ICC Note: Following a BBC investigative report uncovering the squalid conditions in which Pakistani Christian religious refugees are living in Thailand, the southeast Asian nation’s government has banned relief and family visits to the detention centers where it is holding asylum seekers. Pakistani Christians have fled their homeland by the thousands fleeing religious persecution. ICC calls on the Thai government to immediately lift this ban, especially considering these Christians are living in a malnourished state, cramped in tight quarters, many forced to stand in order to sleep due to lack of space, reports say.
By Anugrah Kumar
3/30/16 Thailand (CP) – Thailand has blocked the entry of humanitarian agencies into brutal detention centers, where Pakistani Christians who have fled religious persecution in their own country are being kept, after a BBC report revealed the mistreatment of asylum seekers in this Southeast Asian country.
Family members and humanitarian agencies are no longer allowed to visit Pakistani Christian detainees — some of whom are expecting mothers, old people, disabled and with severe health condition requiring regular medical attention — who have been lodged in “brutal immigration detention centres,” says the British Pakistani Christian Association in an online petition.
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