UN Seeks Access, Voices ‘Strong Concern’ For Myanmar Boat People Held In Thailand
Fearing for the well-being of some 126 boat people in Thai custody, the United Nations refugee agency today requested
access to the group of stateless Muslims who fled Myanmar to determine their need for international protection.
Last week the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) voiced strong concern over allegations that the Government had
intercepted a large number of incoming Rohingya boat people in Thai waters, towed them back out to sea, and left them to
die.
The agency has information that 80 of the Rohingya refugees are held on Koh Sai Daeng, an island off the coast of
Thailand in the Andaman Sea, but the whereabouts of the other 46 who the Thai military reportedly set adrift at sea last
Friday are unknown. UNHCR noted the new Government’s commitment to human rights and said that it was eager to quickly
find a resolution to the crisis with Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya. The agency also stressed that the Thai Government
should take all measures to make sure the lives of the Rohingya boat people are not put at risk, adding that it welcomed
local media reports announcing Government investigations into accusations of maltreatment.
There are 28,000 Rohingya refugees in two UNHCR camps in Bangladesh, which shares its south-east border with Myanmar,
and some 200,000 living outside the camps there.
For several years at this time of year, many of these Rohingya refugees have been desperate enough to risk their lives
at sea in small boats sailing from Bangladesh or Myanmar, often turning up in Thailand, Malaysia or as far away as
Indonesia.
ends