Recent reports by two human rights advocacy agencies demonstrate the plight of child migrants in state custody in Thailand as legal mechanisms based on humanitarian principles are sadly lacking to properly handle those who are arrested and jailed with their parents or relatives.
The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand this week released investigative findings about the untimely death of a 16-year-old Rohingya girl detained in an immigration police centre in the South in November last year. The report found the girl had been incarcerated with grownups since 2015, a practice violating the UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty.
The girl suffered acute stomach pain and was sent to a local hospital for about 10 days. Shortly after returning to the centre, her condition deteriorated and she tragically died.
The untimely death prompted an investigation in which the NHRC blamed obsolete immigration rules that allow the authorities to treat vulnerable youngsters badly. It said while 16-year-olds are categorised as juveniles under the child protection law, Thai immigration law simply labels those entering the kingdom as illegal migrants, without any distinction between youngsters and adults. Without such a differentiation, child detention becomes a state practice that unjustifiably deprives young migrants of their rights.
The NHRC noted that the prolonged detention of the ill-fated Rohingya girl and others reflects a failure by the state to differentiate trafficking victims and villainous traffickers.
In a separate report, the Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights raised concerns over breaches of UN guidance on refugee protection by Thai immigration in a series of crackdowns that accentuate a "dark period for refugee rights".
The migrant crackdowns were launched earlier last month after Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon ordered swift action against "overstaying foreigners" in Thailand on fears about transnational criminals lurking among them.
In a single raid in the Charan Sanitwong area, it was reported that at least 77 refugees from Pakistan, including 43 children, were arrested. This followed a crackdown in Nonthaburi in late August in which some 180 migrants, mostly from Vietnam and Cambodia including some children, were rounded up. The APHR noted that many of the migrants arrested were those who had fled violence at home. The harsh action was condemned as it affected a group of people recognised as refugees by the UN refugee agency.
The ongoing raids were carried out despite a promise by the Thai state that it would strengthen refugee rights. In 2016, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha committed to establishing a screening mechanism to take over the refugee status determination process from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. While recognising some progress, the APHR is disappointed that the mechanism remains unimplemented.
According to the APHR, Thailand is home to 100,300 refugees, mostly living in camps along the Thailand-Myanmar border, while there are about 6,000 "urban refugees" in Bangkok and adjacent provinces. About 100 refugee children are being held in immigration detention centres and several dozen in other government-run centres.
As an immediate measure, the immigration agency must end child detention. The agency should work closely with the Interior Ministry and the Social Development and Human Security Ministry to handle child migrants appropriately while repatriation or transfer to a third country is pending.
Thai agencies involved continue to ignore the rights of refugees as the country has yet to ratify the so-called 1951 Refugee Convention. But this attitude needs to change.
The APHR is right in urging a departure by the Thai state from the old way of thinking that identifies refugees as a national security issue and instead embrace humanitarian principles in dealing with such ill-fated people, especially those escaping persecution at home.
On top of that, the Thai state must look for a long-term solution to this contentious issue. All state agencies must thoroughly discuss the 1951 Convention and work for domestic legislation that protects the rights of refugees.