KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) is currently working with Putrajaya on a pilot project to protect child detainees who are detained together with adults from potential abuse.

In its latest annual report released today, Suhakam found that Malaysian authorities were detaining children — who were mostly refugees and asylum seekers — with adults in the same cells, saying that such practice violated the “principle of separate detention”.

“We have not had any direct complaints from the children if there is (sic) any abuse, mentally or physically, resulting from detention with adults. But that remains a concern,” Suhakam deputy secretary Nurul Hasanah Ahamed told reporters at the launch of Suhakam’s 2014 report here.

The report showed that 1,196 children were kept in 12 immigration detention centres (IDCs) nationwide, with only one having separate detention blocks for children, as of September 26, 2014 .

Nurul Hasanah said Suhakam and several civil society groups have been looking at alternatives to detaining children, such as community placement.

“At the moment, there is no concrete pilot test yet,” the deputy secretary of Suhakam’s policy, law and complaints group said.

But she also said a working group formed last year — composed of Putrajaya and other groups — will discuss and finalise the details of the pilot project.

According to the Suhakam report, it is a member of the working group that includes the Department of Immigration, the Department of Social Welfare, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and civil society groups like Yayasan Chow Kit and the International Detention Coalition.

The planned pilot project will focus on unaccompanied children instead of those who are with their parents or guardians, with the scope currently on those within Peninsular Malaysia’s IDCs, the report said.

Suhakam chairman Tan Sri Hasmy Agam also told reporters that Malaysia is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and is bound to ensure that the rights of children, including access to education, are protected.

In the Suhakam report, the commission said the authorities only provide shelter, food and healthcare for detained children, while no education is given as the detention is meant to be temporary.

“The Malaysian government does not fund the costs of deportation, which are borne by the relevant embassies and their family members, which further delays the deportation process, resulting in prolonged detention of the adults detained which affects the children as well,” the report said.

Suhakam said the immigration department was “sympathetic” to the detained children’s conditions.

While stating that children or those under 18 are exempted from arrest, Suhakam noted that authorities currently have no alternative but to detain them if they are found with their parents who are in violation of immigration laws.