Bangkok: Thailand on Thursday said it will build more temporary shelters for Rohingya and other migrants even as the country described the irregular migration as clearly illegal.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said there were already nine such shelters that had accommodated nearly 500,000 illegal immigrants and the new facilities would be for temporary detention.
Repatriation had reduced their number to about 100,000, Prayut said. “Stop talking about going to a third country. No one would accept them, but everyone tries to make a transit point, such as us, take responsibility. Is this fair?” Prayut said.
Thailand could not avoid the responsibility of temporarily caring for migrants, including Rohingyas, but other countries and international organisations must also provide their support, he said, pending the repatriation.
Prayut ordered Foreign ministry officials to discuss the matter with representatives of countries and organisations who would attend the special meeting on “Irregular Migration in the Indian Ocean” in Bangkok on May 29.
Prayut said the migrants’ arrival in Thailand was clearly illegal and they had to be controlled during their stay in the country pending legal action, Bangkok Post reported. He added that Thailand needed assistance from other countries in handling these illegal migrants.
Meanwhile, neighbouring Malaysia turned away two boats crammed with more than 800 migrants, as thousands of Bangladeshis and Rohingya illegals who arrived in droves in the past few days are camping in Malaysia.
People in the thick of human trafficking have abandoned the illegals and escaped fearing arrest. Around 1,600 have been rescued, but an estimated 6,000 remain stranded at sea. Malaysia has made it clear that it does not want the migrants. Indonesia, which has taken 600 migrants, also turned a boat away earlier this week. The UNHCR said 25,000 people had embarked from Bay of Bengal in January-March, double than the last year’s rate. (PTI)
Thousands of them are feared abandoned after a crackdown in Thailand, which began after the discovery of dozens of dead migrants in jungle graves along its southern border earlier this month. Dozens of graves and bodies, believed to be Rohingya people from Bangladesh and Myanmar, were discovered at abandoned jungle camps in Padang Besar, Sadao district of Songkhla and Phangnga in southern Thailand. PTI JB MRJ 05141556
