Barnabas Fund, 13 November 2018
Thai authorities have divided Vietnamese Christian refugee families, holding adults in a detention centre and children elsewhere.
Thai authorities refuse to recognise as refugees Christian Montagnards from Vietnam who have fled to Thailand to escape persecution.
Most of the Montagnard Christians detained have obtained recognised refugee status from the UNHCR, but Thai authorities have a track record of ignoring refugees’ status and instead detaining or deporting them.
Their greatest concern is what might happen if they are deported to Vietnam, some believing they will be jailed and tortured. Human Rights Watch has officially stated “persecution is driving Christians from Montagnard ethnic minorities to seek asylum in neighbouring Thailand”.