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Refugees: collateral damage in Thailand’s illegal migrant crackdown

  • More than 200 refugees, mainly from Vietnam, Cambodia, Syria and Pakistan, have been arrested and subjected to indefinite detention
  • Thailand does not recognise UNHCR conventions

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Pakistani Christian refugees exit a police truck as they arrive at the Immigration Detention Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: AP
Fatima, 48, thought she would find safety in Thailand when she fled war-torn Syria almost six years ago.

“We came to Thailand because it was the only country that gave us a visa,” says Fatima, who was born in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, near Damascus.

However, the visa expired before her or her husband were able to find a legal job, rendering them illegal migrants. A few months later, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recognised their refugee status, but they remained illegal in the eyes of Thailand.

Refugees and asylum seekers such as Fatima have become the targets of a widespread crackdown on foreigners living illegally in Thailand, with many sent to immigration detention centres.

“They target anyone who has entered Thailand through illegal channels [but] refugees have become collateral damage in this crackdown,” says Sunai Pasuk, Thailand researcher for Human Rights Watch.

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