Lawyers, PLV sensitised on handling cases of foreign national prisoners

Dimapur, July 30 (EMN): The Nagaland State Legal Services Authority (NSLSA) and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) conducted a webinar for lawyers and para legal volunteers (PLV) to respond to cases of foreign national prisoners in custody – child care institutions and prisons on Thursday.

NSLSA member secretary N Longshithung Ezung in his opening remarks informed that Nagaland has one foreign national from Myanmar who is a juvenile and currently in observation home. He said such instances of sharing porous border or other issues related to foreign national prisoners in custody in the state may arise in future and therefore it is pertinent for lawyers and PLV to be acquainted with knowledge to deal with such cases. Irrespective of nationality, he said it is the duty of layers and PLV to ensure that access to justice is ensured.

The programme head of CHRI Prison Reforms Programme, Madhurima Dhanuka, said over the past two years, the CHRI could able to help over 250 foreign national prisoners in repatriation and provided consular access to over 500 across the country.

Due to barriers to accessing justice and information in an alien country in addition to the closed nature of places of detention, foreign national prisoners are exposed to greater vulnerability, she said, adding that such discussions are imperative towards identifying these persons in addition to remove barriers to access to justice and ensuring effective legal representation.

Consultant of CHRI Prison Reforms Programme Palak Chaudhari stated that first step the lawyers and PLVs can take is to intimidate to high commission or embassy at the time of arrest. Underlying difficulties faced by foreign prisoners include lack of access to justice, discrimination, language barriers, immigration status or culture and religious discrimination, he said.

According to a latest (2018) presented by the panelist, currently India has 5168 foreign national prisoners in India but there was none in Nagaland. However, she mentioned that in the report Strangers to Justice (2019), the state had a record of one from Nigeria.

She also spoke on ensuring rights of foreign national prisoners including consular access, legal representation, communication with family, sentence transfer, and repatriation.

On Foreign national children in child care institutions, Mahesh Menon, assistant professor of Daksha Fellowship, South Asian Law University, highlighted the categories of observation homes for children where they maybe strayed into India with or without their parents or booked under the Foreigners Act or those children involved in crimes, especially trafficking of persons, drugs or arms. These children are kept in observation homes- child care institutions. Children who are victims of trafficking and others are kept in ¬ children’s homes also known as children in need of care and protection, he said.

Dr. Bipasha Roy, child rights activist and ex-member Juvenile Justice Board, West Bengal said that the hand holding needs to be strengthened as far as foreign national children are concerned.

Ragini Zutshi, associate protection officer of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) dwelt on refugees and asylum seekers in detention gave detailed presentation on identification and in absentia registration. He said legal representation stated that around 195,000 refugees from Sri Lanka and Tibet are directly supported by government of India and around 39,000 are registered under UNHCR mandate.

Linking the focus to the need for legal assistance, the panelists said that law clinics cannot only provide assistance to clients during their asylum procedures but also provide legal advice and representation in courts.

Amrita Paul, senior programme officer of CHRI Prison Reforms Programme encouraged participants to ponder on overarching concerns over identification of refugee and asylum seekers in detention; counseling and continued interaction, effective legal representation, existing supporting precedents to persuade release and steps towards protection, and effectuate release from detention among others.