Thailand’s policies governing refugees on its soil are making them
vulnerable to arbitrary and abusive treatment despite the country’s
decades of experience as host for millions of refugees.
The 143-page report, “Ad Hoc and Inadequate: Thailand’s Treatment of
Refugees and Asylum Seekers,” finds that Thai refugee policies are not
grounded in law and cause refugees of all nationalities to be exploited
and unnecessarily detained and deported. The report focuses on the
plight of Burmese refugees, the largest current refugee group in
Thailand. It examines treatment and conditions of both Burmese refugees
inside the camps on the Thai-Burma border and Burmese outside the camps,
who are not officially recognized as refugees. The report also looks at
the impact of political changes in Burma on the prospects for
repatriation and the obstacles to resolving this protracted refugee
situation.
“Thailand presents Burmese refugees with the unfair choice of
stagnating for years in remote refugee camps or living and working
outside the camps without protection from arrest and deportation,” said
Bill Frelick, Refugee Program director and co-author of the report.
“Refugees from other countries are barely tolerated, and Thai
authorities sometimes arrest and detain them indefinitely.”
Thailand has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not
have a refugee law or functioning asylum procedures. It regards refugees
of all nationalities living outside of designated refugee camps for
Burmese as being in the country illegally.
The Thai government has registered as refugees only about 60 percent
of the 140,000 people in the nine refugee camps along the Burmese
border, and minimally protects those it has registered as long as they
remain there. The government, which has registered very few refugee
cases in the camps since mid-2006, has yet to register the remaining 40
percent of the camps’ population, leaving them particularly vulnerable.
Burmese outside the camps are subject to arrest and immediate
deportation unless they present themselves not as refugees but as
migrant workers, and go through the expensive, difficult, and often
corrupt process for obtaining migrant worker status. Legally recognized
migrant workers receive two-year visas, renewable once, and then must
return to their home countries. The requirement to repatriate
effectively precludes refugees from seeking migrant worker status.
“Thailand should provide all asylum seekers a fair chance to have
their refugee claims heard and should allow refugees to move about and
work,” Frelick said. “This would enable refugees to learn skills and
reduce opportunities for exploitation, while allowing them to contribute
to Thailand’s economy.”
Thailand does not allow the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) to
conduct refugee determination screening for asylum seekers from Burma,
Laos, or North Korea. UNHCR is permitted to issue “Persons of Concern”
certificates to other refugees, but these certificates provide no
employment authorization and little protection when police confront
certificate holders on the street or in their homes.
Developments in Burma may impact Thai refugee policy. After decades
of ethnic armed conflict and repression in Burma, recent changes –
including the signing of preliminary ceasefire agreements between the
Burmese government and nearly all non-state armed groups – raise the
prospect that the Burmese refugees in the Thai border camps may be able
to go home. But enormous obstacles remain, including lack of firm
political settlements, landmines, and Burma’s refusal to allow UNHCR to
work on the Burmese side of the border.
“To its credit, Thailand is waiting to see how the situation in Burma
develops and does not appear to be pushing for the hasty return of
Burmese refugees,” Frelick said. “So now is a good time for Thai
officials to think creatively and strategically about how best to
prepare refugees for an eventual safe repatriation and reintegration in
Burma.”
Thailand’s policy of restricting the movements of Burmese refugees in
the camps and prohibiting them from working has led to social
dysfunction. The policy makes it less likely that the refugees will be
prepared for successful reintegration into their communities when they
do return home.
Most of the camps are in isolated mountain locations, accessible only
by dirt roads. Some are overcrowded, and basic assistance, such as food
and shelter, has been reduced as international donors shift their
attention to programs inside Burma. The isolation has led to abuse of
power and impunity for rights violations, including for Thai officials
mandated to protect the refugees.
Fear, uncertainty, and a feeling of powerlessness contribute to a
fatalistic attitude among camp refugees about whether they can approach
the police and other security officials to seek justice.
“We are on Thai land so we have to be submissive,” said one. “We
cannot speak out and we have to be patient and passive. If we speak out
too much, the chains around us will be tightened.”
Many of the better-educated and higher-skilled refugees in the camps –
including many teachers and health workers – have resettled to
countries outside the region, leaving a residual camp population with
less social support and fewer coping skills. After so many years with
restrictions on movement and dependency on outside aid, many camp
residents experience domestic abuse, depression, and other social and
mental health problems.
Thai policy does not recognize the concept of refugee status as
applying to Burmese outside the camps. The authorities treat refugees
who leave the camps as illegal immigrants, subject to arrest. Thai
police, soldiers, or paramilitaries who apprehend camp residents outside
the camps either send them back, often after exacting forced labor or
requiring bribes, or send them to one of Thailand’s Immigration
Detention Centers, from which they are deported to Burma.
Some refugees told Human Rights Watch that Thai authorities were
physically abusive when they apprehended them outside the camps. A
33-year-old Karen man living in Mae La camp said that after Thai police
arrested him in May 2008: “They asked for money.… I said, ‘I don’t have
money.’ Then one started to beat me here and then back here [on the back
and shoulders], two times and then kicked me once.… They started
searching our bag for money. They asked for 2,000 baht [US$64] and we
didn’t have that money. Then he looked in my bag and he saw my UNHCR ID
card and he took it away.”
Thailand should work with UNHCR to establish a fair and transparent
refugee screening and registration system for the 40 percent of the camp
population that is unregistered. The government should engage with
refugee leaders, nongovernmental organizations, UNHCR, and donors for an
orderly transition to an open-camp model that helps refugees become
self-sufficient and prepares them to reintegrate in Burma when it is
safe for them to return.
Some donors, notably the Europeans, have already begun switching
their assistance to what is called a “livelihoods strategy,” to develop
skills to live and work outside a camp environment. Such an approach
will only work effectively if refugees are allowed to leave the camps to
work.
“The Thai authorities should ensure that all refugees, including
those in camps, have full access to the Thai justice system and that
police and other officials who extort and abuse refugees are
appropriately disciplined or prosecuted,” Frelick said. “A policy that
engages refugees in decision-making about their future and develops
their skills will not only benefit Thailand in the short-term, but will
also pave the way for voluntary and sustainable repatriation that will
engender goodwill toward Thailand after refugees return home.”
Burmese nationals caught outside the camps usually only spend a few
days to a week in Immigration Detention Centers before they are deported
or released. But Thai authorities rarely use government funds to deport
people to countries that do not border Thailand, holding them
indefinitely until their relatives provide plane tickets. Migrants
without financial resources or refugees unwilling to return home because
they fear persecution can spend a long time – sometimes years – in
Immigration Detention Centers, even though they are not designed for
long-term detention.
A Nepalese refugee in one IDC told Human Rights Watch that although
UNHCR recognized him as a refugee, he had been detained for three years
and nine months:
The Bible talks about hell. This is one part of hell…. I am with 80
people in the room, sometimes 150 people, three toilets. Always there
are problems…. If you don’t follow the rules, you get handcuffed, one
week, two weeks…. We have no telephone…to get outside information.
The Thai government should ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention and its
1967 Protocol and pass refugee laws to carry out the convention’s
obligations and establish fair asylum procedures. Thailand should make
refugee status open to all nationalities under the same criteria,
consistent with the international refugee definition, including
protection for people fleeing conflict. And Thailand should immediately
release UNHCR-recognized refugees from detention and stop holding
detainees indefinitely to force their families to pay for their
deportation.
International agencies and donors should continue to provide food and
other humanitarian aid to refugees who are unable to support themselves
or who need transitional help toward self-sufficiency. Thai authorities
should immediately ensure that all refugees – including those in camps –
have full access to the Thai justice system and that police and other
security officials who extort and abuse refugees, asylum seekers, and
migrants are disciplined or prosecuted.
