Thailand is putting the lives of Myanmar asylum seekers at risk by deporting them in an attempt to appease that country's military rulers and create "a favorable environment" for Thai business, a US-based human rights organization said.
The Thai government is deporting the asylum seekers despite their legitimate fear of punishment upon their return to Myanmar, also known as Burma, said a report issued yesterday by New York-based Human Rights Watch.
"Many will face severe persecution once back in Burma," said Brad Adams, executive director of the group's Asia division. "The Thai government's crackdown puts the lives of many Burmese at risk."
Many of the 142,000 asylum seekers are from ethnic minority groups fighting for independence from Myanmar, and the junta has said their ability to take refuge in Thailand makes it hard to stamp them out.
Myanmar has accused Thailand of allowing its territory to be used as a rear base by guerrillas, especially the Karen National Union, which has been fighting for self-rule for more than a half century.
Yet Human Rights Watch said Bangkok's relations with the junta have grown steadily closer since Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra came to power in 2001. Adams said that was because the government wants "to create a favorable environment for Thai business."
"Thailand should not allow commercial or diplomatic interests to interfere with the ability of Burmese to seek safety in Thailand," Adams said. "It seems clear that the Thai government under Thaksin favors business over human rights."
Thaksin's family controls Shin Corp, a telecommunications conglomerate with business interests in Myanmar.
Calls to government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair went unanswered, but he has said in the past that it is wrong to allege that the prime minister is exploiting his position for personal gain.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow said he had not yet seen the report, "but as far as our treatment of the refugees is concerned, we've always upheld humanitarian principles."
Human Rights Watch said abuses in Myanmar include forced labor, suppression of political freedoms, rape of ethnic minority women by government soldiers, the use of child soldiers, and forced relocation of villages.
The US has imposed economic and political sanctions on the junta because of its poor human rights record and failure to honor the results of a 1990 general election, won by the National League for Democracy party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest.
"Thailand shouldn't be toughening its stance toward Burmese refugees when there has been no improvement in the abysmal conditions causing them to flee Burma," Adams said.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS