We have been hearing news of the escape of Rohinya Muslims, to the South of Thailand, since September last year. The result is that a total of 1200 migrants coming into Thailand over 20 different times, there is no wonder why Thailand has become one of the world’s largest human dumping depots.
Rohinya Muslims are a group of people from Bangladesh who lived in the west of Burma, they have been abused and treated badly by the Burma militants. The reason of the escaping of the Rohinya is that they don’t want to be under the Burma Junta. So, they tried to escape to other countries and Thailand seems to be one of the favorite destinations, but who knows whether they will face the same thing in Thailand.
The news that Thai militants had arrested and harmed the migrants arriving at the south coast of Thailand has become a big issue in society. These people are in working level, want to work and live in Thailand. The Thai militants refused the allegations of harming those migrants. Thai government sent the medical examiners to find out and they can prove that Thai militants are innocent.
Therefore, the Thai government will discourage the Rohinya Muslims from sailing to Thailand. Instead encourage the migrants to their preferred destination, by the Thai authorities or the Royal Thai Navy, they provide food and other survival necessities for the migrants to go further. Malaysia is the most preferred destination for them because they share the same religion.
However, to deal with this problem in Thailand, should not be the government policy but to help them, from all levels; both regional and international. Thailand has to clean up corruption among our immigration officials with the traffickers, especially in border areas. We should eliminate the cause of the problem first and then we can solve the rest, because the trafficking of people is an important problem for Thailand.
Human rights and freedom are the two things that every human being wants, not only the Rohinya. People will never stop seeking for freedom or calling for their human rights as long as inequality and discrimination still exist in this world. The Rohinya has to face with the limitation of their religion, abuse in their working classes and the citizenship laws that do not allow their immigration. They sail to try and obtain human dignity but are hopeless; they become the sailboat that the world doesn’t want.
Grassroots HRED (Human Rights Education and Development) is an organization which is working for Burmese migrant workers and their children in southern Thailand. These people are a committee of Burmese teachers, democratic activists, social workers, health workers and migrant workers. They are promoting human rights, which have concluded in three objectives; providing education, promoting job opportunities until there is a safe working environment and to bridge the gap between Thai and Burmese communities.
