I originally wrote this article in May, 2018. 

As mentioned in a previous article, the biggest contributing factor to refugee education fracturing in Bangkok is the fear of detention in the Immigration Detention Center (IDC). The IDC is a prison for illegal immigrants who are arrested with expired visas in Thailand. The IDC was designed to hold prisoners for 15 days, but it has held some prisoners for as long as 12 years (Chia, 2018).

Thailand has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention (UNCHR), but has signed the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The CRC states “States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child’s parents, legal guardians, or family members” (emphasis added) (p. 2). In Thailand, children are not protected from the punishment their parents receive. Children are thrown into the IDC cells with their mothers and teenagers are put into cells with adults.

Not long ago “In a speech at the Leaders’ Summit on the Global Refugee Crisis on September 20, 2016 in New York, Prime Minister Prayut committed to end the detention of refugee children in Thailand” (emphasis added) (Human Rights Watch, 2017). Sadly, this has not happened. In 2018 there are reports of ten refugee children detained with their mothers at the IDC at 507 Soi Suan Phlu, Bangkok, Thailand. This sad story is ongoing in Thailand, I hope that change will happen soon and justice will be done for these people.

All of this injustice can be easily justified by government officials in Thailand because, technically, refugees are allowed to go to Thai public schools. However, in order to take their children to school, refugee parents must expose themselves to the outside world, risking arrest and then detention in the IDC. In Bangkok, the refugee cultural identity (Egbo, 2009) is one of utter fear. The issue here is bigger than education, the issue is an absence of freedom. Refugees aren’t able to complain about cultures of dominance in education because they can’t go to school at all to learn about cultures of dominance in the first place. As is the case with Charles, the teenage refugee I mentioned in my previous post. He should not be discriminated against because his parents are refugees. He should be protected, empowered, and have his right to education fulfilled.

For more information about the joint organizational efforts to help refugees in Thailand, follow this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. It was a pleasure spending time with you today.

Peace & Blessings, 

– Josiah 

References

Chia, J. (2018). Detention Centres Stuck in Past Century. Bangkok Post. https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/special-reports/1414047/detention-centres-stuck-in-past-century

Egbo, B. (2009). Education and Diversity: Framing the Issues, Teaching for Diversity in Canadian Schools. Windsor: ON: Pearson Education Canada.

Human Rights Watch. (2017). Thailand: Implement Commitments to Protect Refugee Rights. HRW. https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/07/06/thailand-implement-commitments-protect-refugee-rights

UNHCR. (1951). Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. UNHCR. https://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10

United Nations. (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child. OHCHR. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx