The threatened deportations from Thailand of a Vietnamese ethnic minority activist and 48 Uyghurs detained after trying to flee China have cast a harsh spotlight on Bangkok.
But a flood of war refugees from Myanmar poses a bigger test for Thailand’s relatively generous policies toward migrants.
The Uyghurs, held in Thailand since 2014 after attempting to use the Southeast Asian nation to escape persecution in China, have said they fear they are about to be repatriated and staged a hunger strike to highlight their plight.
Vietnamese ethnic minority rights activist Y Quynh Bdap, who Hanoi wants to extradite and jail for terrorism, denies Vietnamese accusations that he committed 2023 attacks on government offices that resulted in nine deaths.
A Thai Immigration Bureau spokesperson said Thailand has “no policy” to deport the Uyghurs, while enforcement of a Bangkok court ruling calling for Bdap’s extradition to Vietnam is still pending.
These high-profile rights cases are playing out amid a bigger crackdown on hundreds of thousands of Myanmar citizens who have taken refuge in Thailand since a military takeover four years ago.
The displaced Myanmar citizens include junta opponents, but are largely ordinary people who seek safety and work as the civil war at home grinds into its fifth year, say those who help migrants in Thailand.
Many have been subject to arrest, involuntary repatriation and arrest again back in Myanmar as Thailand moves to regulate labor migration flows with stricter registration policies and stringent inspections.
“While all nationalities face similar risks, Myanmar nationals face dual risks – both political opposition groups and ordinary workers uninvolved in politics. If deported, they might be drafted into military service, risking their lives,” said Roisai Wongsuban, policy advocacy advisor for the Migrant Working Group, an NGO in Thailand.
Mecca for migrants
Along with scrutiny from rights and labor groups, Thailand gets plenty of credit from the United Nations and others for hosting more than 5 million non-Thai nationals.
“Because of its relatively prosperous and stable economy, Thailand has attracted millions of migrants from neighboring countries looking for a better standard of living,” said the International Organization for Migration, or IOM.
However, Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, meaning it doesn’t recognize refugees, and those who seek asylum can face detention and deportation.
But it is a main base of humanitarian U.N. agencies and NGOs that help refugees in the region.
“The country has also traditionally hosted hundreds of thousands of nationals from neighboring countries, who have fled their homelands due to war, internal conflict or national instability,” the IOM, a UN agency, said in a statement.
Phyo Ko Ko, who works legally at a garment factory in Thailand, told RFA Burmese the military junta back in Myanmar is now collecting taxes on registered migrant workers’ earnings, in another hit to her income.
“Workers only get a basic salary, so the money is spent on these visas and documents all year round,” said Phyo Ko Ko.
Thai media have reported on some promising developments for migrants, such as cabinet approval in October of a plan to grant citizenship to nearly half a million people, including long-term migrants and children born in Thailand, and new visas for digital, medical and cultural pursuits.
Despite the protests and crackdown of 2024, Wongsuban says the same economic priorities and necessities behind Thailand’s decision to accept migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic will ensure the flow of workers continues.
Even critics and activists work with the understanding that “Thailand is the only country in the region that accepts a high number of migrant workers, war refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants,” he said.
Reported by Nontarat Phaicharoen and Jon Preechawong for BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, RFA Burmese and Phouvong for RFA Lao. Translated by Aung Naing and Phouvong. Written by Paul Eckert.
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