Our history says: Don't push back the persecuted

[webfact]

REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Our history says: Don't push back the persecuted
Kavi Chongkittavorn
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- It is time for the Thai government to adopt a proper policy response - and temporarily take in Rohingya refugees coming from the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. This is the best way to save lives while searching for a durable solution. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was spot-on when he said that this issue needs a regional solution with help from neighbouring countries.

A special one-day regional meeting will be held here on May 29 to discuss this pressing issue. It will be attended by senior officials from 15 affected countries including India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Australia and the US.

Even US Secretary of State John Kerry, who ex-communicated Thailand last May, has sought out the Kingdom for a regional solution. So too did Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations, in a conversation with Prayut yesterday afternoon, asking for Thailand's cooperation with the UN.

Thailand should not shy away from taking humanitarian action by providing refugees, especially children, women and senior citizens, with shelter and food. In cases where they are not well, the government must give them medical care. This country can show it is a force for good — not just good for making coups. This country must not follow other countries' practices of providing food and then pushing boatloads of distressed people back out to sea, knowing full well that they might end up dying there. This practice has already caused human tragedy and loss.

Of course, Thailand cannot do it alone. Additional assistance from international communities, in particular from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), must be "comprehensive" with a "specific time-frame" along with "incentives and burden-sharing" for the country's plan to open centres for the Rohingya.

Furthermore, better joint cooperation in intelligence and information exchanges, establishing hotlines, patrols, search and rescue among the countries concerned is necessary to thwart the people smuggling schemes. Traffickers these days are very sophisticated with high-tech equipment to detect movement of their boats and the patrols that go after them.

There are good reasons why Thailand needs to take in the most persecuted people in the world. First of all, Thailand has long experience in dealing with an influx of displaced persons over the past four decades as a transit country. Over four million Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese displaced persons and boat people have been resettled since the late 1970s when the region was still at war. They stayed here till they found new homes in third countries.

On the country's western flank, over five million displaced persons and migrant workers from Myanmar have crossed borders back and forth since 1988. Each year, for nearly two decades, Thailand has accepted thousands of North Korean asylum seekers who arrived at the northern border for resettlement in South Korea, without making headlines.

Now the political landscape in the region has changed and so, in part, have Thai attitudes. Migrant workers are now properly registered and provided with protection to try to stop them being exploited. But one thing that has not changed is Myanmar's attitude toward the Muslim community in Rakhine State. In recent months there was a huge exodus of these people.

In the case of the Rohingya, Thailand will need all help from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organisation for Migration in identifying their nationalities. It would be, as everybody knows, a daunting task. As a result, unconditional cooperation from Myanmar and Bangladesh is a must. This issue is sensitive and should be handled with great care as both governments are not comfortable in admitting their people are leaving their countries.

For Myanmar, with the prospect of peace and further democratisation inside the country and the upcoming election in November, it is the time for the Nay Pyi Taw government to display humanitarian and a good neighbourly spirit, proving the critics wrong that it has deliberate policies of discrimination against the Rohingya - as often reported in the media.

Second, it is a fact of life that whether Thailand admits it or not--the influx of refugees, organised or otherwise, into Thailand will go on despite the current crisis. It is better for Bangkok to come clean. Judging from past experience, our opaque attitude has led to large-scale corruption in provinces along the Andaman coast, which further encourages criminal networks to continue smuggling people.

The discovery of mass graves of dozens of Rohingya and other boat people in Songkhla near the Malaysian border points to large-scale complicity at the highest level of the security apparatus. In that case, heads must roll — lots of them. The relocation of officials is not sufficient remedy.

Third, by providing temporary sanctuary for the Rohingya, Thailand will be credited with saving lives. There will be unintended consequences. But it is better to face them openly and squarely in a transparent manner. The Thai authorities, especially the Interior Ministry and security agencies, think such humanitarian measures will attract more refugees to Thai shores. That helps explain why Thailand has been reluctant to sign the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Fourth, this is the only way that Thailand can bring other neighbours, especially Myanmar and Bangladesh, to take part in the discussion and find a durable solution. Affected countries must get involved as countries of origin, transit and destination. It is hoped that the May 29 meeting will be able to build on progress from the Bali Process, which has stalled.

In 2009, the government under Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who was condemned severely due to reported pushbacks of boat people to the Andaman Sea, initiated regional talks on this issue. But they did not go anywhere because Myanmar failed to respond. Now the country is in a better position to deal with this sensitive issue, considering the current excellent Thai-Myanmar ties. Nay Pyi Taw has informed Bangkok it will dispatch senior officials to attend Bangkok's urgent meeting.

Given the complexities of the challenges, it is pivotal that the Thai government engage all concerned parties with well-thought out regional plans that take care of law enforcement without violating human rights.
There is a thin line out there.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Our-history-says-Dont-push-back-the-persecuted-30260346.html


-- The Nation 2015-05-18

[redandyellow]

As a society - we are only as good as we treat the folks on the bottom rung of said society.

Therefore we fail miserably, and have since time began

As we choose instead to grovel up a notch or two on the hierarchy

Signed,

He who dies with the most Toys wins

[noitom]

What about China, S.Korea and Japan? Shouldn't these advanced Asian nations contribute health and humanitarian support to these unfortunate Rohingya? Why is the US listed as an "affected" nation and not China, S. Korea and Japan? They should start to pull their weight for others.

[simple1]

Thailand can set a good example by providing citizenship for hundreds of thousands stateless Northern Hill Tribes people.

OP references the upcoming election in Myanmar. No mention of the policy to deny recognition of the Rohingya ethnicity in the latest census, thereby excising Rohingya from the political dialogue within Myanmar.

[worgeordie]

Pushing them back out to International waters,must be a human rights

violation at least,and morally wrong,not wanted in the country they fled

from or anywhere else i think,put yourself in their shoes,its tragic.

regards Worgeordie

[FangFerang]

I like this article from the Nation group. It is concise and balanced -- and as some other posters noted, China has a chance to be a force for good, but I think they are reluctant because they want all the Chinese refugees back....trials pending and all that. So much for China helping.

Who'd have thought I would ever say that about the Nation?

Not me.

[NeverSure]

I don't know what to think. These words are engraved in a bronze plaque at the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island in the New York Harbor. Thousands are stranded at sea. What to do?

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,

Send these, the homeless,

Tempest-tossed to me

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

[cloudhopper]

Well since we're talking history - (excerpted from a much longer Wikipedia essay)

On June 12, 1979, the government of General Kriangsak Chomanan, who had come to power in Thailand by a military coup, informed foreign embassies inBangkok that it was going to expel a large number of Cambodian refugees. He would allow the governments of the United States, France, and Australia to select 1,200 of the refugees to resettle in their countries. Lionel Rosenblatt, Refugee Coordinator of the American Embassy, Yvette Pierpaoli, a French businesswoman in Bangkok, and representatives of the Australian and French governments rushed to the border to select the refugees that night. In three frantic hours the foreigners picked out 1,200 refugees for resettlement from among the thousands being held by Thai soldiers behind barbed wire in a Buddhist temple at Nong Chan Refugee Camp and loaded them on buses to go to Bangkok. The remaining refugees were then loaded on buses and sent away, their destination unknown.

It later became known that Cambodian refugees had been collected from many locations and sent to Preah Vihear. An American Embassy official stood beneath a tree along a dirt road leading to the temple, counted the buses, and estimated that about 42,000 Cambodians were taken to Preah Vihear.^[12]

Preah Vihear is situated at the top of a 2,000 foot high escarpment overlooking the Cambodian plains far below. The refugees were unloaded from the buses and pushed down the steep escarpment. “There was no path to follow,” one said. “The way that we had to go down was only a cliff. Some people hid on top of the mountain and survived. Others were shot or pushed over the cliff. Most of the people began to climb down using vines as ropes. They tied their children on their backs and strapped them across their chests. As the people climbed down, the soldiers threw big rocks over the cliff.”^[13]

At the foot of the cliffs were minefields, placed by the Khmer Rouge during their rule in Cambodia. The refugees followed a narrow path, the safe route indicated by the bodies of those who had set off land mines. They used the bodies as stepping stones to cross the three miles of mined land to reach the Vietnamese soldiers, occupiers of Cambodia, on the other side. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees later estimated that as many as 3,000 Cambodians had died in the push-back and another 7,000 were unaccounted for. General Kriangsak's objective in this brutal operation apparently was to demonstrate to the international community that his government would not bear alone the burden of hundreds of thousands of Cambodian refugees. If so, it worked. For the next dozen years the UN and Western countries would pay for the upkeep of Cambodian refugees in Thailand, resettling thousands in other countries, and devising means by which Cambodians could return safely to their own country.^[14]

[NickJ]

Wonderful rules for Nation building. However Thailand may be in a posistion for a quick fix with band aid medical care. It is hardly in a posistion to be able to withstand a mass migration of Bangladeshis. The majority of these boat people are just that.

Im not advocating blowing them out of the water. Just border security for the area.

Edited May 18, 2015 by NickJ

[arjunadawn]

Wonderful rules for Nation building. However Thailand may be in a posistion for a quick fix with band aid medical care. It is hardly in a posistion to be able to withstand a mass migration of Bangladeshis. The majority of these boat people are just that.

Im not advocating blowing them out of the water. Just border security for the area.

Agreed. IMO, it takes a tortured caricature of history to conclude that local history warns posterity "Don't push back the persecuted." I tend to agree with multiple elements in the piece not because they are brilliantly delivered but because they appeal to universal truths. By the fourth paragraph it was obvious the author was sharpening a liberal knife.

I do not agree these are the most persecuted people in the world, by any stretch! How our convenient and narrow vision enables us to see a worldview we choose to remains stunning. Christians are overwhelmingly more persecuted in actions and sheer numbers then these people.

No nation should respond to the vox populi calls of any people, including its own, if so doing potentially imperils the very people of the State. If Thailand can help these people, do. If it can only help in various ways, then do so. If it can help be regionally pressing the issue of a solution than do so; but Thailand has no duty to burden its own citizens. Were this to be a moral imperative why should it then stop with these people? Why would it next not apply to any people in all places in all times? Why would the moral imperative cease if there were millions of them, or they were separated by 12 hours in distance. Why on earth would Thailand stop there? Why?

Because moral duty makes incumbent upon none a suicide pact where their virtue is also their own death sentence. A nation must always preserve and defend the rights of its citizens above all others; period!

It is disgusting what is happening with these people but if you take them in more will come, a lot more. If you force upon the host nation by either incentive or coercion a duty to recognize them and demand recognition and equal rights... more will come. They will pour over the borders from neighboring countries and overwhelm the region; indeed, a good many of these people trace their recent journey from countries outside the area.

I remain unsure how to assist without meddling in the Pandora's box of unintended consequences that meddling surely brings every single time! But for folks to argue these are the most persecuted people in the world is a sick marginalization of many people really, seriously suffering this very day!

[Bluespunk]

If a society wishes to call itself civilised then it has to help those who are genuinely fleeing persecution, as the Rohingya are.

It has to take ashore those clearly in dire need of help. Whether they are refugees or economic migrants is irrelevant, if they are in danger or drifting towards potential danger/harm, then they should be helped and rescued.

Those amongst them who are in fear of their lives because of persecution elsewhere should be settled.

The economic migrants, while they should be returned home, should still be treated in a humane manner.

If a society wants to be called civilised that is.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Bluespunk

[Puwa]

Thanks for posting this important reminder of Thailand's history with refugees. I knew Yvette, she was a top-notch person.

Well since we're talking history - (excerpted from a much longer Wikipedia essay)

On June 12, 1979, the government of General Kriangsak Chomanan, who had come to power in Thailand by a military coup, informed foreign embassies inBangkok that it was going to expel a large number of Cambodian refugees. He would allow the governments of the United States, France, and Australia to select 1,200 of the refugees to resettle in their countries. Lionel Rosenblatt, Refugee Coordinator of the American Embassy, Yvette Pierpaoli, a French businesswoman in Bangkok, and representatives of the Australian and French governments rushed to the border to select the refugees that night. In three frantic hours the foreigners picked out 1,200 refugees for resettlement from among the thousands being held by Thai soldiers behind barbed wire in a Buddhist temple at Nong Chan Refugee Camp and loaded them on buses to go to Bangkok. The remaining refugees were then loaded on buses and sent away, their destination unknown.

It later became known that Cambodian refugees had been collected from many locations and sent to Preah Vihear. An American Embassy official stood beneath a tree along a dirt road leading to the temple, counted the buses, and estimated that about 42,000 Cambodians were taken to Preah Vihear.^[12]

Preah Vihear is situated at the top of a 2,000 foot high escarpment overlooking the Cambodian plains far below. The refugees were unloaded from the buses and pushed down the steep escarpment. There was no path to follow, one said. The way that we had to go down was only a cliff. Some people hid on top of the mountain and survived. Others were shot or pushed over the cliff. Most of the people began to climb down using vines as ropes. They tied their children on their backs and strapped them across their chests. As the people climbed down, the soldiers threw big rocks over the cliff.^[13]

At the foot of the cliffs were minefields, placed by the Khmer Rouge during their rule in Cambodia. The refugees followed a narrow path, the safe route indicated by the bodies of those who had set off land mines. They used the bodies as stepping stones to cross the three miles of mined land to reach the Vietnamese soldiers, occupiers of Cambodia, on the other side. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees later estimated that as many as 3,000 Cambodians had died in the push-back and another 7,000 were unaccounted for. General Kriangsak's objective in this brutal operation apparently was to demonstrate to the international community that his government would not bear alone the burden of hundreds of thousands of Cambodian refugees. If so, it worked. For the next dozen years the UN and Western countries would pay for the upkeep of Cambodian refugees in Thailand, resettling thousands in other countries, and devising means by which Cambodians could return safely to their own country.^[14]

[chainarong]

It seems unreal that as a member of ASEAN Burma isn't interested in the welfare of their people , might be time for the rest of ASEAN to start to apply pressure to Burma to straighten up and start treating people properly , but when you see the make up of ASEAN and the despot governments that make up the group I wouldn't hold my breath waiting.