Trouble with detention

The government’s honeymoon period after winning a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council looks set to be short-lived, as the unfortunate end of the statute of limitations in the Tak Bai incident cast doubts over the government’s commitment to ending the culture of impunity among state officials.
The latest bad news regarding the country’s human rights track record comes in the form of a report titled “Out of Sight: Human rights violations in Thailand’s immigration detention centers”, which was published by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Union for Civil Liberty (UCL) on Tuesday.
The report is based on interviews with foreigners who have been detained in immigration detention centres (IDCs) run by the Immigration Bureau under the Royal Thai Police.
The former inmates described the IDCs as “severely overcrowded”, consisting of “squalid cells with minimal personal living space”. In addition to calling the wardens “abusive”, they said inmates were regularly deprived of basic hygiene supplies, especially women, fed substandard food and had limited access to adequate healthcare.
While authorities have dismissed the report as one-sided, it did not come as a surprise. IDCs have been long known for sub-par living conditions, and detainees are often treated as criminals despite not having gone through due process.
These conditions have led to the deaths of several detainees who were awaiting further legal processes or deportation.
In 2018, Aziz Abdullah, 49, a Uyghur migrant who had been detained since 2014 at Suan Phlu immigration detention facility in downtown Bangkok, which is notorious for overcrowding, passed away.
Two months later, 40-year-old Mattohti Mattursun passed away in a Bangkok hospital. The rest of their group remain in IDCs with no clue as to when they will be able to leave.
Most of those held in IDCs have been detained for breaking entry rules. After serving time in a Thai jail, these inmates are put in IDCs as they wait to be sent back to their countries of origin.
Another group of inmates consists of political refugees. As Thailand is committed to the principle of non-refoulement, these political refugees and asylum seekers are too sent to IDCs to await transfer to third countries.
Rights advocates are increasingly calling on the police to allow a transparent audit of these IDCs by an independent agency or non-governmental organisation. Allowing these audits to proceed is important in an effort to bring conditions in these detention centres in line with accepted international standards.
The best way to solve the problem is by speeding up the deportation process.
Lawyers representing foreigners detained in IDCs routinely complain that immigration officials are not actively pursuing their cases, and many lack the resources to get in touch with embassies or authorities in other countries.
The RTP and the government need to mobilise more resources and review policies to speed up the deportation process. Regarding political refugees, the government needs to work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help resettle them in a safe third country.
Perhaps the easiest way for the government to start is by sending the 40 Uyghurs detained since 2014 to a third country. They have waited long enough.