BANGKOK: Human rights groups expressed alarm Thursday at Thailand’s detention of more than 160 asylum seekers from hill tribe ethnic minorities in Vietnam and Cambodia, saying they face possible persecution if returned to their homelands.
Thai and international rights groups said the asylum seekers were rounded up Tuesday in a northern suburb of Bangkok and charged with immigration law violations.
The Thai group Human Rights Lawyers Association said some had cards from the UN refugee agency identifying them as having been certified as refugees. The group said the detainees, from the Jarai and other minorities, “fled persecution, discrimination and repression” in Vietnam and Cambodia.
Many hill tribe minorities — often collectively called “Montagnards“— aligned themselves closely with the US military during the Vietnam War, and were treated with suspicion and repression by Communist victors after the war. Some groups’ identification as Christians continues to put them at odds with the ruling Communist authorities in Vietnam, and occasional unrest in their Central Highlands homeland always triggers sharp crackdowns.
Puttanee Kangkun, a human rights worker with the group Fortify Rights, said the 38 detainees from Cambodia could be sent directly back under a bilateral agreement, but there is no such agreement with Vietnam, which means the other detainees must face trial before any further action against them is considered. They were tried and found guilty Thursday, Puttanee said. Those unable to pay fines could be detained indefinitely.
She said officials from Thailand’s Ministry of Social Development and Human Security had separated children from their parents in the arrested group to be cared for outside of detention centers until their parents are released.
The Human Rights Lawyers Association said that although Thailand is not part of the United Nation’s 1951 Refugee Convention, it is still responsible under customary international law to not send back refugees who risk harassment or abuse, a practice known as “non-refoulement.”
Thailand generally has had a history of tolerance toward asylum seekers as war and unrest in its neighbors in Southeast Asia caused people to flee. However, political and foreign policy considerations have sometimes resulted in hard-line actions, most notably in recent decades with the forced repatriation of ethnic Hmong to Laos and Muslim Uighurs to China.
Rights groups alarmed over Thai detention of asylum seekers
Rights groups alarmed over Thai detention of asylum seekers
- Thai and international rights groups said the asylum seekers were rounded up Tuesday in a northern suburb of Bangkok and charged with immigration law violations
US allows oil majors to broadly operate in Venezuela, new energy investments
- Treasury Department issues general license allowing Chevron, BP, Eni, Shell and Repsol to operate oil and gas operations in Venezuela
- Move is the most significant relaxation of sanctions on Venezuela since US forces captured and removed President Nicolas Maduro
WASHINGTON: The US eased sanctions on Venezuela’s energy sector on Friday, issuing two general licenses that allow global energy companies to operate oil and gas projects in the OPEC member and for other companies to negotiate contracts to bring in fresh investments. The move was the most significant relaxation of sanctions on Venezuela since US forces captured and removed President Nicolas Maduro last month.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a general license allowing Chevron, BP, Eni, Shell and Repsol to operate oil and gas operations in Venezuela. Those companies still have offices in the country and stakes in projects, and are among the main partners of state-run company PDVSA.
The authorization for the oil majors’ operations requires payments for royalties and Venezuelan taxes to go through the US-controlled Foreign Government Deposit Fund.
The other license allows companies around the world to enter contracts with PDVSA for new investments in Venezuelan oil and gas. The contracts are contingent on separate permits from OFAC.
The authorization does not allow transactions with companies in Russia, Iran, or China or entities owned or controlled by joint ventures with people in those countries.
The licenses “invite American and other aligned companies to play a constructive role in supporting economic recovery and responsible investment, ” the US State Department said in a release. Additional authorizations may be issued “as necessary,” it said.
A spokesperson for Chevron, the only US oil firm currently operating in Venezuela, said the company welcomed the new licenses.
“The new General Licenses, coupled with recent changes in Venezuela’s Hydrocarbons Law, are important steps toward enabling the further development of Venezuela’s resources for its people and for advancing regional energy security,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Eni said it is assessing the opportunities in Venezuela that the authorization opens up.
Oil law reform
The US licenses follow a sweeping reform of Venezuela’s main oil law approved last month, which grants autonomy for foreign oil and gas producers to operate, export and cash sale proceeds under existing joint ventures with PDVSA or through a new production-sharing contract model.
The US has had sanctions on Venezuela since 2019 when President Donald Trump imposed them during his first administration. Trump is now seeking $100 billion in investments by energy companies in Venezuela’s oil and gas sector. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Thursday, during his second day of a trip to Venezuela, that oil sales from the country since Maduro’s capture have hit $1 billion and would hit another $5 billion in months.
Wright said the US will control the proceeds from the sales until Venezuela stands up a “representative government.” Since last month, the Treasury issued several other general licenses to facilitate oil exports, storage, imports and sales from Venezuela. It also authorized the provision of US goods, technology, software or services for the exploration, development or production of oil and gas in Venezuela.
The Venezuelan government expropriated assets of Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips in 2007 under then-President Hugo Chavez. The Trump administration is trying to get those companies to invest in Venezuela as well. At a meeting at the White House with Trump last month, Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods said Venezuela was “uninvestable” at the moment.
Wright said on Thursday that Exxon, which no longer has an office in Venezuela, is in talks with the government there and gathering data about the oil sector. Exxon did not immediately comment.
