Thailand will provide temporary shelter for boat people adrift on the Andaman Sea. At the same time, the Thai navy will deploy a landing-platform dock ship in the Andaman Sea to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants found adrift as a compliment to air patrols by the United States.
Prime Minister Prayut told reporters the 4.9 billion-baht HTMS Ang Thong will serve as a “floating base with medics and police” on board. “If any (migrant) boats are found, the navy will lead them to this large navy vessel for assistance. Thailand will then facilitate the boatpeople’s passage to temporary shelters in Malaysia and Indonesia”, he added.
In the meantime, Thai planes had also begun flying up to 200 nautical miles from Thai territory and will concentrate their search on the waters off the country's southwestern shoreline. "We have prepared eight aircraft from two units”, said Air Chief Marshal Jom Rungsawang. "We will work in close cooperation with (ground and sea) stations along the route that is used by migrant boats," he added.
The United States also confirmed that it had started running reconnaissance flights off the western coast of Malaysia. Both Washington and Bangkok are concentrating on the Andaman Sea and the Thai Government has welcomed cooperation with the U.S. for this special humanitarian operation under Thai command.
This Friday (May 29) representatives of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia as well as 12 other nations and several international organizations will gather in Bangkok to discuss the boat people crisis in a regional meeting called by Prime Minister Prayut. As many as 7,000 boat people from Bangladesh and Myanmar are believed to currently be on decrepit and abandoned ships on the Indian Ocean.
Myanmar, which had previously said it would not attend the Bangkok meeting, indicated last week that it had changed its stance and will participate. Meanwhile, authorities in Malaysia uncovered “death camps” near that country’s border with Thailand where they said human traffickers had for years held Myanmar and Bangladeshi migrants for ransom before allowing them to die of starvation or killing them. More than 130 graves were uncovered, and Malaysian authorities said they had found 28 abandoned camps.
Prime Minister Prayut asked critics to consider Thailand’s long track record of providing a haven for refugees and others fleeing violence or persecution in other countries.
“We used to shelter as many as 400,000 to 500,000 migrants. After some 20 years, more than 130,000 still remain. We are already meeting our obligations to the United Nations,’’ the Prime Minister said.
“In addressing the problem, we start with humanitarian aid. Then we ask the migrants about their intentions – what they want to do and where they want to go. If they come into Thai territory then Thai law applies. They will have to be sheltered in holding areas and legal proceedings carried out,’’ the Prime Minister said.
Last week, news agencies witnessed a Thai Navy ship asking a boatload of migrants if they wanted to land in Thailand. The migrants said no, that they wanted to reach Malaysia, and so the Navy gave them food, water and medicines.
For more information and updates about Thailand's policies and actions against trafficking in persons and related issues, visit www.thaianti-humantraffickingaction.org
