Govt extends migrants' detention another 6 months

Govt extends migrants' detention another 6 months

A Rohingya Muslim illegal immigrant puts his hand on the railing inside the Immigration Detention Centre during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in Kanchanaburi province July 10, 2013.Credit: Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha

By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK | Tue Aug 20, 2013 5:28am EDT

Published: 30 Aug 2013 at 00.00

Newspaper section: News

The government has agreed to hold about 2,000 Rohingya migrants in detention centres nationwide for another six months, Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnok said on Thursday.

The migrants were originally due to remain in the centres for six months 

 while the government assessed options for their relocation, but that initial deadline passed last month. The new detention deadline would end in 

January.

The deputy PM, who oversees national security, was responding to an opposition request for details on the government's policy to deal with the Rohingya migrants. 

The request was made during a parliamentary session yesterday by 

Democrat MP for Bangkok Samart Maluleem.

Mr Samart said more than 2,000 Rohingya were being detained at

 immigration detention centres. He said he was concerned by 

overcrowding in the centres.

Pol Gen Pracha said the Rohingya, most of whom travelled by boat 

to escape religious unrest in Myanmar's Rakhine state, had breached 

the 1979 Immigration Act. 

The law allows immigration officers to detain them only at Immigration

 Bureau detention centres. However, some Rohingya women and 

children with health problems are being held at shelters operated

 by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.

 Pol Gen Pracha said the government was also concerned about 

the living conditions of the Rohingya.

He said the Foreign Ministry would use the detention deadline 

extension to hold talks with international organisations to 

explain the government's policy in caring for the migrants.

The ministry has already held talks with Myanmar and asked it to 

help repatriate the Rohingya. Myanmar, however, has expressed 

doubts about the origin of the migrants, saying it needed verification 

of their idendities,

National Human Rights Commissioner Niran Pithakwatchara, who

 oversees the Rohingya problem, said he would ask the government 

next week to help provide the Rohingya with proper shelters and 

to raise the problem at an ASEAN forum.

. "It is not just a Thai problem, it is one for all Asean countries," Dr Niran said.

Meanwhile, four Rohingya who earlier escaped from Singkhorn detention centre in Prachuap Khiri Khan's Muang district were apprehended in Bang Saphan district yesterday. Police said they were attempting to reach Malaysia.