Double Tragedy As hel_l Trip Survivors Head Home

[alanmorison]

MOST of the survivors of the container truck tragedy in which 54 people suffocated on the road to Phuket are due to be sent home to Burma today.

Some will face fresh tragedy from Cyclone Nargis.

Phuketwan understands that many of the 66 Burmese survivors, who have been held first in jail then a detention centre since April 9, come from villages severely damaged by the ferocious cyclone that has killed more than 60,000 people.

Most of them will be going back to Burma without knowing whether their families and friends are alive or dead.

Ten survivors are being held by authorities in Ranong, a busy port on the border with Burma, pending the trial of six people charged over the nightmare ride

Those being held are two women, four men and four children, three girls, two aged 17 and one 13, and one boy aged 15.

-- full report at www.phuketwan.com

[donna]

my heart goes out to those poor people. as if they havent been through enough. they are probably being sent home with only the clothes on their backs, to go back to even less than what they were escaping.

i hope they stay strong.

[Cuban]

I am not defending the morals of those that put in place this action, however.

To answer this emotive question, "So this is the way refugees are treated?"

The people in question are survivors from a group of illegal immigrants involved in the truck incident.

Thailand has been very clear on it's policy in cases of illegal immigrants - they are repatriated.

The people are not refugees, they might become refugees if their homes in Burma no longer exist, but this is a question that does not affect the Thai Immigration Police. There is an Irony that as Burmese nationals they could be used to assist aid being shipped back to Burma through Thailand.

In fact this could be used as an tool to repatriate Burmese people in Thailand saying that they are needed to help ship aid packages in line with Burmese Government guidelines about the handling of international aid.

I would suggest that government change is the broader solution to the problem.

Is it time to revise the mandate of the UN to include policing a nation's domestic policy and it's actions within it's own borders?

Let's start with:

Burma

North Korea

Zimbabwe

Cuba

[lazeeboy]

i suppose they can count them selves lucky ,1 they survived the ride of death 2 they missed the cyclone,god does work in mysterios ways

[donna]

good way of putting it, lazeeboy.

i see your cup is always half full (yes, its a compliment).

[huggybear]

I am not defending the morals of those that put in place this action, however.

To answer this emotive question, "So this is the way refugees are treated?"

The people in question are survivors from a group of illegal immigrants involved in the truck incident.

Thailand has been very clear on it's policy in cases of illegal immigrants - they are repatriated.

The people are not refugees, they might become refugees if their homes in Burma no longer exist, but this is a question that does not affect the Thai Immigration Police. There is an Irony that as Burmese nationals they could be used to assist aid being shipped back to Burma through Thailand.

In fact this could be used as an tool to repatriate Burmese people in Thailand saying that they are needed to help ship aid packages in line with Burmese Government guidelines about the handling of international aid.

I would suggest that government change is the broader solution to the problem.

Is it time to revise the mandate of the UN to include policing a nation's domestic policy and it's actions within it's own borders?

Let's start with:

Burma

North Korea

Zimbabwe

Cuba

"Thailand has been very clear on it's policy in cases of illegal immigrants - they are repatriated."

Right, so the truckload of Burmese that are working on a house down the street from me are all legal, yes? Oh, no, that's right they will be repatriated, typically "clear" Thai law.

The police that I saw shaking down two truckloads of Burmese on a Friday ("payday"), the police didn't just take money from them, they were going to repatriate them, yes?

Flat out these people are getting burned because they were involved in an incident that made international headlines, otherwise, had the truck made it, they would be working on some construction project and paying 50% to the guys in brown. Repatriated, what a load of bull.....