La comunidad de asilo pak-cristiana teme que otro bloqueo resulte en hambruna

The refugee and asylum seekers in Thailand were just beginning to recover from the latest COVID-19  lockdown in Bangkok, when the threat of the new Omicron variant emerged.

At the moment around 7000 cases of COVID-19 infections every day, which is worrying for the asylum seeker community. The Royal Thai Government (RTG) relaxed their processes to allow asylum seekers to be vaccinated under pressure from humanitarian groups and international bodies.

However, initially the Pak-Christians and other asylum seekers were reluctant to take part in the vaccination programme for fear of arrest.  However BACA has been encouraging more of the community to get these vaccinations and most of those in the correct age category have now done so.

The last lockdown left many families near starvation and concerns have been raised by the thousands of Pakistani Christians, who make up more than 90% of the asylum seeker community on Bangkok.

For now the RTG has decided not to introduce a full nationwide lockdown, but this will always be open for review (haga clic aquí).

Many of these Christian families have returned to exploitative black market employments or found new ones.

One refugee registered with the UNHCR, said:

“The last lockdown was brutal we had no income and went days without food.

“We work cash-in-hand jobs that are illegal and are not entitled to government support.

“BACA food parcels and help from friends kept us alive.

“Often my wife and I ate nothing for a full day to ensure our children could eat well.

“Another lockdown fills me with dread.”

Thailand has refused to ratify UN Conventions on asylum and this make life extremely difficult for asylum seeker families.

Their status remains illegal even when their asylum cases are being investigated or approved by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).   This results in many of them having to take on difficult, arduous work for a pittance and with the constant threat of threat and return to dangerous nations.

Those who are discovered are arrested and kept in the brutal Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) of Bangkok.  Large operations every year ensure the IDC is filled to capacity with women and children often locked in the same facilities.  This is despite Thailand having signed UN Conventions for protection of children.

Several deaths in the IDC have occurred due to alleged medical negligence causing huge anxiety in the Pak-Christian asylum seeker community.

British Asian Christian Association, ayudó a la BBC a filmar un documental secreto en el IDC de Bangkok cuando uno de nuestro equipo viajó en secreto a Bangkok con un equipo de filmación de la BBC. (haga clic aquí), arriesgándose a ser arrestado para arrojar luz sobre la situación que enfrenta la diáspora de asilo allí. Este enlace (aquí) is a report that we helped BBC’s Chris Rogers write which also contains a short video of one of our schools for asylum seekers.  You can watch the full documentary here:

Antes de nuestros esfuerzos y nuestro trabajo con el Oficial de Protección Especial Peter Trotter, los tiempos de espera desde el registro hasta la decisión del ACNUR podían tomar hasta 7 años. Desde que presentamos un informe de 467 páginas sobre la persecución en Pakistán, los tiempos de espera para todos los refugiados (de los cuales los cristianos pakistaníes representan cerca de 90%) se han reducido a dos años. Esto se debe a que el informe se utilizó como una herramienta para obtener una subvención de 300.000 euros de la Comisión de la UE, lo que dio como resultado 8 nuevos funcionarios que redujeron rápidamente el retraso. (haga clic aquí)

Now our support includes help with food packages for often starving families, trying to cope with the financial difficulties arising from Thailand’s unwillingness to sign UN conventions for asylum.  We share images and videos of our latest group supported with food parcels.

We are reaching between 15 – 20 families each month but the need is greater.  If you are moved to help these Christian families by sponsoring our regular food packages then you can use one of the payment options listed (aquí).  A donation of £30 provides a family of 4 people with food for one month.

Collaborating with a number of charities and humanitarian groups in 2016 we were able to convince the RTG to introduce a bail system for officially recognised refugees by the UNHCR. The cost of freeing one person in 50,000 baht (£1107 under todays exchange rate 02.12.21).  We have received request for bail which has reopened since the lockdown was lifted, so we can continue to support families with the gift of freedom.  Please donate towards this effort (aquí).