Thailand rejects UN report on Myanmar refugees on border

By SUPALAK GANJANAKHUNDEE 
THE NATION 

 

Yanghee Lee (2nd L), the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, visits a Rohingya camp in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar on January 20, 2018. / AFP PHOTO

 

THAILAND yesterday dismissed the end-of-mission statement by United Nations Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee on refugees’ basic rights in the kingdom, saying that her message was untrue and unfair.

 

Repatriation of refugees to Myanmar was conducted on a voluntary basis with respect for safe return, the Thai Foreign Ministry said.

 

Professor Lee was appointed as the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar in 2014. She visited Bangladesh and Thailand last month to assess the situation since the government in Nay Pyi Taw denied her access to Myanmar.

 

In her statement last Thursday in Seoul, she said refugees who had fled from conflicts at home to the Thai border decades ago to live in “so-called temporary” shelters were “unable to enjoy their basic human rights, where they are once again faced with a perilous situation”.

 

Lee said: “Karen refugees told me that the humanitarian assistance they depend on is declining, while Shan refugees informed me that their aid has been cut by foreign donors entirely.

 

“This is occurring in a context where people are being encouraged to return home despite feeling that it is premature or unsafe to do so. They are left to choose between empty stomachs on the Thai side of the border and a return to a precarious peace on the Myanmar side, and the risk of being made refugees all over again.”

 

She added that representatives from different ethnic groups along the Thailand-Myanmar border had expressed their concern that, while the world’s attention is focused on the atrocities in Rakhine state, potential war crimes are being committed in Shan and Kachin States. This was happening “without so much as a murmur of disapproval from the international community”.

 

Over the Christmas period and into the New Year, clashes between the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) and ethnic armed groups occurred in both Shan and Kachin states, resulting in the deaths of civilians and driving thousands of people from their homes, Lee said.

 

Decades-old camps

 

Thailand has sheltered more than 100,000 refugees from Myanmar since the 1980s, when the ethnic conflict in the country erupted. They are now in camps along border provinces including Mae Hong Son, Tak and Kanchanaburi.

 

In a statement rejecting Lee’s findings, the Thai Foreign Ministry said: “All Myanmar displaced persons have access to shelter, food, education, health services, birth registration and religious practices.

 

“These facts are well recognised and appreciated by various UN organisations, particularly the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees,” it said.

 

Outside the refugee camp along the border, millions of migrant workers from neighbouring Myanmar live and work. Thai authorities help legalise them under its registration scheme to ensure they receive legal protection and access to basic services, the ministry said.

 

On the issue of repatriation, it said that Thailand had always adhered to the voluntary, safe and dignified return of displaced persons from Myanmar.

 

“The political development and peace process in Myanmar were crucial in making the first voluntary return of 71 Myanmar displaced persons possible in October 2016, and it is also important for the preparation of more voluntary returns in the future.”

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/asean-plus/30337949

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-02-05

". . . . saying that her message was untrue and unfair. '

 

Make your mind up Thailand. Which one is it?

1 hour ago, CelticBhoy said:

". . . . saying that her message was untrue and unfair. '

 

Make your mind up Thailand. Which one is it?

 

Just doing everything to save FACE,...... "The UN is not my father, how dare they make Thailand lose FACE...."

Obviously the UN is biased (they keep siding with the truth )

Thailand should do more for the refugees but in my actual experience they do a lot more than many countries and they allow NGOs pretty much a free reign to help in the camps.  The problem is always how much freedom refugees are given to travel and find work in Thailand.  This is also a problem in Europe and many other places.

15 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

Obviously the UN is biased (they keep siding with the truth )

 

The UN wouldn't always no the truth if it bit'em!

4 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

The UN wouldn't always no the truth if it bit'em!

Funny...I would be siding with them over the Thai- government 100 out of 100 times!

The later know the truth...it bit them already and that is why they are making $4!t up!

Edited February 5, 20188 yr by DM07

Just now, DM07 said:

Funny...I would be siding with them over the Thai- government 100 out of 100 times!

 

Possibly you'd be mostly correct. But then, that's two organizations that have problems understanding the truth and believe "little white lies" are fine when told to "joe public".

"The Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) of the International Coordinating Committee on National Human Rights Institutions (ICC), an independent international association of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) worldwide which monitors the performance of national human rights institutions, announced that it has downgraded the status of Thailand’s NHRC from ‘A’ to ‘B’, the UN revealed on Thursday, 28 January 2016."

https://prachatai.com/english/node/5811

Will there now be a 'C'?

 

A complimentary report  meets with a  "truthful and correct" response, whereas a report criticizing Thailand  warrants an "untrue and unfair" response and a total rejection of the report.

 

In the case of a complimentary report, Thailand believes that nothing further needs to be done and, in the case of a critical report,, in all probability very little will be done. 

There is far too much to be said about how disgusting the level of "help" the refugees are given and I really prefer to avoid the slander laws in place here. If people really knew what goes on in those border camp areas, they would be shocked and appalled. I don't expect the details will ever make it to the Thai or international public, other than the public who live nearby the camps and some of whom have attitudes that only worsen things. This UN report only barely scratches the surface. But then again, if it dug a little more, then the light would also shine on the crap they are guilty of regarding these refugees too! The whole thing is so sickening. And after many years of involvement, I can only be encouraged by the will of the refugees themselves to make something out of the hand they've been dealt. Although, of course there are also those who don't have that willpower and whose lives are pretty much destroyed and utterly miserable.

o let's see; who would you believe ? the UN, who has no axe to grind here, 

Or thai officials, who , like seemingly all thais, cannot accept criticism, in the land of denial

?