Page 129 - A Helping Hand for Refugees

to seek shelter in many countries. In democratic countries, all people
have the right to escape persecution. Article 14 of the 1948 Universal
Declaration of Human Rights says, "Everyone has the right to seek and
to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution."

Hence, boat people are not illegal immigrants and seeking
asylum is most certainly permissible by international law. However,
Thailand has not signed the Refugee Convention and has no domestic
legislation regarding refugees. This gives the current military govern-

ment space to act on its own, without any regard to international law
or communities.

E Exploited and vulnerable

Right now over 120,000 Myanmar refugees who have fled from per-
secution and ethnic violence are living in the ten camps allocated to
them on the Thailand-Myanmar border. According to Thai law, undoc-
umented refugees found outside of the camps are subject to arrest and
deportation and refugees have no legal right to make an income; they
are also at constant risk of arrest and detention. These vulnerable people
often encounter harassment and discrimination. For them, human rights
abuses are almost no different in Thailand than in Myanmar. They are
even sold for a couple of dollars to work as slaves on fishing boats.

Adnan Oktar (Harun Yahya) 127