Thailand: Rohingya found dead while fleeing Myanmar

(Bangkok) – The Thai government should conduct an effective investigation into how a group of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar were found dead and injured on Thai soil on October 17, 2024, Human Rights Watch said today. Thai authorities should urgently provide protection to survivors and prosecute those responsible for the abuse.

Monks outside a monastery in a remote area of ​​southern Thailand found the group of Rohingya refugees in distress on October 17 and alerted police. At least ten were in critical condition and many were unconscious. Two were dead. Survivors were taken to hospitals in Lang Suan district in Chumphon province, about 500 kilometers south of Bangkok. One is said to have died by now.

“The Thai government should conduct a credible investigation to determine the facts behind these gruesome deaths and bring those responsible to justice,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Thai authorities should hold those responsible accountable, no matter who they are, and provide medical care, asylum review and support to survivors.”

According to preliminary reports from survivors, a group of about 70 Rohingya from Myanmar’s Rakhine State entered Thailand on October 16 near Mae Sot district in Tak Province. Once in Thailand, the Rohingya were apparently packed into refrigerated trucks for the 1,500-kilometer journey to the Malaysian border, with dozens assigned to each truck. About 1,000 kilometers into that journey, drivers in one of the trucks stopped in Lang Suan to carry away Rohingya who had been crushed to death, were unconscious or were otherwise too weak to continue the journey.

Human rights organizations and media have been reporting on extensive human trafficking networks in Thailand for years. Rohingya fleeing persecution in Myanmar often use Thailand as a transit country to get to Malaysia, where large numbers of Rohingya refugees live.

In July 2017, the Bangkok Criminal Court sentenced 62 people, including an influential army general, to long prison terms for their roles in the smuggling and trafficking of Rohingya from Myanmar. The Lang Suan case suggests that Rohingya trafficking appears to be continuing, Human Rights Watch said.

Rohingya fleeing persecution and violence in Rakhine State in Myanmar and abuses in Bangladesh refugee According to Human Rights Watch, the camps received little protection from Thai authorities.

In recent months, the Myanmar military and the ethnic Arakan Army have committed mass killings, arson and illegal recruitment against Rohingya in Rakhine State. About 630,000 Rohingya in Myanmar live under an apartheid system that makes them particularly vulnerable to renewed fighting. The conflict has displaced more than 320,000 people in Rakhine State and southern Chin State since hostilities resumed in November 2023. In Bangladesh, about a million Rohingya refugees face worsening conditions in Cox’s Bazar camps as violence by armed groups and criminal gangs increases.

Since January 2023, more than 8,000 Rohingya have attempted dangerous boat journeys from Myanmar and Bangladesh, and an estimated 600 of them have died or are missing. Rohingya are increasingly attempting to flee to third countries by land across the Thai-Myanmar border as sea transport poses risks due to boat backlash and violence against migrants.

The Thai government has long blocked the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from conducting screenings to determine the refugee status of Rohingya fleeing persecution in Myanmar. Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, has not adopted the international definition of refugee into national law and does not have an appropriate and accessible mechanism for determining refugee claims.

Thai authorities are treating Rohingya found in Thailand without legal documents as illegal immigrants, despite threats of persecution and ill-treatment in Myanmar. Thai immigration officials are holding Rohingya men in squalid prisons across the country. These detention cells are severely overcrowded and lack adequate ventilation, nutrition and medical care. In some cases, prisoners barely have room to sit, let alone sleep. Several have died in custody. Thai authorities have sent Rohingya women and children to shelters run by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.

The current government of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra should change its policy on denying UNHCR verification and release asylum seekers and migrants from detention.

The Thai government’s use of prolonged immigration detention for asylum seekers and migrants violates international human rights law’s prohibition of arbitrary detention. Thailand is also bound by the prohibition of refoulement enshrined in customary international law and may not forcibly return anyone to a place where they are at risk of death or real risk of persecution, torture or other ill-treatment.

“The Thai government should help people fleeing oppression, not worsen their suffering,” Pearson said.