By SAW YAN NAING
One week after asking for access to Burmese Rohingya refugees in Thailand, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Monday it is still waiting for a response from the Thai government.
The UNHCR’s regional spokeswoman, Kitty McKinsey, told The Irrawaddy: “We are very concerned about them [the refugees]. That’s why we want to have access to them to find out what the situation is. And we want to see if any of them are in need of international protection.”
It is estimated that up to 20,000 illegal Rohingya migrants have entered Thailand over the years and remain within the kingdom. Hundreds of refugees travelling in open boats were reported recently to have been turned back by the Thai navy, but Thai authorities denied allegations that they were being set adrift without food or water.
An official at the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, requesting anonymity, confirmed to The Irrawaddy on Monday that he had passed the UNHCR request for access to Rohingya refugees to relevant agencies. No response had been received so far, he said.
Talks between Thai government representatives and the UNHCR had been proceeding for some time in Bangkok and Geneva, a Foreign Ministry statement said.
Last Friday, a permanent secretary of the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs discussed the Rohingya problem with the ambassadors of Burma, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The UK-based Burmese Rohingya Organization appealed on Monday to the Thai government and international organizations to look for a permanent solution of the Rohingya problem.
“We urge the government of Thailand and all those concerned to treat these boatpeople humanely, and not send the Rohingya asylum seekers back to Burma, where their lives will be in danger,” the organization said in a statement.
The group also planned to held demonstrations outside the Thai and Burmese embassies in London on Monday.
Burma’s Muslim Rohingya minority are victims of extreme regime discrimination and abuse—denied Burmese citizenship and freedom of religion and movement. Thousands continue to flee, trying to reach Malaysia in open boats—many of which only make it to Thailand.
Kyaw Thaung, head of a Bangkok-based migrant worker group known as the Burmese Association in Thailand, said that while it was understandable that Rohingyas were fleeing repression in Burma, Thailand could not be expected to take thousands of illegal immigrants.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva recently told reporters, “We have to solve the illegal immigrant problem otherwise it will affect our security, economy and the opportunities of Thai laborers.”
The Thai government recently vowed to crack down on illegal immigrants, and labor rights groups report that raids and arrests are increasing in southern Thailand and the Tak province bordering Burma.
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