HRW slams govt for extraditing labour activist

By KAS CHANWANPEN 
THE NATION

 

file photo

 

THAILAND HAS totally ignored concerns raised by UN agencies and human-rights groups, Human Rights Watch (HRW)’s senior researcher Sunai Phasuk said yesterday, after the government deported a Cambodian asylum seeker, even though he is likely to face persecution and possible mistreatment.
 

Immigration police chief Pol Lt-General Surachet Hakphan confirmed yesterday that Rath Rott Mony, a labour activist, had been extradited on Wednesday at the request of Cambodia.

 

Mony is accused of helping produce a documentary about sex trafficking in his country, but Cambodian authorities say the film misrepresents the country and can harm its reputation.

 

The “My Mother Sold Me” documentary, released two months ago, portrays impoverished families in Cambodia who hawk the virginity of their daughters, who are forced to become prostitutes later.

 

Mony was detained in Bangkok last Friday as he applied for asylum at the Dutch embassy. The immigration chief, however, insists his extradition followed due process.

 

Surachet said Mony faced an arrest warrant, so he had to be deported, adding that his case is different from that of the Bahraini footballer, who holds a refugee status. The immigration chief was referring to Hakeem al-Araibi, who is being detained in Bangkok and may be extradited to Bahrain.

 

HRW’s senior researcher said yesterday that the extradition of refugees or those seeking asylum was in violation of international law. Thailand is obliged to protect refugees and asylum seekers, yet the junta government has shown contempt of this obligation, he said.

 

“Thailand has frequently collaborated with repressive governments to hunt down and send back those who escape wrongful prosecution and abuse in countries like Cambodia and China,” said Sunai. “These cruel acts, which blatantly violate international laws, deserve condemnation in the strongest terms.”

 

Thailand has previously extradited several asylum seekers despite the risk of them facing abuse in their home countries. In February, the government extradited Sam Sokha, a Cambodian dissident, despite her status as a UN-recognised refugee. She was wanted for allegedly throwing a shoe at a billboard depicting Cambodian PM Hun Sen.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30360351

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-12-14

Once again, Thailand showing the way with its flexible system, what Cambodia is trying to hide is well known out side and of course this trade also exists in Thailand, so who's the loser here.

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Mony is accused of helping produce a documentary about sex trafficking in his country, but Cambodian authorities say the film misrepresents the country and can harm its reputation.

Sounds like a pretty good representation already.  The poor get exploited in unspeakable ways.  It comes as no surprise.   Covering it up just makes it worse.  

The EU will undoubtedly put this in their Human Rights Black Book under the heading "Thailand" meaning there is even less chance of there being a free trade agreement between the EU and Thailand. But I guess not offending Hun Sen is more important. 

I wouldn't be proud of my gov't for doing that!

So what you are saying is that it was all right that the Thai military drove the Cambodian refugees back to their country, through their minefields to the regime of mad-dogs that murdered 1.8 million to 2.8 million of their own people after the war in Cambodia ended in 1975-78;

it was O.K. that the Thais forced the Hmong in Thailand over the border back into Vietnam where they have certainly been killed, except for some who may have been trafficked as sex slaves,

but now it is important to make a big noise about one whistle-blower who shows the world that this insanity is still going on in Cambodia - as if anyone who cared did not know about it before?

Correct Father FS

On 12/13/2018 at 7:57 PM, Father Fintan Stack said:

The Preah Vihear massacre where thousands of Khmer refugees fleeing the Khmer Rouge regime were forced over cliffs and across minefields by the Thai military has largely been consigned to the annals of history unfortunately. 

 

As has the massive illegal logging and deforestation of Western Cambodia undertaken by the Thai Generals and their Khmer Rouge comrades while Pol Pot sat under Thai special forces protection at his new abode in Trat while the US devils campaigned for his genocidal regime as the rightful government of Cambodia in the 80's.

 

Shhhh...

No one cares to hear/read about the delicate truth.

On 12/14/2018 at 10:29 AM, MuuKondiao said:

So what you are saying is that it was all right that the Thai military drove the Cambodian refugees back to their country, through their minefields to the regime of mad-dogs that murdered 1.8 million to 2.8 million of their own people after the war in Cambodia ended in 1975-78;

it was O.K. that the Thais forced the Hmong in Thailand over the border back into Vietnam where they have certainly been killed, except for some who may have been trafficked as sex slaves,

but now it is important to make a big noise about one whistle-blower who shows the world that this insanity is still going on in Cambodia - as if anyone who cared did not know about it before?

 

So what you are saying is that unless we make a big noise about things that happened 40 years ago and can't be undone, we cannot condemn things that are happening today and can be undone, makes no sense at all but hey ho.