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Thai PM will investigate migrant abuse charges
AP - 40 minutes ago
BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand's prime minister responded to allegations the country's navy abandoned illegal migrants on the high seas by calling immigration a national security issue but also promising to investigate the reported abuse.
Abhisit Vejjajiva said Tuesday security forces must try to prevent migrants from streaming into the country, but the government needed to ensure its enforcement also protected the rights of migrants.
"Illegal immigration affects national security. We must prevent illegal immigration ... but the operations must be within the framework of human rights," he told reporters.
Abhisit was speaking in the wake of allegations the Thai navy forced as many 1,000 migrants _ mostly stateless Rohingyas from Bangladesh _ back out to sea in rickety boats since early December. In the most egregious case, the navy is alleged to have forced several hundred migrants onto a barge in the middle of the ocean, where as many as 300 later drowned. More than 100 were rescued by Indian authorities in the remote Andaman islands.
Abhisit said Thai authorities would investigate the incident, though he insisted the Thai government has no policy of mistreating illegal migrants.
"If the allegations are true and authorities were involved, they must be punished," Abhisit said.
But Abhisit also raised the prospect the migrants could have exaggerated the allegations to gain sympathy.
He said he has received reports that migrants were arriving in boats without engines or attempting to sink their own boats to force Thai authorities to rescue them.
"It is normal that there will be people who have a particular interest in these issues and there are times when (the allegations) are exaggerated," he said.
The United Nations refugee agency has asked Thailand to look into the allegations, which the Thai navy and immigration officials have denied.
Thousands of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas leave Bangladesh aboard rickety boats each year in hope of finding work in neighboring countries. In the last three years, one of the most popular migration routes has been by boat to Thailand and then overland to Malaysia.
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