Plan to move stranded family out of airport

By JESSADA CHANTARARAK 
THE NATION

 

 

A ZIMBABWEAN family who have been stranded in the departure lounge at Suvarnabhumi International Airport for three months after refusing to return to their home country may be moved to a Bangkok detention centre, pending a consideration of their asylum application by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 

 

Pol Colonel Choengron Rimpadee, deputy immigration commander, said the UN agency had already agreed to seek a solution for the family of four adults and four children aged from two to 11 years old but nobody knew how much longer the process would take.

 

“If the UNHCR’s procedure takes a long time, we plan to move them to Soi Suan Plu detention centre where they will be allowed stay in a waiting area,” he said. “However what I have learnt from UNHCR is that the procedure will not be long.”

 

According to Agence France-Presse, Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency in Bangkok, has said the UNHCR was “currently exploring potential solutions” for the family but could not provide more details for confidentiality reasons.

 

The family have been trying to fly to Spain since late October but were charged with overstaying their visas. When Thai immigration officials wanted to deport them to Zimbabwe they refused, citing political tensions in the country. 

 

In November, they tried to board a Ukraine International flight to Mauritania via Ukraine and Spain. When they arrived in the Ukraine, they were not allowed to board their onward flight as they had no proper travel documents. They were sent back to Bangkok and have been staying at the airport ever since. Their plight came to light this week after an airport staffer posted photos of himself handing a Christmas present to the children.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30335068

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-12-30

...what about the Thais who need help first..

Edited December 30, 20178 yr by Rhys

send the country shoppers back to Zimbabwe .....     they are illegal immigrants.

 

From what I've read, the situation in Zimbabwe is stable so there really doesn't seem to be any reason for them not to go back.  

Send these people back to Zim. Somebody is paying heaps of money to keep them here.

There are big changes in Zim now, so they have nothing to fear.

These peoples excuse could be used by South African farmers who genuinely have a fear of terror and murder attacks on their farms.

Imagine 2 million white farmers arriving by the plane load to seek asylum in Thailand?

But their not stranded they could go back home but don't want to.

Sent from my SM-P901 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

IDC is the usual place for illegals, what so special about this lot?

This bunch seems to have a lot of money for asylum seekers from Zim. One hundred Trillion Zim dollars can buy half a loaf of bread. They must have brought a 40' container full of the stuff. One hundred trillion zim $ is worth    0.40 USA cents.

Me thinks that there is more than one reason why this family is scared to go back home, how did they get so much money if most of the country is starving???

 

13 hours ago, rooster59 said:

A ZIMBABWEAN family who have been stranded in the departure lounge at Suvarnabhumi International Airport for three months after refusing to return to their home country

If you refuse to leave a place you are NOT stranded 

 

As an aside, my Zimbabwean friend has just returned to Harare from a nice trip to Singapore and Cambodia. No problems at all. 

Amazing what crawls out of the woodwork on some threads. 

 

Well, I say amazing, I really mean...let’s see...I know, nauseating. 

Edited December 30, 20178 yr by Bluespunk

Interesting no one noticed them until their plight hit the international press...

 

Seems they are looking for a back door into Europe, presume they have a lot of money and the new Zimbabwe administration would like to talk to them about how they came by it...

As it hits the worlds headlines thanks to the BBC, we see action after hell for 3 months, nice country to live in this.

15 hours ago, Rhys said:

...what about the Thais who need help first..

Which Thais do you mean who need help?

Economic migrants deserve no special treatment- ship them home.

1 hour ago, Bluespunk said:

Amazing what crawls out of the woodwork on some threads. 

 

Well, I say amazing, I really mean...let’s see...I know, nauseating. 

I concur- we haven't seen you for a while! You haven't actually contributed anything constructive to this thread so far.

14 hours ago, djayz said:

 

From what I've read, the situation in Zimbabwe is stable so there really doesn't seem to be any reason for them not to go back.  

A concentration is stable....does not mean it's safe.

5 hours ago, Inepto Cracy said:

Somebody is paying heaps of money to keep them here.

 

What you thinking 250 baht a day?

5 hours ago, Psimbo said:

I concur- we haven't seen you for a while! You haven't actually contributed anything constructive to this thread so far.

Nah, showing one’s contempt for non thinking and knee jerk reactions based on unsavoury “judgements” is always constructive. 

Edited December 30, 20178 yr by Bluespunk

4 hours ago, Psimbo said:

Economic migrants deserve no special treatment- ship them home.

Evidence for your “thoughts” on why this family is seeking asylum,  please. 

Amazing what publicity does in Thailand.

stranded for three months? what the hell kind of law enforcement is that? who fed them? where did they wash? in the face bowls? that country just held an election! so why does the Thai's still  think they need asilum? ship the fools home and fire the thai responsible for this mess!

14 hours ago, JohnThailandJohn said:

 

What you thinking 250 baht a day?

what will you get for 250B airside at Swamppy???

I'll throw in a bit of gratuitous Thai bashing to end the year.

 

They have a plan,  well is there anything further to offer? Or is it in a letter to be submitted to the authorities and acted on in 30 days. 

On 30/12/2017 at 10:45 PM, The manic said:

A concentration is stable....does not mean it's safe.

Stable is good enough for me or should we put them up? 

Another bleeding heart...

Why not deport them to the UK, where in certain areas they will be part of the majority, claim political asylum that will guarantee them free housing and welfare for at least the next 40 years.

So, when some people are found to overstay thier visas, they can later try to board a plane. Why are they not in detention already?

“Do you suffer from
callous-narrow-minded biases?
I’m humanely secondhand embarrassed for you.”

JT Sanz

On 12/31/2017 at 3:38 AM, Bluespunk said:

Evidence for your “thoughts” on why this family is seeking asylum,  please. 

Because they are refusing to go home?

9 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

Because they are refusing to go home?

Not even related to the question I posed.

 

Try again. 

 

Actually, the only one who can answer the question is the one whose “thinking” I am curious about. 

 

They still haven't got back to me...

Edited January 1, 20188 yr by Bluespunk

1 hour ago, Get Real said:

So, when some people are found to overstay thier visas, they can later try to board a plane. Why are they not in detention already?

 

On 30/12/2017 at 12:09 AM, rooster59 said:

The family have been trying to fly to Spain since late October but were charged with overstaying their visas. When Thai immigration officials wanted to deport them to Zimbabwe they refused, citing political tensions in the country. 

According to the BBC they had overstayed by 5 months...

 

Assuming they had not been arrested before presenting themselves to Immigration, they would be subject to a 500B per day fine each + 1 year exclusion ban, that's why they can not re-enter, the reason they were not detained was they paid the fines and had valid plain tickets, they were denied boarding at the gate by the airline.