UN and world community must help Asean nations cope with crisis: NSC chief

Thailand was not the country of origin for the illegal migrants, notably Rohingya, although the Kingdom was at the core of the current asylum-seeker crisis and a long-time bearer of the burden, he said.

Thailand is home to about 120,000 asylum-seekers from Myanmar, The Border Consortium says. Most have lived in nine camps along the border from Kanchanaburi to Mae Hong Son since the mid-1980s. Tens of thousands have been resettled in third countries over the past decade, while Thailand is engaging the government in Nay Pyi Taw and the UN refugee agency about plans to eventually repatriate those still in the border camps.

The Rohingya issue is complicated because Myanmar does not recognise them as national citizens, Anusit said.

“We have talked with Bangladesh about Bangladeshi migrants but cannot raise the issue of Rohingya with Myanmar,” said Anusit in an interview with The Nation.

“Thailand is only a transit country and what we can do is provide food, water and other basic needs on a humanitarian basis for them.”

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that more than 25,000 migrants have taken boat journeys from Bangladesh and Myanmar to other Southeast Asia countries in recent times. Malaysia and Indonesia announced last week they would shelter them for one year before seeking to repatriate them.

The UNHCR called on countries in the region to help save 3,500 migrants believed to be still at sea. 

It’s estimated up to 2,000 people are still stranded on boats in the Bay of Bengal, and another 1,500 farther to the south in the Andaman Sea, the UN said on Saturday.

Thailand’s military government has only said it would provide humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants. 

Anusit said the issue would be discussed when representatives of 17 countries and three international organisations gather in Bangkok on Friday.

“We will know how to handle this particular issue after the May 29 meeting, when countries say how they will help,” the security chief said.

Thailand has faced the problem of Rohingya migrants for long time but the issue became a grave concern in early 2009 when the Navy towed their boats out to the high seas.

The issue flared again late last month when the remains of Rohingya were found in a mass grave in Songkhla province near the southern border – an area criss-crossed with human-trafficking routes.

Thailand treats the Rohingya as illegal migrants and around 300 of them are currently reported as being detained. 

It is understood that the government will not set up “shelters” for them – only temporary holding areas – as it fears that the Rohingya issue will be like other cases in the past, with asylum seekers remaining in the country for many years.

“Thailand is limited in its means as the country already hosts a significant number of refugees,” Anusit said. “The crisis has occurred in the Bay of Bengal and requires international cooperation to address this issue.”

At the moment, combating human trafficking is at the top of the government’s agenda, he said. 

The Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha has given a strict timeline of one month to deal with this issue. 

Meanwhile, nine more people wanted for human |trafficking have been detained, bringing the number of suspects in custody to 43, with 34 still on the run.