Arakan News Agency
MANILA – Citing the country’s long history of accepting asylum seekers, the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday said the Philippines may provide assistance to the so-called Rohingya “boat people” even if they have no travel documents with them.
In a statement, DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima said the situation of the boat people should be treated differently compared to migrants who travel without official documents.
“Asylum seekers cannot always be expected to prepare travel documents particularly where the agent of persecution is the State. Hence, their situation deserves to be treated and examined in a different context,” De Lima said, adding that, ordinarily, those who entered the country without official documents risked being subjected to exclusion proceedings and deportation.
De Lima also cited the long history of the country in accepting genuine asylum seekers even before it signed the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status Refugees and the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.
“The Philippines had its shares of hosting asylum seekers in the past even before it became a signatory to the 1951 Convention that was adopted on July 1981. As early as the Second World War, it provided asylum to 1,500 Jews refugees who had been denied asylum in other countries,” she said.
With this, she said, the Philippines may even be able to share its long experience in managing asylum seekers that landed in its shores.
But the DOJ warned that the full force of the law will be imposed against those who may be involved in trafficking the “boat people.”
source : interaksyon
