Opinion | UN plea to Thailand over reports that 15 Rohingya migrants were shot dead
Reports that 15 Rohingya migrants trying to flee Myanmar were shot dead by Thai security forces prompt UN demand for explanation
United Nations officials have demanded urgent explanations from Thailand over reports that its security forces shot dead up to 15 unarmed Rohingya migrants trying to flee neighbouring Myanmar.
Vivian Tan, spokeswoman for the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Thailand, said officials yesterday met counterparts from the Thai Foreign Ministry in Bangkok.
"We … are watching this closely and we are concerned," Tan said. While no specific timetable was offered from the Thai side, "we did say it was urgent".
We … are watching this closely and we are concerned. We did say it was urgent
Her comments follow reports in yesterday's South China Morning Post from its correspondents in Phuket detailing allegations from survivors of the February 22 incident near the island of Phuket on Thailand's Andaman coast.
The alleged killings came during an attempt by the military to transfer about 20 migrants from the boat that had carried them and more than 100 others from Myanmar to a smaller boat.
Some feared they would be separated from family members and jumped into the water, at which point the military opened fire, witnesses said. Survivors are being sheltered by local Thai villagers, some of whom heard the shooting and photographed Thai military vessels towing a Rohingya vessel. Thai naval officials have yet to comment.
Tan said the UNHCR was aware of earlier, vague media reports of shootings in Thailand from Rohingya boatpeople arriving in Sri Lanka and two recent boatloads in Aceh, on the north-western tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
UNCHR staff had yet to be allowed access to the Sri Lanka migrants but had started interviewing the arrivals in Aceh.