Border police anger embassy

By ALAN PERROTT

The Thai Government is considering joining legal action against New Zealand's Immigration Service over the treatment of Thais arriving here.

Thai Embassy officials in Wellington are alarmed at reports of their citizens being held as suspected overstayers or prostitutes after arriving in Auckland or Christchurch.

A total of 1238 people were refused entry to New Zealand in the year to June, 900 of them from Thailand.

That number is more than 20 times that of the groups with the next highest rate of refusal, Australians and Malaysians, with 42 each.

Embassy staff looked into the treatment of their nationals after reading the Herald's October 13 account of a Thai woman, Pimthong Udumpun, who was held for 2 1/2 days at the Papakura police station awaiting a flight home until a last-minute court hearing allowed her to continue her holiday.

Since then the Weekend Herald has been told of five more cases of alleged mistreatment of Thai women.

A group of Thai officials, including Thai Ambassador Anucha Osanthanond, will meet Ms Udumpun's lawyer, Olinda Woodroffe, in Auckland this month to discuss possible legal action.

Mr Osanthanond said he would make an official comment once he received further information next week.

Pimthong Udumpun claimed police denied her sanitary napkins and she had to resort to tearing strips from a handkerchief.

In the five similar cases revealed to the Weekend Herald:

One woman, with children aged 3 and 5, came to Auckland to stay and work for her sister to escape an abusive partner. She flew home to see her critically ill father after being advised by an immigration consultant that as it was an emergency she would not require a visa to return. She was turned away at Auckland Airport on August 29 and both children required treatment for dehydration when they arrived back in Thailand.

Weena Suachuma, the 25-year-old daughter of Thai Government officials, spent a night locked up at the Papakura police station before being flown home, despite having guaranteed accommodation and a credit card. The university graduate was coming to Auckland to study English.

A 23-year-old Thai woman came to New Zealand to visit her aunt and her New Zealand-born husband after finishing university exams. She spent two days in the Otahuhu police station despite having a passport, return ticket, accommodation and a financial guarantor.

The Ombudsman is being asked to consider the treatment given to a 26-year-old woman who was visiting a New Zealand man she met in Thailand and has subsequently married. After being stopped because of visa problems and despite having accommodation, a New Zealand sponsor and available money in her Thai bank account, she was handcuffed and held before being sent home.

A young Thai girl was held at the Papakura police station for two days after arriving with a friend who was a regular business visitor to New Zealand. Immigration officials said she had insufficient money for a brief visit despite carrying $750 and and an ATM card with $5000 credit. She was released an hour before her flight home after the intervention of a New Zealand friend and a lawyer.

Mrs Woodroffe, who is also dealing with two of these cases, said it appeared all young, attractive Thai women arriving here were considered potential prostitutes and turned back if they aroused any suspicion.

"If this was happening to New Zealand women on a regular basis everybody would be up in arms."

She said many problems arose because the women spoke limited English.

Thais do not require visitor visas to holiday here for up to three months.



Immigration Service spokesman Ian Smith said only about 5 per cent of Thais arriving in New Zealand were refused entry.

Of those, only a very small number were detained.

He said evidence showed many of those sent home had been forced to borrow money to travel.