PHUKET: The fasting month of Ramadan ends for Muslims around the world today and for some Rohingya being held as detainees in Thailand, it will mean a reunion with relatives.
For others, Hari Raya may mean just another day in captivity, with no sign yet as to when their status will be determined and their futures made clear.
Some women and children being held at a family shelter in Phang Nga province, north of Phuket, will be briefly reunited with their menfolk in the local Immigration centre.
That ''celebration'' applies to the boy born on a boat off Thailand, who will be marking his first Hari Raya, and to a girl born into captivity at Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket City.
Like their parents, both the young children have no citizenship and are stateless, dispossessed and unwanted.
About 2000 Rohingya are still being held in Thailand despite the passing of a six-month self-imposed deadline for the Government to make a decision on the status and futures of the detainees.
Depression and despondency continue to affect the Rohingya, especially in the Immigration centres.
Conditions for the men being held in the Immigration centres are not as comfortable as for the women and children. Eight deaths in custody in Thailand have been reported.
Rohingya being held in Isarn provinces in Thailand's north are said to be well looked after and treated ''with human dignity'' despite difficulties in translation, according to an aid agency spokesperson.
Conditions for the group of men being held in the primitive cells at the Phuket Immigration headquarters are however likely to be basic, with little access to exercise or even sunlight.
Phuketwan has not been able to determine whether celebrations - beyond family visits for a few - are being allowed today at Phuket and Phang Nga Immigration centres.
The Rohingya, fleeing ethnic cleansing in Burma's Rakine state, had hoped to reach Malaysia within days but were instead ''rescued'' from people-traffickers' camps or apprehended on boats off Thailand between January and March.
For others, Hari Raya may mean just another day in captivity, with no sign yet as to when their status will be determined and their futures made clear.
Some women and children being held at a family shelter in Phang Nga province, north of Phuket, will be briefly reunited with their menfolk in the local Immigration centre.
That ''celebration'' applies to the boy born on a boat off Thailand, who will be marking his first Hari Raya, and to a girl born into captivity at Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket City.
Like their parents, both the young children have no citizenship and are stateless, dispossessed and unwanted.
About 2000 Rohingya are still being held in Thailand despite the passing of a six-month self-imposed deadline for the Government to make a decision on the status and futures of the detainees.
Depression and despondency continue to affect the Rohingya, especially in the Immigration centres.
Conditions for the men being held in the Immigration centres are not as comfortable as for the women and children. Eight deaths in custody in Thailand have been reported.
Rohingya being held in Isarn provinces in Thailand's north are said to be well looked after and treated ''with human dignity'' despite difficulties in translation, according to an aid agency spokesperson.
Conditions for the group of men being held in the primitive cells at the Phuket Immigration headquarters are however likely to be basic, with little access to exercise or even sunlight.
Phuketwan has not been able to determine whether celebrations - beyond family visits for a few - are being allowed today at Phuket and Phang Nga Immigration centres.
The Rohingya, fleeing ethnic cleansing in Burma's Rakine state, had hoped to reach Malaysia within days but were instead ''rescued'' from people-traffickers' camps or apprehended on boats off Thailand between January and March.
The overseas born Rohingya kids are reunited .Thanks a lot to Thai society who take care a lot them who don't know yet their destinations. Happy Eid to the lovely Rohingya kids. They are innocents and the regime of Burma threw their lives in to uncertain . Thanks to Phuketwan for regular highlighting of the Rohingya kids .Wow! The kids are very luckier than the men detainees.
Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President,Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) on August 8, 2013 19:33