KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — The appearance of child workers selling items in the Bukit Bintang commercial district has sparked outrage among human rights non-governmental organisations, many of whom feel the authorities must investigate immediately.

The children, some hardly 10 years old and believed to be immigrants, generally gather around a few blocks at the end of the shopping district at night until the wee hours of the morning.

They are monitored by so-called “caretakers” who claim to be keeping an eye out, ensuring the children avoid the police.

Voice of the Children chairman Sharmila Sekaran called on enforcement officers to arrest the caretakers and bring them in for questioning.

Sher suspected that there was a syndicate reining in the profits of the operation.

“Who are these children? Where are they from? Who is using them? The truth of the matter must be established,” she said when commenting on a report in Malay Mail on Saturday.

“Whether the children are working in the day or in the night doesn’t matter. The fact that they are even doing it is a violation of child protection laws.”

Responding to a caretaker’s claims that she desperately needed her children to work in the area as a source of income, Persatuan Kebajikan Suara Kanak-Kanak Malaysia executive director Anderson Selvasegaram said no amount of poverty could justify putting a child’s life in danger.

“It is a parent’s responsibility to provide for their children. There is a difference between cutting vegetables to help out in a parent’s hawker stall, and being used as objects of pity to sell products while their parents stand and watch.

“These children are being put at the risk of being maimed and sexually exploited, and other forms of abuse.

“Will the caretakers make a police report if something happens to the children?”

Yayasan Chow Kit founder Dr Hartini Zainudin urged the authorities to communicate with the children and connect them with charitable organisations that were in a position to help them.

“If the authorities deported the children, it is likely they will be smuggled back into the country. Opportunities must be provided to the children to ensure they do not have to risk their lives to benefit others again,” she said.

Human Rights Commission of Malaysia commissioner James Nagayam said deporting the children and their caretakers was not a long-term solution.

“Through our research, we know that many of these people are refugees and have been in the country for extended periods of time,” he said.

“As many of them are illegal immigrants, it is hard for them to find sustained employment in the country. Therefore, making the children work could be the only option for them.”

To address the issue, the Home Affairs Ministry should lay out provisions to allow more refugees to be included in the workforce, besides permitting their children to study in government schools.

“Instead of bringing in more and more foreign workers, the ministry should legalise the parents of these children and allowing them to work and provide for their families,” he said.