THAILAND THE UNWANTED: Rohingya Muslim refugees at an immigration detention center in southern Thailand. They have no citizenship in Myanmar where they are fleeing bloody conflict. REUTERS/ATHIT PERAWONGMETHA A Reuters investigation finds that Thai authorities are secretly dumping Myanmar refugees into human trafficking rings. Thailand’s clandestine Rohingya policy uncovered BY JASON SZEP AND ANDREW R.C. MARSHALL RANONG, THAILAND, DECEMBER. 5, 2013 SPECIAL REPORT 1 THAILAND’S ROHINGYA POLICY UNCOVERED SECRET TRAFFICKING CAMPS: A villager walks through a rubber plantation towards a secret human trafficking camp. A blue tent seen through the trees marks the site of the camp. REUTERS/JASON SZEP/ATHIT PERAWONGMETHA ne afternoon in October, in They took our photographs. Ismail said he ended up in a camp the watery no-man’s land be- They took our fingerprints. And in southern Thailand. So did Bozor Otween Thailand and Myanmar, then once in the boats, about 20 Mohamed, a Rohingya whose frail body Muhammad Ismail vanished. minutes out at sea, we were told makes him seem younger than his 21 years. Thai immigration officials said he was we had been sold.” The camp was guarded by men with guns being deported to Myanmar. In fact, they and clubs, said Mohamed, and at least one sold Ismail, 23, and hundreds of other Muhammad Ismail. person died every day due to dehydration Rohingya Muslims to human traffickers, Myanmar Rohingya sold to human traffickers or disease. who then spirited them into brutal jungle “I used to be a strong man,” the former camps. rice farmer said in an interview, as he mas- As thousands of Rohingya flee from dehydration or disease, survivors said saged his withered legs. Myanmar to escape religious persecution, a in interviews. Mohamed and others say they en- Reuters investigation in three countries has The Thai authorities say the movement dured hunger, filth and multiple beatings. uncovered a clandestine policy to remove of Rohingya through their country doesn’t Mohamed’s elbow and back are scarred Rohingya refugees from Thailand’s immi- amount to human trafficking. But in inter- from what he said were beatings admin- gration detention centers and deliver them views for this story, the Thai Royal Police istered by his captors in Thailand while he to human traffickers waiting at sea. acknowledged, for the first time, a covert telephoned his brother-in-law in Malaysia, The Rohingya are then transported policy called “option two” that relies upon begging him to pay the $2,000 ransom they across southern Thailand and held hostage established human-smuggling networks to demanded. Some men failed to find a bene- in a series of camps hidden near the border rid Thailand of Rohingya detainees. factor in Malaysia to pay their ransom. The with Malaysia until relatives pay thousands Ismail was one of five Rohingya who camp became their home. “They had long of dollars to release them. Reporters located said that Thai immigration officials had beards and their hair was so long, down to three such camps – two based on the testi- sold him outright or aided in their sale to the middle of their backs, that they looked mony of Rohingya held there, and a third human traffickers. “It seemed so official at liked women,” said Mohamed. by trekking to the site, heavily guarded, first,” said Ismail, a wiry farmer with a long “HOLDING BAYS” near a village called Baan Klong Tor. narrow face and tight curly hair. “They took Thousands of Rohingya have passed our photographs. They took our finger- What ultimately happens to Rohingya who through this tropical gulag. An untold prints. And then once in the boats, about can’t buy their freedom remains unclear. A number have died there. Some have been 20 minutes out at sea, we were told we had Thai-based smuggler said some are sold to murdered by camp guards or have perished been sold.” shipping companies and farms as manual SPECIAL REPORT 2 THAILAND’S ROHINGYA POLICY UNCOVERED Sittwe Naypyitaw LAOS RAKHINE STATE MYANMAR (where the majority of Rohingya originate) Yangon Bay of THAILAND Bengal Andaman Sea Bangkok CAMBODIA THE ROHINGYA Gulf of Thailand EXODUS Rohingya camps Ranong Kawthaung To escape religious persecution in (Myanmar port town) Myanmar, thousands of Rohingya have fled the country, seeking refuge in Thailand. However, a Reuters Phang-Nga investigation found that Thai authorities are removing Rohingya refugees from its immigration detention centers and delivering them to human traickers. Baan Klong Tor 100 miles The Rohingya are transported across Strait of Sadao 100 km southern Thailand and held hostage in Malacca Padang Besar a series of camps hidden near the border with Malaysia until relatives pay the ransom for their release. Penang MALAYSIA Source: Reuters. SPECIAL REPORT 3 THAILAND’S ROHINGYA POLICY UNCOVERED laborers for 5,000 to 50,000 baht each, or $155 to $1,550. “Prices vary according to their skills,” said the smuggler, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Arakan Project, a Rohingya advo- cacy group based in Thailand, says it has interviewed scores of Rohingya who have passed through the Thai camps and into Malaysia. Many Rohingya who can’t pay end up as cooks or guards at the camps, said Chris Lewa, Arakan Project’s director. Presented with the findings of this re- port, Thailand’s second-highest-ranking policeman made some startling admissions. Thai officials might have profited from Rohingya smuggling in the past, said Police Maj-Gen Chatchawal Suksomjit, Deputy Commissioner General of the Royal Thai Police. He also confirmed the existence of PHONY DEPORTATIONS: Thai immigration authorities put Rohingyas on boats near the Thai port city illegal camps in southern Thailand, which of Ranong to send them back to Myanmar. Instead they end up being sold at the maritime border to he called “holding bays”. human traffickers. REUTERS/ANDREW R.C. MARSHALL Tarit Pengdith, chief of the Department of Special Investigation, Thailand’s equiva- lent of the U.S. FBI, was also asked about carries the threat of U.S. sanctions. In prac- thousands of Rohingya in one of the big- the camps Reuters discovered. “We have tice, the United States is unlikely to sanc- gest movements of boat people since the heard about these camps in southern tion Thailand, one of its oldest treaty allies end of the Vietnam War. Thailand,” he said, “but we are not investi- in Asia. But to be downgraded would be a Widespread bias against the Rohingya gating this issue.” major embarrassment to Thailand, which in the region, however, makes it difficult Besieged by a political crisis and violent is now lobbying hard for a non-permanent for them to find safe haven – and easy street protests this week, Thailand faces dif- position on the United Nations Security to fall into the hands of traffickers. “No ficult questions about its future and global Council. one is there to speak for them,” says Phil status. Among those is whether it will join Robertson, deputy director for Asia at THE ROHINGYA EXODUS North Korea, the Central African Republic Human Rights Watch. “They are a lost and Iran among the world’s worst offenders Rohingya are Muslims from Myanmar and people.” in fighting human trafficking. Bangladesh, where they are usually state- Rohingya men, women and children The signs are not good. less and despised as illegal immigrants. In squeeze aboard overloaded fishing boats The U.S. State Department’s annual 2012, two eruptions of violence between and cargo ships to cross the Bay of Bengal. Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report ranks Rohingyas and majority Buddhists in Their desired destination is Malaysia, a countries on their record for combating Rakhine State in western Myanmar killed Muslim-majority country where at least the crime. For the past four years, Thailand at least 192 people and made 140,000 31,000 Rohingya already live. As Reuters has sat on the TIP Report’s so-called Tier homeless. Most were Rohingya, who live reported in July, many of these refugees 2 Watch List, the second-lowest rank. It in wretched camps or under apartheid-like were waylaid in Thailand, where the Thai will be automatically downgraded to Tier segregation with little access to healthcare, navy and marine police worked with smug- 3 next year unless it makes what the State schools or jobs. glers to extract money for their onward trip Department calls “significant efforts” to And so they have fled Myanmar by sea to Malaysia. eliminate human trafficking. in unprecedented numbers over the past Hundreds of Rohingyas were arrested Dropping to Tier 3 status theoretically year. Ismail and Mohamed joined tens of in two headline-grabbing raids by the Thai SPECIAL REPORT 4 THAILAND’S ROHINGYA POLICY UNCOVERED SECRET POLICY: A poster outside a Thai immigration center in the port city of Ranong warns against human trafficking. The truck is taking Myanmar refugees to boats at the nearby pier, where many will wind up in the hands of human traffickers. REUTERS/ANDREW R.C. MARSHALL authorities on Jan. 9 in the towns of Padang nationwide, the Thai government set a July “mega camp” in Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Besar and Sadao, both near the Malaysia deadline to deport them all and opened another province in southern Thailand. border. At the time, Colonel Krissakorn talks with Myanmar on how to do it. The It was rejected after an outcry from local Paleetunyawong, deputy commander of talks went nowhere, because the Myanmar people. police in the area, declared the Rohingya government refused to take responsibility In early August, 270 Rohingya rioted at would be deported back to Myanmar. That for what it regards as illegal immigrants the IDC in Phang Nga.