Advocate Noor Azizah Says 2,000 Rohingya Children Held In Malaysian Detention Centres, Here Are The Facts
Data in 2025 saw some 2,000 children at Baitul Mahabbah centres.
- Over 2,000 Rohingya children are held in Malaysian immigration detention centres, with figures close to 2,200 as of December 2025.
- Malaysia lacks formal refugee recognition, limiting detained children's access to education, legal status, and timely release into community programmes.
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Noor Azizah, an award-winning Rohingya human rights advocate, educator, and survivor of the Rohingya genocide, recently rattled some Malaysians online when she claimed Rohingya children grew up ‘’behind bars’’ in Malaysia.
Who is Noor Azizah?
In one of her Instagram posts, Noor Azizah shared her experience of being a Rohingya refugee. Her family ended up in Sabah where they had to hide in jungles and depend on the kindness of Malaysians to survive and evade authorities. The family later managed to seek asylum in Sydney, Australia, where she went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Education and a Master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Sydney.
She also co-founded the Rohingya Maiyafuinor Collaborative Network, a human rights organisation led by Rohingya women. In short, Noor Azizah has lived through the horrors and emerged to tell her story and her community’s.
What she actually said in the video
It was an old video of her giving her Occasional Address to University of Sydney Social Sciences graduates on 13 October 2025 and she reshared it on her official Instagram account. In the clip, the line about Malaysia goes as follows, “In Malaysia today, over 2,000 Rohingya children are locked in immigration centres, growing up behind bars instead of classrooms.”
She reshared the video on 13 June, also known as the Black4Rohingya day. #Black4Rohingya is a Protect the Rohingya initiative to commemorate Rohingyans who were massacred in Arakan State in June 2012.
Threads user @danialamsyarr claimed that what she said was false.
He shared that he cannot stay silent when misinformation and hate are being spread about Malaysia. He urged everyone to do some research.
View on Threads
But the truth hits harder
In 2023, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution launched the first Baitul Mahabbah detention center for children. The centres were a way to remove children from immigration depots so they can receive a more humane care and in a more conducive environment.
According to Berita Harian in 2023, Saifuddin said the placement of children in these centres is temporary until the documentation process by the respective country’s embassy is completed. These children are supposed to be transferred to their country of origin.
Since then, Amnesty International said hundreds of children have been placed in six Baitul Mahabbah centres nationwide.
As of 6 July 2025, 1,861 children are held in immigration detention, most are held indefinitely. In a BFM podcast on 5 December 2025, it’s said the immigration depot were holding close to 2,200 children.
Are they any steps taken to help these children?
Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol and does not legally recognise refugees under domestic law. Consequently, refugees and asylum seekers lack formal legal status in the country, limiting their access to lawful employment, formal education and certain public services.
On 4 September 2025, Amnesty International said the Home Ministry, the Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development (KPWKM), and NGOs were developing SOPs to release these children into a community-based Alternatives to Detention (ATD) programme.
However, the End Detention Network, a coalition of civil society organisations and individuals, said there’s a lack of leadership and political will by the relevant authorities to develop the ATD programme.
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