Bangkok: A minister denied any plans to deport any of the 19 stateless children who were taken into government custody this month, but a minister on Tuesday ( Mar 26 ) expressed concern about their fate. They could now be deported to neighboring Myanmar.
The organizations claim that the situation highlights Thailand’s inaction in helping unauthorized kids, whose numbers are rising as a result of a military coup in Myanmar in 2021.
Since Mar 12, when state social workers removed the children from a house in the northeastern province of Chiang Rai, their accessibility to parents and relatives has been denied, according to rights activist Nutchanart Boonkhong, a rights activist.
” We saw how the state works and we are very involved”, said Nutchanart, who set up the foundation running the house.
She cited a similar event next July when 126 youngsters, mainly belonging to ethnic minority, were sent to Myanmar by Thai government because they were undocumented, sparking an outcry by , civil society organizations.
” That team was deported, and it is unfamiliar whether there was any pursue- up on their welfare”, she added.
After finding many illegal children at a public institution in the northern county of Ang Thong, far from the boundary, officials at the time claimed they were following deportation laws.