Today, as Christmas marks a celebration of family and giving around the world, about 200 Rohingya refugees are stranded at sea, starving and dying. For the past three weeks, they have gone without food and water. About 20 of them, including women and young children, have died. More will get sick and die if they do not receive help in time.
The boat left Bangladesh in mid-November, carrying Rohingya fleeing hardship and hopelessness in refugee camps. The boat broke down at sea early this month while heading to Malaysia and Indonesia.
When the boats were adrift near the Phuket shores, human rights groups called for an urgent rescue from the government. The spokesman for the Royal Thai Navy immediately denied the boats were in Thai waters.
The winds may have already taken them away from Thai territories before the navy searched for them, he said. The authorities have refused to acknowledge the Rohingya now adrift at sea, but they cannot deny that human traffickers continue to sail through Thai waters for their slave trade.
In June this year, the racketeers abandoned 59 Rohingya on Koh Dong Island in the Tarutao National Marine Park, Satun province, after their two other boats full of Rohingya were apprehended by Malaysian authorities.
It is undeniable that Thailand remains part of an active human trafficking route. Yet the authorities rarely report any interceptions unless the Rohingya are already stranded or have died on Thai soil from accidents.
The ethnic Muslim Rohingya suffer severe persecution and violence in Myanmar, forcing them to flee to Bangladesh despite the hardships in refugee camps. The desire for a better life has made them an easy target for transnational human trafficking rings.
As of November this year, over 2,000 Rohingya had risked their lives by taking perilous sea journeys, according to UNHCR. About 120 people died or went missing at sea. The human trafficking route is also active on land. Thousands of Rohingya have fled Myanmar's Rakhine state for Thailand through Tak and Ranong provinces. Only a few have been intercepted.
Thailand has long been a base for criminal networks to transport the Rohingya from Myanmar and Bangladesh to Malaysia and Indonesia. Yet the government refuses to admit it. The state authorities also refuse to acknowledge that human trafficking rings still freely operate in Thailand, thanks to their close connections with corrupt officials from top to bottom.
The pervasive corruption and inaction against criminal gangs have badly tainted the country's name. In 2014, the United States downgraded Thailand to Tier 3 at the bottom of the US Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP), making Thailand among the worst-performing countries in the battle against human trafficking.
In 2015, the world was shocked when the mass graves of over 30 Rohingya bodies were discovered at an abandoned human trafficking camp in Songkhla province. It was where the Rohingya were beaten up and tortured to pay ransom money so they could continue the journey to Malaysia.
The mass grave discovery forced the government to investigate and indict those involved in the trafficking rackets. Apart from agents from Myanmar, the criminal network also included local politicians and high-ranking military officials. Among them were Lt Gen Manas Kongpan, a Royal Thai Army special expert, and Pajjuban Angchotiphan, then-president of the Satun Provincial Administrative Organisation.
After indicting the traffickers, Thailand's ranking in the US TIP Report was upgraded to Tier 2 in 2015. Lt Gen Manas was sentenced to 82 years in prison, while Pajjuban was given 75 years. Lt Gen Manas died in prison in June last year. One of the key traffickers has passed away, but the human trafficking rings remain as active as ever.
Thailand was downgraded to the Tier 2 Watch List in 2020 because of inadequate assistance to the victims when corruption and official complicity impeded anti-trafficking efforts. When Thailand was upgraded to Tier 2 this year, Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon immediately declared that the country's next year's goal is to move up to Tier 1, the highest ranking. The only way for Thailand to achieve Tier 1 is by demonstrating a serious commitment to investigate, prosecute, and convict the traffickers, help victims, and punish corrupt officials.
The government has already squandered this opportunity by refusing to recognise the stranded Rohingya, rescue them, and prosecute the traffickers.
By refusing to help the Rohingya it has also failed to meet its moral and ethical responsibilities. Such neglect is all the more disturbing when compassion and generosity are at the heart of the holiday season.
