Thailand accused of mistreating Burmese asylum seekers
Updated
Thailand is maintaining a hardline against illegal immigrants amid repeated accusations that the Thai military has mistreated ethnic Rohingyas from Burma and might be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of boat people in recent months.
The Thai Foreign Ministry says the boat people are not refugees and don't face persecution at home. Human rights groups however, beg to differ.
Presenter: Karen Percy
Speakers: Chris Lewa is with the Arakan project
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KAREN PERCY: The Thai newspapers today show pictures of nurses tending to the wounds of a group of about 80 Rohingya boys and men who are suffering from dehydration, hunger, exposure to the elements; some have been beaten.
The group was detained on Monday night in the province of Ranong about six hours south of Bangkok.
But according to human rights groups, and the UN's refugee body, this isn't the usual treatment meted out to these people.
In the past two months the Thai military is accused of taking other Rohingyas ashore, beating them, then towing them back to sea with little or no food or water.
Witnesses have told the international media that some boats have had their engines taken away.
But today the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Thailand has issued a three page statement saying no that evidence has been presented to prove the allegations.
CHRIS LEWA: I'm sorry but I do not agree with that.
KAREN PERCY: Chris Lewa is with the Arakan project which focuses on the plight of the Rohingya people.
CHRIS LEWA: Our organisation in South Asia has been able to submit some evidence through testimony from survivors. But not only that, I mean since then, the international media have already done a number of investigations in Thailand, including for example the CNN programme on Monday, which show clearly the involvement of the Thai military in processing the boat people on arrival. And I think that should not happen. They should be sent to the normal channels.
KAREN PERCY: The Rohingyas are a Muslim ethnic group from Burma's western border, but Burma refuses to recognise them as citizens.
Neighbouring Bangladesh won't accept them either.
And so each year thousands of them are forced to get on boats and set sail for Malaysia and Indonesia.
In recent months more than a 1,000 Rohingyas are thought to have travelled through the Andaman Sea off Thailand's west coast; at least half of them are missing, thought to be dead.
While it denies Thai involvement in mistreatment the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here has reaffirmed the position that Thailand has the right to protect the infringement of Thai immigration laws and protect its territorial waters.
It says the Rohingyas are not refugees and don't face persecution and that they are on the move for economic reasons.
The Arakan project's Chris Lewa again.
CHRIS LEWA: The statement seems to look at the problem only from the illegal migration perspective. And I think that is wrong because obviously a lot of these people have fear of persecution, even if perhaps one of the motivation factors for the trip on the boat is also economic.
But we know that some of these boats for example have been caught in Burma and people have been sentenced to seven years in jail, just for having moved illegally, because they are not officially allowed to even go out of their village.
So I think one of the main problems which is not addressed by the Foreign Ministry is the issue of what to do with them because so far the Burmese Government has not allowed - accepted to take anyone back.
KAREN PERCY: This issue affects a number of countries, including Bangladesh, India, Malaysia and Indonesia and of course Burma.
Thailand is trying to get them all together to deal with the problem.
Thailand is also considering starting up a coast guard service.
There are already three million illegal immigrants within these borders and Thailand also hosts 10 refugee camps along its border with Burma.
It says it's doing its part to assist, but can only do so much.
