The case of 63 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church who were arrested for overstaying visas in Pattaya last week brings back memories of the notorious repatriation of another group of Uighur refugees back to China in 2014.
Then, the government sent the group back to China after being lobbied by the Chinese government.
They were part of a 200-strong group of ethnic-Muslim Chinese arrested that March in Songkhla province. In sending some back for reprimand by Beijing, Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwon said he was confident they would be safe in China.
No one knows what happened to them. However, it is welcome news that the 63 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church who came here to seek asylum but were nabbed for overstaying left Thailand on Friday and will settle in the US, ending their three-year-quest for asylum, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The group, which comprises 31 adults and 32 minors, arrived in Thailand last year, having left South Korea over the dim prospects of having their asylum claim processed by authorities there.
In September, they applied for refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok, hoping such status would help them remain in the country as they waited for their asylum claim to be processed by the United States.
A key provision of the new law is that officials must not send back persons with a well-founded fear of torture, CID or enforced disappearance. This is an absolute rule, and no invocation of national security is permissible.
But the 63 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church are a small drop in an ocean of hundreds or perhaps thousands of cases, stateless individuals and families without any clear direction, still hoping a third country will accept them.
For decades, the government has dithered over refugees and asylum seekers. Thailand is not a signatory of the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, which means it has no legal obligation to differentiate asylum-seekers from irregular migrants and assist them as such.
Over 90,000 people fleeing the violence in Myanmar form a contingent in which many have no recognition of their refugee status, and due to the absence of citizenship documents from Myanmar, they are legally considered stateless persons, with no right to employment, let alone education and welfare -- factors which drive them to become victims of human traffickers.
For years, the government has been pushing voluntary repatriation, but with the unrest in Myanmar inching ever closer to its tipping point, who in their right mind would opt to go back? Resettlement takes years to process, so the camps up North are like a clogged sink -- dangerously close to overflowing, yet all are prevented from rejoining and contributing to society.
Some of the Uighur refugees who were arrested in 2014 also remain in Thailand's immigration custody. They won't be freed as they are considered illegal immigrants, but they won't be deported either, as doing so would violate the principle of non-refoulement.
Their plight was almost forgotten, until a member of the group died earlier this year, prompting fresh calls from the public for the government to re-evaluate its stance on refugees.
The big question is what the government will do with these refugees. The precedent set by the handling of the 63 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church shows the government must continue to abide by human rights and non-refoulment first and foremost.
But that is not enough. Politicians who are competing in the May 14 election must also come up with policies fit to deal with immigrants and refugees, many of whom will go on to stay in Thailand for a number of years. The underlying question is how to create a win-win-solution for everyone involved.
To many who favour keeping the status quo, keeping refugees out is a way of minimising the burden on the economy. Hosting thousands of people over multiple years, after all, isn't cheap.
However, Thailand is now experiencing a chronic shortage of manpower, and the government's inability to meet the demand for labour will certainly cost the economy more in the long run.
Giving refugees the recognition they deserve will not only help the government find more people to employ across various industries, but it will also help prevent human trafficking from within those camps.
While it might not be the best time to roll out a potentially costly reform, given the global economic recession, with the election looming on the horizon, it is certainly the right time to get the conversation started.
