A sense of frustration

Puttanee Kangkun, human rights specialist with Fortify Rights, a nonprofit human rights organisation, shares her take on the situation in a Q&A.

What does the latest crisis unfolding in Rakhine state mean for Thailand?

As a neighbouring country, there is high possibility that Thailand may find itself in the same situation as they were a couple of years ago on the issue of human traffick

ing. As you may remember thousands of Rohingya were trafficked by sea through Thailand before they were moved to other countries.

Thailand also faced a barrage of condem

nation by the international community for pushing hundreds of them back at sea, leading to several deaths and injured.

The way Thailand handles the Rohingya refugees this time will be monitored by the international community again so Thailand must manage the situation professionally and in line with international standards.

What are the challenges that arise from this?

There are couple of challenges. One, Thai

land is not ready to handle such a crisis. Thailand has been sheltering refugees for decades, but continues to struggle with offering them proper protection.

While on one side, Thailand provides humanitarian assistance by cooperating with the UNHCR to manage the situation, the actual treatment of refugees are not in line with international practices.

To start with refugees have no freedom of movement, no opportunity to grow as individuals. A sense of frustration only adds to their feelings of becoming part of a popu

lation of nonproductive individuals. In the past couple of years, Rohingya refugees and survivors of trafficking have faced this fate.

Public attitude is also a key challenge. Thais are under a misconception that refu

gees, particularly from Myanmar, are poorly educated, lower class, dangerous, contain diseases etc.

What is Thailand’s latest stance on this issue? Unfortunately, the Thai government leaders’ stance on the current crisis in Rakhine state, after a recent meeting with Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar Army commanderin- chief, is that of non-interference. Gen Prawit Wongsuwan, deputy prime minister, has gone on record to call the Rohingya people “Bengali” after this meeting.

This greatly signifies the position the Thai government has on the situation, which basically means that they will not do anything to improve the Rohingya crisis, or for that matter issues arising with other ethnicity in Rakhine state.

While that is Thailand’s stand, my hope is that other countries in this region will not turn a blind eye to what’s going on in Rakhine. If they do, they risk another regional crisis.

There are a couple of Asean mechanisms, such as the Asian Human Rights Declaration, which Asean member countries adopted unanimously in 2012 that addresses all key human rights principles including right to a nationality (Article 18), right to seek and receive asylum in another state (Article 16), which can be used in such times that are being overlooked.

As a human rights agency, what is your message?

The most important message is to stop killing and violating human rights immediately and to investigate the truth.

As a human rights organisation, we try our best to send the right message to the public. We do investigate what the facts are by infield fact findings, interviewing people and key characters in the crisis. We advocate national and international communities to respect and practice international human rights standards.

We found that the concept of non-refoulement — the practice of not forcing refugees/asylum seekers to return to a country in which they are likely to be subjected to persecution — is not completely understood by Thai authorities, who find it justified to offer food and water to boat refugees and push them back at sea.