refugees

  • Thailand News

    Thailand commits to child refugee rights by lifting CRC reservation

    The Royal Thai Government made a significant stride in children’s rights by agreeing to withdraw its reservation on Article 22 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), with the move now guaranteeing rights to refugee children. This decision was officially announced by the Cabinet on July 9 and is set to be formalised through the United Nations…

  • Thailand News

    Thailand addresses refugee crisis amid Thai-Myanmar conflict

    Responding to the escalating conflict along the Thai-Myanmar border, Thailand’s government committee convened its inaugural meeting yesterday to address the refugee crisis and bolster security measures. The committee, led by Deputy Prime Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara, strategised ahead of an inspection tour of Tak’s Mae Sot district, which lies opposite the Myanmar town of Myawaddy. The latter recently witnessed a surge…

  • Thailand News

    New refugee screening system stirs fear among asylum seekers

    Bangkok is home to a church where Vietnamese refugees find a temporary haven from lives fraught with fear of arrest or deportation. This is because Thailand, having not signed up for the UN Refugee Convention, does not have a system in place to differentiate between refugees and other migrants, resulting in thousands of individuals living under the radar. Soon, a…

  • World News

    South Sudan airport becomes camp for Eritreans fleeing conflict

    Paloich Airport in South Sudan has become a makeshift camp for thousands of refugees fleeing the neighbouring Sudan conflict. They now live in dire conditions without basic amenities such as running water, toilets, or kitchens. Many of these refugees are Eritreans, who had sought asylum in Sudan before being displaced once again due to ongoing violence. They are now waiting…

  • World News

    Battles in Sudan risks catastrophic humanitarian crisis

    Intense fighting continues between rival factions in Sudan, escalating concerns of a humanitarian disaster, as hundreds of thousands of refugees are forced to flee. Clashes between the regular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his rival, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, have been ongoing since April 15. Casualties continue to mount, causing the mass exodus of…

  • World News

    Sudanese seek shelter in Chad following intense conflict

    In Koufroun, Chad, hundreds of Sudanese people, mostly women and children, seek refuge every day, crossing a small, dry stream on donkeys, horses, carts, or even by foot. As of today, the United Nations refugee agency UNCHR reports that around 20,000 individuals have found shelter in a makeshift camp at this Chadian border village. Various UN agencies are managing the…

  • Crime News

    Police arrest two Russians for begging on the streets of southern Thailand

    Thai police arrested two Russian men yesterday for begging on the streets of Surat Thani in southern Thailand. The men held signs saying they are fleeing war in Russia. Surat Thani Immigration officers, tourist police officers, and officials from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security jointly arrested 36 year old Evgenii Malakhov and 32 year old Alexander Kulikov…

  • South Thailand News

    VIDEO: Desperate Rohingyas dying on boat off South Thailand

    A video is circling on social media of a group of desperate Rohingyas crowded onto a boat off South Thailand’s Ranong province. Over 200 people were on the boat, and 18 people died on the harrowing journey, a Rohingya aid coordinator told Thai PBS. The boat first left Bangladesh in late November. The aid coordinator, Rayid Ali, said the boat has…

  • World News

    Dozens of Rohingya die off Myanmar coast after boat capsizes on way to Malaysia

    A boat carrying at least 90 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar’s Rakhine state to Malaysia capsized off the coast of Myanmar on Saturday, killing at least 14 people, mostly children. More than 50 passengers remain missing after the boat capsized during a storm and 23 survivors were detained by police in Pathein district in Myanmar’s Ayeryarwady region. The UN reports that…

  • World News

    VIDEO: Thai soldiers destroy footbridge used by Burmese refugees fleeing unrest

    In a video posted online on Tuesday, Thai soldiers can be seen dismantling a footbridge in Tak province on the border of Myanmar. The bridge was used by Burmese refugees fleeing unrest in Karen state to cross over into Thailand in recent months. Human rights organisations are urging the Thai authorities to investigate their forces’ treatment of refugees. The Thai…

  • World News

    Manhunt continues for escaped Rohingya refugees in Malaysia

    Malaysian authorities are still on the hunt for 130 illegal Rohingya migrants, who escaped barefoot from a temporary immigration depot near the Kedah-Penang border on Wednesday, after a riot broke out at the facility early yesterday morning. The refugees were reportedly protesting overcrowding at the facility when the situation escalated into a riot. The undocumented migrants, still on the run,…

  • World News

    Rohingya refugees in Malaysia killed trying to cross highway

    Cars hit and killed six Rohingya refugees on a Malaysian highway today. 582 Rohingya refugees had escaped a temporary immigration detention centre, when two men, two woman, and a boy and a girl were hit and killed trying to cross a highway in Kedah state. Before the escape, a riot had broken out in a detention centre in Penang state.…

  • World News

    Pope Francis says Ukraine visit is “on the table”

    Pope Francis was recently invited to Ukraine by the country’s president Volodymyr Zelensky. When asked if he was considering visiting, Francis told a reporter today, “Yes, it’s on the table”. Although Francis has not mentioned the word “Russia” explicitly, since the invasion of Ukraine, he has condemned “unjustified aggression” and “atrocities”. Other Ukrainian officials that invited Pope Francis include an…

  • World News

    UKRAINE UPDATES: Ukraine won’t surrender Mariupol; Zelensky calls Israeli MPs; 25% of Ukrainians flee home; Pope visits children

    As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its fourth weeks, here are the latest headlines… • Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister rejected Russia’s demand to give up the strategic port city of Mariupol by 5am Monday morning Moscow time (4 am Monday in Mariupol). The Russian Ministry of Defence had offered to open humanitarian corridors in exchange for a surrender of the…

  • World News

    UKRAINE UPDATES: Russia captures key port city, 1 million refugees have fled

    This is the first of The Thaiger’s daily update briefs on, not only the ongoing battles across Ukraine, but the key milestones covering the rest of the international perspective relating to the story. These will be updated twice a day and also be part of a new daily program on The Thaiger YouTube channel. • As the Russian invasion of…

  • Thailand News

    Camps set up in Tak for more than 5,000 refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar

    The governor of the Tak province, bordering Myanmar, set four temporary camps supporting victims who escaped the escalating violence between the Myanmar military and the armed wing of the Karen National Union. The camps are all located in Maesot Districts of Tak spreading to four sub-districts including Mae Tao, Mae Ku, Mahawan, and Phop Phra. Around 5,358 refugees who fled…

  • World News

    UN representative talks with Thai officials to help refugees fleeing Myanmar

    With ongoing violence in Myanmar between the military junta and ethnic armies, a representative from the United Nations has held discussions with local authorities in Mae Hong Son, which borders Myanmar, to look into ways to help more than 2,000 Karen refugees who fled their homes to escape the violence. Following the military coup in February, ousting the state counsellor…

  • World News

    Myanmar could descend into a civil war comparable to Syria- UN

    A top UN official is warning that Myanmar could follow that of Syria in terms of descending into a bloody civil war, unless the violence subsides. Michele Bachelet, the UN high commissioner for human rights is calling on all countries with influence to apply concerted pressure on the ruling military junta to end its campaign of repression and the slaughtering…

  • World News

    UN special envoy in Thailand to meet Foreign Minister about Myanmar crisis

    The UN’s special envoy on Myanmar is meeting with Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai in ongoing diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful solution for the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. But Thai officials have put her quarantine ahead of the needs of the Burmese people with Christine Schraner Burgener, who arrived in Bangkok yesterday, having to spend 7 days in ASQ…

  • World News

    Thai Foreign Minister says Karen refugees were not forced back to Myanmar

    Following reports and criticism on Thailand forcing Karen refugees back across the Myanmar border, Foreign Minister and Deputy PM Don Pramudwinai says the claims are not true and that Thailand has been caring for refugees for decades. With the escalating violence in Myanmar following the February 1 military coup, many have fled to Thailand. The United Nations Human Rights Office…

  • Politics News

    US State Department tells non-essential diplomats from Myanmar to leave

    The US State Department is telling non-essential diplomats from Myanmar to leave, after hundreds of anti-coup protesters have been killed. Since the February 1 coup by Myanmar’s military, which removed leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy from elected power, more than 510 people have been killed. “The Burmese military has detained and deposed elected government officials.…

  • Politics News

    PM says Thailand won’t turn away Burmese refugees, but reports say already 2,000 have been refused

    PM Prayut Chan-o-cha says Burmese refugees won’t be turned away, but reports say Thailand has already refused around 2,000 asylum seekers from entering. PM Prayut says the refugees would be let in on humanitarian grounds after more than 500 civilians have been killed since Myanmar’s junta took over in a coup on February 1. “Thailand will not turn them away.…

  • World News

    Hundreds of Burmese refugees flee to Thailand, risking arrest and deportation

    Hundreds of Burmese refugees are fleeing to Thailand in a risky bid to escape the Myanmar army, which seized government in a coup de etat on February 1. The Royal Thai Army has set up temporary camps to deal with the massive influx of immigrants, but since Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, the immigrants are…

  • Covid-19 News

    Thailand’s detention centres see almost 300 immigrants test positive for Covid-19

    Almost 300 immigrants to Thailand have positive test results for Covid-19, according to The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. The immigrants, in which most allegedly entered Thailand illegally, were tested at the Immigration Bureau’s detention centres in Suan Phlu and Bang Khen, with 297 testing positive for the virus. The overcrowded centres have stopped accepting new detainees as the bureau…

  • World News

    Regional news source publishes smuggled photos from Bangkok’s Immigration Detention Centre

    A regional news source, linked to the Catholic Church, has published a group of photos over the weekend slamming Thailand’s notorious Bangkok’s Immigration Detention Centre. The article claims the Centre has “squalid and overcrowded conditions in which inmates, including children, women and the elderly, have been forced to languish for months and even years on end.” The Union of Catholic…

  • South Thailand News

    4 out of 19 missing Rohingya captured after Wednesday’s detention centre escape

    4 Rohingya migrants who escaped with 15 others from a Songkhla detention centre earlier this week have now been captured. The superintendent of Songkhla Province’s Immigration Bureau reported yesterday that four more of the detained Rohingya had been captured. Rohingya migrants entering Thailand, often as boat passengers or smuggled on their way to Malaysia, are treated as illegal immigrants and…

  • South Thailand News

    Police and sniffer dogs search for 18 Rohingya who escaped from southern detention centre

    Police and soldiers are searching forest areas around the border areas of Sadao district, south of Hat Yai in Songkhla, as they look for 18 illegal Royingha migrants. Originally 19 fled from the camp, about five kilometres from the border but one broke his leg during the escape and was soon found while hiding in a nearby village. 18 are…

  • Thailand News

    Thailand pledges to soften harsh refugee policies

    PHOTO: Toronto Star Thailand’s immigration chief is pledging an upgrade of the country’s draconian treatment of refugees following the intense international media coverage of the young Saudi woman’s attempt to seek asylum. Rahaf Mohammed became the biggest international story across the world for a week after being intercepted during a transit stopover in Bangkok, on her way to Australia, and…