Friday 13 February 2009

Thailand Warns Angelina Jolie Over Comments On Rohingyas

Source from thaivisa, 11 Feb 2009
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BANGKOK: -- Thai government is not happy with US actress Angelina Jolie and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees for criticising that Thai government did not respect Rohingya boat people's human rights

Thai Foreign Ministry's Permanent Secretary Virasakdi Futrakul said the Rohingya's presence in Thailand is a hot issue. ""It was a coincidence that the Rohingya was a hot news issue at the time. We must warn UNHCR that they should not comment on the matter because they have no mandate."

The warning came after UNHCR's goodwill ambassador Jolie who visited Burmese camps along Thai border last week criticised Thai government of ignoring the plight of Rohinyas and suggested that Thai government should take better care of the Burmese ethnics.

Virasakdi told reporters that Angelina was not focused on the Rohingya, but was visiting Burmese refugee camps.

"The UNHCR should not have brought Jolie, its goodwill ambassador, to one of the nine refugee camps stringing the border which are run by Thailand's interior ministry."

"The Thai government will issue a reprimand letter to UNHCR, asking why it allowed Angelina Jolie to visit the refugee camps," Virasakdi told reporters.   -- The Nation 2009-02-11


Jolie chastised by Thai government over ‘Myanmar migrants’ comments
Source from buzg.com, 12 Feb 2009

London, Feb 12 (ANI): American actress Angelina Jolie has earned herself the ire of the Thai government after she commented on the plight of Myanmar migrants.
Jolie and Brad Pitt had visited a refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border last week, as part of her role as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations (U.N.), and the migrants there told her that the Thai military was mistreating them.

Upon hearing their story, Jolie issued an emotive plea to the Thai government urging the authorities to respect the rights of the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group from Myanmar.
In her plea the Tomb Raider star asked the Thai government to be “just as generous to the Rohingya refugees who are now arriving on their shores” as they were to the Ban Mai Nai Soi camp’s, 18,000 other refugees from Myanmar.

The Thai army has been accused of detaining and torturing hundreds of Rohingya who, in recent months, fled to Thailand to escape poverty in Myanmar.

But now Jolie has been reprimanded by Thai officials for her comments, and they have stated that the United Nations refugee agency should not have allowed her to visit the centre.
“Angelina was not focused on the Rohingya, but was visiting Myanmar refugee camps,” the Daily Express quoted Virasakdi Futrakul, permanent secretary of the Thai foreign ministry, as saying.

“It was a coincidence that the Rohingya was a hot news issue at the time, therefore we must warn (U.N. refugee agency) UNHCR that they should not comment on this issue because they have no mandate on this issue.
“The Thai government will issue a reprimand letter to UNHCR asking why it allowed Angelina Jolie to visit the refugee camps,” he added.
A representative for UNHCR claims that the Thai Ministry of Interior issued camp passes for both Jolie and Pitt. (ANI)

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