US urges speedy inquiry into mass gravesites in South
THE United States, which has censured Thailand for failing to act against human trafficking, called on Monday for a speedy and credible inquiry into the discovery of a mass grave containing more than two dozen bodies thought to be ethnic migrants.
Police and volunteers have exhumed more than 26 bodies in recent days from two |suspected trafficking camps in jungle near Malaysia that allegedly held hundreds of trafficked migrants, mainly Muslim Rohingya from western Myanmar and Bangladesh.
A spokesperson for the US State Department said the US was in contact with the Thai government, the United Nations and International Organisation for Migration over the discovery and understood that Thai authorities were actively investigating reports of other camps.
“We encourage a transparent, credible and expeditious inquiry into this case,” the official said. “We urge Thai authorities to investigate fully these deaths and camps, and prosecute those responsible.”
On Monday, Thai police announced charges including human trafficking and holding people for ransom against a Rohingya man and three local government administrators.
Four more Thais were being sought – one of whom reportedly surrendered to police yesterday.
The arrests, and the uncovering of the camp and the grave, represent the first major disruption of a trade in humans that activists say has been allowed to flourish for years amid indifference and, sometimes, complicity by Thai officials.The US official said it wasn’t possible to determine yet if Thai authorities were complicit in the camps, but noted that officials had been documented as being involved in the problem in the past.
Last June, the State Department downgraded Thailand to its lowest rank in a survey of countries’ efforts to eliminate human trafficking, placing it alongside states such as North Korea, Syria and Uzbekistan.
The US official declined to say what ranking Thailand would be placed in the next survey due out next month.A bottom-tier ranking exposes Thailand, a key US ally in Southeast Asia, to the possibility of sanctions in addition to those imposed since a military coup in the country last year, although these steps have so far been largely symbolic.
RELATED