The The Absence of Legal Recognition and Its Impact on the Living Conditions of Urban Pakistani Refugees in Bangkok
Abstract
Recently, an increasing number of refugees originating from non-neighbouring countries have arrived in Bangkok seeking asylum at UNHCR. As Thailand does not recognize their refugee status and by so their human rights guaranteed in the Declarations of Human Rights, this group of people, referred to as urban refugees, remain in Bangkok illegally during the application process and until possible resettlement. This study examines how restrictions of their human rights, such as absent of fear of arrest, right to work, access to proper housing, education and health provisions, and a prolonged application process affect the physical and mental health of urban refugees. Data are gathered from semi-structured interviews of 53 Pakistani refugees and officers at organisations working with refugees. Depression and declining physical health are common complains while refugee children fail to enrol in formal education. Considering the lack of support for a human rights dialogue in the Thai society it is recommended that a more pragmatic approach, not employing a human rights narrative, is applied to promote the living conditions for urban refugees living in Bangkok.
References
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Pernice,R.; Brook, J., 1996, ”Refugees’ and immigrants’ mental health: association of demographic and post-traumatic factors”, Journal of Social Psychology, 136, 511-519.
Phillomore, J.: Goodson L., 2006, “Problem or Opportunity? Asylum Seekers, refugees, employment and Social Exclusion in Deprived Urban Areas”, Urban Studies, 43:10, pp. 1715 -1736.
Platt, L. (2009). “Social activity, social isolation and ethnicity”, The Sociological Review, 57:4, 670–702.
Save the Children, 2014, “Pathways to a Better Future: A Review of Education for Migrant Children in Thailand”, Save the Children in Thailand, Bangkok.
Selm, J.,V.; 2003, Global Solidarity: Report of a Plenary Session in Selm, J.V. et al (eds) The Refugee Convention at Fifty, US: Lexington Books.
Silove, D.; Steel, Z.; Watters, C., 2000, “Policies of Deterrence and the Mental Health of Asylum Seekers”, Journal of American Medical Association, 284:5.
Steel, Z.; Hey, M.; Silove, D.; et al, 2009, “Association of Torture and other Traumatic Events with Mental Health Outcomes among Populations Exposed to Mass Conflict and Displacement, A systematic review and Mete-analysis”. JAMA, 302:5, pp. 537 -549.
Theodossiou, I., 1998, “The effects of Low-pay and unemployment on psychological well-being: A logistic regression approach”, Journal of Health Economics, 1, pp.85 -104.
Tribe, R., 2002, “Mental Health of refugees and asylum-seekers”, Advance in Psychiatric Treatment, 8:4, pp. 240 -248.
Tzu Chi, 2009, “Tzu Chi Mission”,
http://tw.tzuchi.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=293&Itemid=283&lang=en
UNHCR, 2010, “Convention and Protocol, Relating to the Status of Refugees”, http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/protection/basic/3b66c2aa10/convention-protocol-relating-status-refugees.html
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Urban refugees. Org. (UR), 2015, “Bangkok, Thailand”, http://urban-refugees.org/bangkok/
Vittaporn, S.; Boonmongkon, P., 2016, “Thailand’s health screening policy and screening of Burmese migrants with tuberculosis”, Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, 37:3, pp. 170 -174.
Arendt, H., 1967, The Origins of Totalitarianism, London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd.
ASEAN, 2013, “ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, and the Phnom Penh Statement on the application of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration”, The ASEAN Secretariat, http://www.asean.org/storage/images/ASEAN_RTK_2014/6_AHRD_Booklet.pdf
Bhabha, J., 2002, “Internationalist Gatekeepers? The tension Between Asylum Advocacy and Human Rights”, Harvard Human Rights Journal, vol.15.
Bray, I., 2017, “When can asylum applicants get a work permit”, NOLO, http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/asylum-applicants-work-permit-timing-32297.html
Burnett, A.; Peel, M., 2001, “Health needs of asylum seekers and refugees”, British Medical Journal, 322(7285), pp. 544-547.
Collewet, L., 2012, “Inhumane Detention Conditions in Bangkok?” Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration, 2:1.
Cornelius, W.A., 1982, “Interviewing Undocumented Immigrants: Methodological Reflections Based on Fieldwork in Mexico and the U.S.”, The International Migration Review, 16:2, Special issue: Theory and Methods in Migration and Ethnic Research, pp. 378 – 411.
Davies, S.E., 2008, International Refugee Law in South East Asia, Boston: Martinus Nijhoff.
Derks, A., 2013, “Human Rights and (Im)mobility: Migrants and the State in Thailand”, Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, 28:2, pp. 216 -240.
Germany V., 2017, “Working in Germany: getting a German Work Permit” Germany-visa.org/working-germany-getting-german-work-permit/(retrieved 25.6.2017).
Gerritsen, A.,M.; Bramsen, I.; Deville, W.; Willigen, L.H.M.; Hovern, J.,E.; Ploeg, H.,M, v., 2006, ”Physical and mental health of Afghan, Iranian and Somali asylums seekers and refugees living in the Netherlands”, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology”, 41;1, pp. 18-26.
Government Gazette, 1999, “National Education Act of B.E. 2542 (1999)”, The Government Gazette, 116:74a, August 1999, http://thailaws.com/law/t_laws/tlaw0165a.pdf
Gower, M., 2016, “Should asylum seekers have unrestricted rights to work in the UK?”, Briefing Paper, 1908, London: House of Commons Library.
Green, M.; Jacobsen, K., 2008, “Invisible in Thailand: documenting the need for protection”, Forced Migration Review, 30.
Held, D., 2002, “Laws of States, Laws of Peoples: Three Models of Sovereignty”, Legal Theory, 8:1, pp. 1 -44.
Helton, A., 1989, “Asylum and Refugee Protection in Thailand, International Journal of Refugee Law, 1:1, pp. 20 -47
Human Rights Watch (HRW), 2012, “Ad Hoc and Inadequate. Thailand’s Treatment of refugees and Asylum Seekers”, Human Rights Watch, US. https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/thailand0912.pdf
Human Rights Watch (HRW), 2015, https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/09/16/thailand-release-dozens-asylum-seekers.
International Justice Resource Center (IJRC), 2017, http://www.ijrcenter.org/refugee-law/
Jastram, k.; Achiron, M., 2001, Refugee Protection: A Guide to International Refugee Law, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva: Switzerland.
Jaeger, G., 2003, “Opening Keynote Address: The Refugee Convention at Fifty” in Selm, J.V. et al (eds) The Refugee Convention at Fifty, US: Lexington Books.
Kennedy, D., 2002, “The International Human Rights Movement: Part of the Problem?”, Harvard Human Rights Journal, vol. 15.
Kugelmann, D., 2010, “Refugees”, Oxford Public International law, March 2010, Max Planck Encyclopaedia of Public International Law
Laban, C.; Gernaat, H.; Komproe,I.; Schreuders, B.; Jong, J., 2004, ”Impact of a long Asylum Procedure on the Prevalence of psychiatric Disorder in Iraqi Asylum Seekers in the Netherlands”, The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 192:12, pp. 843-851.
Latif, E., 2010, “Crisis, unemployment and psychological wellbeing in Canada”, Journal of Policy Modelling, 32:4, pp. 520 -520.
Lauterpacht, E.; Bethlehem,D., 2003, The Scope and Content of the Principle of Non-refoulement in Feller,E.; Nicholson,F., (eds), Refugee Protection in International Law, UNCHR’s Global Consultation on International Protection, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Marfleet, P., 2007,” “Forgotten”, “Hidden”: Predicaments of the Urban Refugee”, Urban Refugees, 24:1.
MII (Ministry of Immigration and Integration), 2016, “Aliens (Consolidation) Act of 25th. of June 2013”, New to Denmark, Ministry of Integration and Immigration (Denmark), https://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-US/
Murshid, N., 2014, The Politics of Refugees in South Asia, Identity, resistence, manipulation, Abingdon: Routledge.
Otter, V.D., 2007, “Urban Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Thailand”, Forced Migration Review, 28, 49-50.
Pernice,R.; Brook, J., 1996, ”Refugees’ and immigrants’ mental health: association of demographic and post-traumatic factors”, Journal of Social Psychology, 136, 511-519.
Phillomore, J.: Goodson L., 2006, “Problem or Opportunity? Asylum Seekers, refugees, employment and Social Exclusion in Deprived Urban Areas”, Urban Studies, 43:10, pp. 1715 -1736.
Platt, L. (2009). “Social activity, social isolation and ethnicity”, The Sociological Review, 57:4, 670–702.
Save the Children, 2014, “Pathways to a Better Future: A Review of Education for Migrant Children in Thailand”, Save the Children in Thailand, Bangkok.
Selm, J.,V.; 2003, Global Solidarity: Report of a Plenary Session in Selm, J.V. et al (eds) The Refugee Convention at Fifty, US: Lexington Books.
Silove, D.; Steel, Z.; Watters, C., 2000, “Policies of Deterrence and the Mental Health of Asylum Seekers”, Journal of American Medical Association, 284:5.
Steel, Z.; Hey, M.; Silove, D.; et al, 2009, “Association of Torture and other Traumatic Events with Mental Health Outcomes among Populations Exposed to Mass Conflict and Displacement, A systematic review and Mete-analysis”. JAMA, 302:5, pp. 537 -549.
Theodossiou, I., 1998, “The effects of Low-pay and unemployment on psychological well-being: A logistic regression approach”, Journal of Health Economics, 1, pp.85 -104.
Tribe, R., 2002, “Mental Health of refugees and asylum-seekers”, Advance in Psychiatric Treatment, 8:4, pp. 240 -248.
Tzu Chi, 2009, “Tzu Chi Mission”,
http://tw.tzuchi.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=293&Itemid=283&lang=en
UNHCR, 2010, “Convention and Protocol, Relating to the Status of Refugees”, http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/protection/basic/3b66c2aa10/convention-protocol-relating-status-refugees.html
United Nations Human Rights, 2017, Office of the High Commissioner, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx
Urban refugees. Org. (UR), 2015, “Bangkok, Thailand”, http://urban-refugees.org/bangkok/
Vittaporn, S.; Boonmongkon, P., 2016, “Thailand’s health screening policy and screening of Burmese migrants with tuberculosis”, Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, 37:3, pp. 170 -174.
Published
2017-10-13
How to Cite
KULVMANN, Jesper.
The The Absence of Legal Recognition and Its Impact on the Living Conditions of Urban Pakistani Refugees in Bangkok.
Journal of Southeast Asian Human Rights, [S.l.], v. 1, n. 1, p. 37-55, oct. 2017.
ISSN 2599-2147.
Available at: <https://jurnal.unej.ac.id/index.php/JSEAHR/article/view/5309>. Date accessed: 22 dec. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.19184/jseahr.v1i1.5309.
Section
Articles
