many have fled and it is estimated that presently more than one million Rohingya live outside Myanmar. 19. Thailand is one country to which Rohingya refugees have fled. There is a long-term population, most of whom came to Thailand decades ago. This submission focuses, however, on recent developments regarding Rohingya boat refugees. Thai treatment of Rohingya boat refugees 20. Between May and June 2015 Thai authorities pushed back boats full of Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshis, leaving between 6000 and 8000 people adrift at sea for weeks. The traffickers and smugglers had abandoned ship to escape arrest by Thai authorities. Between January – June 2015, an estimated 25,000 persons embarked on the hazardous boat journey, and at least 1,050 have died at sea.10 In previous years as well, Thailand has pushed back Rohingya refugees in violation of international law and received severe international criticism for doing so.11 Many recommendations under Thailand’s UPR in the first cycle addressed this issue, including Recommendation 89.70 by Canada which was accepted by Thailand (see above). 21. Thailand has no domestic refugee law framework. All situations of foreigners entering the country are regulated by the Immigration Act of 1979. This includes the detention of Rohingya in Immigration Detention Centres internationally criticised for being overcrowded12, and camps, or ‘temporary shelters’,13 along the border with Myanmar. People are arbitrarily detained in these camps for months to years on end. 22. The trafficking of Rohingya refugees is another significant problem, with refugees being informally deported collusively by authorities and brokers/smugglers who facilitate the onward travel. The Rohingya are typically kept captive by smugglers in appalling conditions, until they arrange for payment for their release. Recommendations 23. While the Human Rights Council has stated that “[t]he second and subsequent cycles of the review should focus on, inter alia, the implementation of the accepted recommendations and the developments of the human rights situation in the State under review”,14 in light of the fact that Thailand did not accept all related recommendations and failed to satisfactorily implement those it did, these recommendations build on the previous recommendations but also introduce new recommendations in response to the current situation: 10 Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, Statelessness Monthly Bulletin, May 2015, available at: http://www.institutesi.org/stateless_bulletin_2015-05.pdf 11 The Equal Rights Trust (ERT), Equal Only in Name. The Human Rights of Stateless Rohingya in Thailand (2014). 12 For example Human Rights Watch (HRW), Two Years with no Moon. Immigration Detention of Children in Thailand (2014). 13 Thai government does not use the term ‘camp’, but uses ‘temporary shelter’. Also have not formally acknowledged the status of ‘refugee’ since acknowledging those who fed the country after the 1988 Myanmar student uprising. Instead they use ‘displaced person’. 14 Human Rights Council, Resolution 16/21: Review of the work and functioning of the Human Rights Council, UN Doc. A/HRC/RES/16/21, April 2011, Annex 1, Para 6.