Press Release: Phuket Immigration releasing child with Myanmar nationality from custody to be take care of by their parents according to the Standard Operating Procedure on the Determination of Measures and Approaches Alternative to Detention of Children in Immigration Detention Centers
On 13 March 2024, the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) has been asked for help by a female migrant worker from Myanmar who complained that her 16-year-old son was held in custody by the police at the Patong Police Station for having a passport, but there was no document to establish the relationships between the child as a dependent and the parent. The HRDF staff has thus offered help and coordinated among concerned authorities asking for the release from custody of the child since he was yet 18 years of age, and should therefore be entitled to protection according to the Child Protection Act, B.E. 2546. Still, the competent officials were unable to release the child on the day of the arrest citing the lack of document showing the status of dependent.
On 14 March 2024, the Patong Police Station’s officials have transferred the Myanmar child to the Phuket Immigration assuming that an undocumented migrant worker has to be transferred to the Immigration Office to be further deported to their country of origin. The HRDF staff argued that in such case, the child cannot be held in custody at the Immigration Detention Center according to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) based on the “Memorandum of Understanding on the Determination of Measures and Approaches Alternative to Detention of Children in Immigration Detention Centers” prepared by the Department of Children and Youth and various child protection state agencies have signed the MoU.[1] HRDF has thus coordinated with and explained to the inquiry officials and officials of the Immigration Office as well as coordinated with the Phuket Shelter for Children and Families to offer the child temporary protection. Meanwhile, the child’s mother will try to acquire the documents to prove her relationships with the child and her immigration status to further submit to the Immigration Office.
After the status of the female migrant worker and her relationships with the child can be established, the competent officials of the Phuket Immigration have released the 16-year-old-child from custody and to his mother’s care on 21 March 2024 pending the process to apply as a dependent to his mother.
Ms. Phenpiccha Jankomol, Project Coordinator from the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) said that according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Thailand is a state party, it prescribes that every child is entitled to protection regardless of their migration status or their right to reside. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child also opined that “Detention of migrant and asylum-seeking children because of their or their parents’ migration status is never in the best interest of a child and always a violation of children’s rights.” Therefore, the law enforcement agencies are obliged to respect and guarantee the rights upheld in this Convention without discrimination and without racial prejudice. Therefore, a child who is not a national or does not have a legal migration status, or does not have the right to reside deserves equal treatment to the child who is a national.
For more information, please contact Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF)
[1] https://www.unicef.org/thailand/media/8741/file/Operation%20Guide%20on%20child%20protection%20in%20Immigration%20Detention%20Center%20amid%20the%20COVID-19%20pandemic.pdf