Thailand: Migration conference told to focus on cause

By CS Thana

BANGKOK

A regional migration conference in Bangkok was told Friday that it must focus on the root causes of migration if it is to avoid such situations as the boat people crisis that swept Southeast Asia earlier this year -- an echo of United Nations comments in the midst of the turmoil.

Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai told the conference that the solution must include "prevention" as well as a "cure".

Solutions must "include the promotion of livelihoods at home," Pramudwinai added, so that "refugees are not tempted to go overseas where they face many dangers including trafficking".

An international crisis was sparked earlier this year when thousands of Muslim Rohingya fleeing persecution in Myanmar by boat were trapped at sea after Thailand began to clamp down on people smuggling in its borders.

At a regional meeting in May, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees asked Myanmar to assume its responsibilities to its Rohingya population.

“Addressing the causes of migration will require full assumption of responsibility by Myanmar toward all its people,” stated Volker Turk.

“Granting citizenship is the ultimate goal. In the interim, there must be removal of restrictions on basic freedom,” he added.

The Myanmar delegate retorted that “finger-pointing" will not help solve the issue.

Pramudwinai warned Friday that unless such action was taken on these issues, "it is very likely that [such] maritime movements in the Indian Ocean will soon begin again."

The conference, featuring 24 participating countries and organizations, will focus heavily on the Rohingya.

Rohingya are denied citizenship by the Myanmar government, despite existing in the country for generations. Around 140,000 of them live in squalid conditions in camps in Arakan State (also known as Rakhine State) in western Myanmar - one of the country's poorest regions.

After clashes broke out with local Buddhists in June 2012, they have been routinely persecuted by ultra-nationalists monks, such as Mandalay-based U Wirathu.

Since the violence, they have been fleeing the country -- many assisted by people smugglers -- by boat from Bangladesh to Thailand, where they cross over the border with fellow travellers from Bangladesh into Malaysia in the hope of securing sanctuary and employment.

However, in early May this year Thai authorities launched a crackdown on people-smuggling camps on their southern border, scaring traffickers into abandoning their human cargo at sea, and sparking the regional crisis.

Rights group have called the Rohingya situation in Myanmar "akin to genocide".