The Management of The Rohingya Illegally Migration

Abstract

                    The objectives of the research are as follows: (1) to study and analyze the situations and patterns of illegal immigration of Rohingya people, (2) to study the impact of illegal immigration of Rohingya people on Thailand’s security, and (3) to recommend alternatives to dealing with the issue of illegal immigration of Rohingya people of the Thai government. This qualitative study relied on secondary data obtained from official sources, including undisclosed information from concerned offices and research reports, while the primary data were obtained through semi-structured interviews of 37 key informants including Rohingya immigrants.

                   It was found that the situations and patterns of illegal immigration of Rohingya people were varied in terms of means and number of the immigrants and people involved. The process of the immigration can be divided into 3 phases. The first phase started with oppression, violence used to banish them from their habitation, violation of human rights, compulsion and obstruction of access to obtainable rights in their homeland. That included conflicts between Buddhist Myanmar people in Rakhine and Rohingya people who are Muslim. The second phase began as a result of the drive for better living conditions and further human trafficking, whereby the destinations were Islamic countries, such as Malaysia and Indonesia. The illegal immigration of Rohingya people as such has not been found to affect Thailand yet in terms of national and social security and culture. Nevertheless, the country is at risk of trade barrier as a result of the human trafficking issue, implying that urgent responses are required. The upcoming phase suggests risks of law violation in Thailand’s three southern provinces. This requires Thailand to revise how the problems have been dealt passively and to seek for pro-active strategies where countries, particularly ones where the problem originally arose, cooperatively hold responsibilities. The first step would be negotiations with Myanmar and other countries, including regional dialogue for involving parties to take part in dealing with the issue sustainably. Discussions with international corporations are also necessary in order to set up appropriate ways to handle the situations, with consideration given to sovereignty as they could bring about border issues to Thailand. Furthermore, international rules cannot be the solution as long as the right cause of the problems has not been dealt with appropriately. Aside from dealing with the issues as the country in between, Thailand has to manage her image to the world and deal with human trafficking decisively to prevent the immigrants from being further victims. Strengthening intensive collaboration with corporations in Islamic countries through Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and concerned governments would bring about sustainable solutions to the problems.