Thailand deports Rohingya Muslims
Thailand has deported a group of the Rohingya Muslim minority fleeing from persecution in Myanmar.
On Wednesday, 73 Rohingya migrants, including 15 women, were found drifting on a small, overcrowded boat off the Thai resort town of Phuket, heading to their final destination of Malaysia.
Ditthaporn Sasasmit, a spokesman for the Thai Internal Security Operation Command said on Thursday, “Phuket immigration police deported them overland via Ranong, where there is a border checkpoint.”
“The waves were high and it might have been dangerous to go further, so Thailand allowed them to come into the country and detained them as illegal immigrants.”
The move comes despite a call by the United Nations Refugee Agency on the Thai government not to deport the Muslim refugees.
Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, said, “We want Thailand to come up with a clear policy that recognizes Thailand’s international obligations to protect asylum seekers and refugees.”
Myanmar’s government refuses to recognize Rohingya Muslims as citizens and labels the minority of about 800,000 as “illegal” immigrants.
The persecuted minority have faced torture, neglect, and repression in Myanmar since it achieved independence in 1948.
Hundreds of Rohingyas are believed to have been killed and thousands displaced in attacks by the Buddhist extremists. The assaults have been mainly carried out in the western state of Rakhine.
Myanmar’s government has been blamed for failing to protect the Muslim minority.
On December 25, the United Nations General Assembly issued a resolution expressing concern over the persecution of Muslims in Myanmar. The resolution called on Myanmar’s government to “protect all their (the Muslims’) human rights, including their right to a nationality.”
The UN resolution also stated that there are “systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms” in Myanmar.
Rohingya Muslims are said to be descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origins, who immigrated to Myanmar as early as the 8th century.
Source http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/01/04/281707/thailand-deports-rohingya-muslims/
On Wednesday, 73 Rohingya migrants, including 15 women, were found drifting on a small, overcrowded boat off the Thai resort town of Phuket, heading to their final destination of Malaysia.
Ditthaporn Sasasmit, a spokesman for the Thai Internal Security Operation Command said on Thursday, “Phuket immigration police deported them overland via Ranong, where there is a border checkpoint.”
“The waves were high and it might have been dangerous to go further, so Thailand allowed them to come into the country and detained them as illegal immigrants.”
The move comes despite a call by the United Nations Refugee Agency on the Thai government not to deport the Muslim refugees.
Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, said, “We want Thailand to come up with a clear policy that recognizes Thailand’s international obligations to protect asylum seekers and refugees.”
Myanmar’s government refuses to recognize Rohingya Muslims as citizens and labels the minority of about 800,000 as “illegal” immigrants.
The persecuted minority have faced torture, neglect, and repression in Myanmar since it achieved independence in 1948.
Hundreds of Rohingyas are believed to have been killed and thousands displaced in attacks by the Buddhist extremists. The assaults have been mainly carried out in the western state of Rakhine.
Myanmar’s government has been blamed for failing to protect the Muslim minority.
On December 25, the United Nations General Assembly issued a resolution expressing concern over the persecution of Muslims in Myanmar. The resolution called on Myanmar’s government to “protect all their (the Muslims’) human rights, including their right to a nationality.”
The UN resolution also stated that there are “systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms” in Myanmar.
Rohingya Muslims are said to be descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origins, who immigrated to Myanmar as early as the 8th century.
Source http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/01/04/281707/thailand-deports-rohingya-muslims/
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