* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Thailand has witnessed an exponential increase in the number of asylum seekers of various nationalities arriving in the country in the last few years, more than half of whom are from Pakistan. In the absence of a formal legislation for asylum seekers, they are not only unequipped with means to sustain their livelihoods and face limited access to basic services, but are also not entitled to the protection normally granted to such individuals under International Refugee Law. With support from the European Commission, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has introduced a project to accelerate the legal support it provides to these asylum seekers.
Amna* does not remember the last time a day passed when she did not fear for her life. Born an Ahmadiyya Muslim in a village in the north-eastern Punjabi city of Sheikhupura, Pakistan, life in her hometown was not easy. Like others who share her beliefs in Pakistan, Amna was persecuted under a law, which since 1974 considers Ahmadiyyas as “non-Muslim.” Those who refer to themselves as such therefore face criminal charges for blasphemy, an offence that entails the death penalty.
“Every time I ventured out of my house, I had no idea if I would be able to come back alive,” she recalls at the recently established refugee status determination (RSD) centre in the Thai capital of Bangkok. Run by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) with funding from the European Commission’s humanitarian aid department, the centre receives asylum seekers to determine whether they are eligible for refugee status or not.
Sitting next to her husband, Javed, the 26-year-old mother shares her story while her sons play by her side. The couple decided to leave everything behind in January 2014 – not only for themselves but also for the sake of their young children, aged two and three years old, she explains. Upon arriving, however, they soon found out that life in Thailand would not be smooth sailing.
Although Thailand has hosted hundreds of thousands of refugees in recent decades, it is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and therefore does not recognise the refugee status under its legislation. This lack of national framework means the country offers no safe haven for asylum seekers, as they have no legal status in the country. “While we have religious freedom here and don’t feel our lives are in constant danger, there is still this constant fear inside me – the fear that they will come and take us away,” confides Amna.
The situation is even more problematic considering the duration for which asylum seekers are left in limbo: although Amna’s family submitted their application for refugee status to UNHCR merely two days after their arrival in Thailand, they were informed that their interviews would not be scheduled until April 2017 – more than three years later. This extremely long waiting period is a consequence of the steep rise in numbers of asylum seekers in Thailand over the past few years, from a little more than 1 100 in 2013 to more than 6 000 in January 2016. “With the unexpected rise in the number of applicants, our capacity has been overstretched,” explains Jennifer Bose, from UNHCR.
In order to tackle the current backlog of asylum seekers, the EU humanitarian aid department funded UNHCR to scale up their operations, speeding up the RSD process, and therefore reducing the protection risks applicants are exposed to during the waiting period. “Since the project started in July, we have been able to interview up to ten applicants a day, compared to four before this action was introduced,” adds Bose. “We aim to reduce the backlog of cases by 50% by the end of this year, and EU support has been crucial in this regard.”
Under the initiative, a new RSD centre has been set up in central Bangkok, allowing easy access for applicants, whilst additional staff has been recruited to speed up the procedure. Close to 1000 individuals have already been interviewed – including Amna and Javed. “We couldn’t have been happier when we were informed that our interviews had been rescheduled for October 2016 instead of April next year,” Amna confides. “These six months mean a lot to us. We are very thankful.”
As she makes her way towards the interview room with a look of nervous excitement on her face, the young mother is aware of the significance the next few hours will have on her future – a future in which fear will hopefully no longer be an everyday part of her life.
*Names have been changed for protection reasons
