News
Thailand Sets Long-Awaited Rules for Vetting Asylum Seekers
Rights groups say the long-awaited rules Thailand’s government approved this month for screening foreigners seeking refuge from persecution in their home countries are likely to leave many worthy applicants in the lurch. The United Nations refugee agency says Thailand currently hosts about 5,000 “urban refugees and ...
Zsombor Peter
Thailand’s Anti-Torture Bill Could Finally End Refugee Push-Backs
Thailand took a momentous step on 24 August —not only because of a shock decision by the Constitutional Court to suspend Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha from his duties, but also because parliament finally passed a historic anti-torture bill. Once fully enacted, the Bill, formally known as ...
PATRICK PHONGSATHORN
Refugees in Thailand allege detention centre abuse
The detention centre was sweltering as Bangkok’s heat oppressed the crowded room. Dark steel bars lined the cells while scores of imprisoned migrants counted down the hours of the day. Crammed together in a tight space, the refugees were in a constantly agitated state. The watchful ...
CALEB QUINLEY
Over 4,400 Myanmar refugees flee to Thailand to escape fighting
Over 4,400 people from Myanmar have fled into the country since Thursday last week to escape clashes between government soldiers and an armed ethnic minority group, the Thai military said Wednesday. As the fighting between Myanmar’s ruling military and the Karen National Union intensifies in south-eastern ...
Kyodo News
East Asia Summit draft statement skips over Rohingya crisis
A draft of the statement to be issued after the East Asia Summit in Bangkok early next month makes no mention of the exodus of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar’s Rakhine state, according to a copy of the communique seen by Kyodo News on Sunday. According to ...
Refugees’ citizenship demands ‘impossible’: Myanmar govt
Administrators in northern Rakhine State say it would be “impossible” for the government to agree to Rohingya refugees’ citizenship demands, in a further sign that Rohingya repatriation is likely to proceed slowly – if at all. Repatriation of up to 2,200 verified refugees from Bangladesh ...
Labor Migration as Complementary Pathways for Refugees in the Asia-Pacific
This working paper examines whether legal labour migration schemes can be opened to humanitarian migrants who may otherwise become targets for migrant smugglers. Keep reading ...
Jay Song
UNHCR chief pleased with discussions on refugee rights issues
The eradication of forced refugee detention, the granting of citizenship to stateless people, and the respectful deportation of asylum seekers are among goals that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expects to develop further with Thailand.Read more ...
