Thailand detention centers
August 30, 2013
The government has agreed to hold about 2,000 Rohingya migrants in
detention centres nationwide for another six months, Deputy Prime Minister
Pracha Promnok said on Thursday.
The migrants were
originally due to remain in the centres for six months while the government
assessed options for their relocation, but that initial deadline passed last
month. The new detention deadline would now end in January.
The deputy PM, who
oversees national security, was responding to an opposition request for details
on the government's policy to deal with the Rohingya migrants.
The request was
made during a parliamentary session yesterday by Democrat MP for Bangkok Samart
Maluleem.
Mr Samart said more
than 2,000 Rohingya were being detained at immigration detention centres. He
said he was concerned by overcrowding in the centres.
Pol Gen Pracha said
the Rohingya, most of whom travelled by boat to escape religious unrest in Myanmar's
Rakhine state, had breached the 1979 Immigration Act.
The law allows
immigration officers to detain them only at Immigration Bureau detention
centres. However, some Rohingya women and children with health problems are being held at
shelters operated by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. Pol
Gen Pracha said the government was also concerned about the living conditions
of the Rohingya.
He said the Foreign
Ministry would use the detention deadline extension to hold talks with international
organisations to explain the government's policy in caring for the migrants.
The ministry has
already held talks with Myanmar and asked it to help repatriate the Rohingya.
Myanmar, however, has expressed doubts about the origin of the migrants, saying
it needed verification of of their identities.
National Human
Rights Commissioner Niran Pithakwatchara, who oversees the Rohingya problem,
said he would ask the government next week to help provide the Rohingya with
proper shelters and to raise the problem at an Asean forum.
"It is not
just a Thai problem, it is one for all Asean countries," Dr Niran said.
Meanwhile, four
Rohingya who earlier escaped from Singkhorn detention centre in Prachuap Khiri
Khan's Muang district were apprehended in Bang Saphan district yesterday.
Police said they were attempting to reach Malaysia.
Comments