London, 16 March 2011
On 14 March 2011, The Equal Rights Trust (ERT) made a stakeholder submission on Thailand to the twelfth session of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The submission focussed on the treatment of Rohingya “boat people” by the Thai authorities since 2008, and urged Thailand to remedy existing human rights violations against the Rohingya and review its policy with regard to the Rohingya in order to uphold its human rights obligations by them.
The Issues - The Rohingya are an ethnic, religious and linguistic minority who live in the North Arakan state of Burma. They were rendered stateless through the 1982 Citizenship law of Burma, and their human rights and freedoms have been systematically eroded through a series of draconian policies, arbitrary taxes, and controls. Due to this acute discrimination and persecution, many Rohingya flee Burma, mainly by boat. These Rohingya “boat people” travel across the sea via Thailand to Malaysia.
In the past, Thailand has dealt with Rohingya boat people intercepted at sea or apprehended on land through immigration detention and informal deportation back to Burma, in violation of the customary international law principle of non-refoulement. In 2008/09, this policy changed to one of detention on the island of Koh Sain Daeng followed by “push-backs” into the high seas. Under this inhuman and illegal policy, Thailand cast over 1,100 “boat people” adrift in the sea, on boats with no engines and little food or water. Over 300 Rohingya died, and the rest were rescued by Indian and Indonesian authorities. Due to growing international condemnation, Thailand terminated this policy in January 2009, but recent statements by Thai authorities regarding the deportation of Rohingya to Burma and the rescue of 91 Rohingya “boat people” - who claim they were “pushed-back” by Thai authorities - on the Andaman and Nicobar islands in February 2011, raise serious concerns that the policy of “push-backs” has been reintroduced. Of equal concern is the plight of 54 “boat people” who have been in immigration detention in Bangkok since January 2009, and fear they will be informally deported to Burma.
The Submission - ERT’s submission under the UPR highlighted the above issues, and commented that Thailand’s policy towards, and treatment of, Rohingya “boat people” raises serious human rights concerns. ERT believes that Thailand’s actions amount to violations of the right to life, the rights to equality and non-discrimination, the right to freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the right to liberty and freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, and the right to seek and enjoy asylum, and non-refoulement.
Consequently, ERT asked the Human Rights Council to urge the government of Thailand to review its past actions in light of its human rights obligations by the Rohingya, to rectify past violations, to bring to justice offenders and to ensure that future practice is in keeping with its human rights obligations. The government of Thailand should also:
a. review its existing immigration policy and establish and implement a new policy which is consistent with Thailand’s international human rights obligations, which does not discriminate against the Rohingya or any other stateless person, irregular migrant or asylum seeker and which ensures that everyone is provided with effective access to lawful immigration procedures conducted by civilian authorities;
b. stop all deportations (both informal and formal) of Rohingya to Burma, and respect the customary international law principle of non-refoulement in this regard;
c. immediately cease push-backs into sea and take steps to ensure that this practice is not repeated;
d. immediately release the 54 boat people still in detention in Bangkok;
e. review its existing policy of detaining Rohingya boat people upon arrest, and because of their failure to pay fines;
f. ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention and its Protocol, and in the interim, establish a transparent system to process asylum applications and carry out status determination in cooperation with the UNHCR;
g. ratify the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons; and
h. take steps to adopt comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation and policies which ensure equal rights to stateless persons under Thai jurisdiction or on Thai territory.
To read the full text of ERT’s submission to the UPR on Thailand, click here
