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The Amnesty International India on Monday, 6 April, urged the Assam government to immediately release all those declared as irregular foreigners and detained in the overcrowded detention centres of the state.
Amnesty International India (AII) Executive Director Avinash Kumar, in a statement, said, regardless of COVID-19, “The Assam government must release all those who have been detained for a prolonged period of time in the detention centres and end their legal limbo".
“While Assam's move to release over 700 prisoners to contain COVID-19 outbreak is welcome, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal must ensure that those declared foreigners and detained across the six detention centres in the state are also released immediately,” the statement said.
As the pandemic spreads, the state government must recognise that around 800 "irregular foreigners" in the detention centres face a heightened risk of infection and must do everything to protect them, starting with their immediate release, it said.
Global organisations like the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, World Health Organisation and the International Organisation for Migration have called on governments to release migrant detainees without delay, considering the lethal consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“These bodies have also urged the governments to release migrant children and their families, and those detained without sufficient legal basis,” Kumar said.
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