate medical facilities in the detention centres. As the COVID19 pandemic spreads across India, the Assam Government must recognise that the detainees in overcrowded detention centres face a heightened risk of infection and must do everything to protect them starting with their immediate release,” said Avinash Kumar, Executive Director at Amnesty International India.

In its press release, the organisation states that speaking to Amnesty International India in 2018, a doctor who had been working with prison inmates and detainees in Assam had said that in some detention centres with a capacity of about 250 inmates, the authorities had kept up to 400 inmates. Bina Rani Saha who was detained in the Kokrajhar detention centre for two years had given a similar account of the detention centre

Currently, there are 31 jails including 6 central jails and 22 district Jails in Assam. According to the National Crime Record Bureau, there were 8,282 prisoners across Assam at the end of 2018. The six detention centres that hold around over 800 “irregular foreigners” are also housed inside Assam prisons. “With an occupancy rate of 117% and inadequate healthcare services as documented by Amnesty International India, overcrowded Indian prisons constitute a perfect hotspot for the spread of coronavirus,” states Amnesty International India in its media statement.

In an effort to contain the spread of the pandemic in the prisons, the Supreme Court of India asked all state governments and union territories on 23 March 2020 to take steps to decongest the country’s prison system by setting up high-powered committees which would consider granting parole to those convicted or charged with offenses carrying jail terms of up to seven years.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Health Organisation and the International Organisation for Migration also called on governments to release migrant detainees without delay, “considering the lethal consequences” of the COVID19 outbreak. They also urged the government to release “migrant children and their families and those detained without a sufficient legal basis.”

In line with the Supreme Court of India, the Assam government has released over 700 prisoners. However, there is a concern that those detained in the detention centres will not be among those benefiting from the measure.

“While the Supreme Court has ordered the release of prisoners and undertrials, the Government of Assam must also release more than 800 people who are detained in detention centres through flawed processes and grant them access to necessary healthcare and other essential services, including food, water, shelter and sanitation. Since 1985, more than 130,000 people have been declared as foreigners in Assam pushing them towards the brink of statelessness. No step must be taken by the Assam government to detain them,” said Avinash Kumar.

The Indian Government’s data shows that between March 2013 and February 2018, only four persons were deported to their country of origin and one more in 2019. International human rights law provides that detention for removal and deportation purposes should end when it becomes apparent that there is little prospect that deportation will occur within a reasonable period. Hence, regardless of COVID19, the Government of Assam must release all those who have been detained for a prolonged period of time in the detention centres and end their legal limbo.

“Migration status is and must be irrelevant to every human being’s dignity and their right to live,” added Avinash Kumar.