0:00:09 > 0:00:11the day's news. First, it is time for Our World.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14Behind bars, yet these men, women and children are not criminals.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17They are Christians fleeing persecution in their homeland,
0:00:18 > 0:00:20Pakistan, only to be locked up in a country where they thought
0:00:21 > 0:00:31I've just found dozens of women sobbing.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35Thailand, a tourist paradise, but a country that refuses to help
0:00:36 > 0:00:42The United Nations Refugee Agency is here.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45It is supposed to offer asylum seekers a lifeline.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48So, why are those claiming to flee persecution,
0:00:49 > 0:01:10many of them Christians, being imprisoned indefinitely?
0:01:11 > 0:01:12Pakistanis make up the second largest group of asylum
0:01:13 > 0:01:40If this service was taking place in their homeland, the pastor
0:01:41 > 0:01:58Back in Pakistan, conversion to Christianity is seen by some
0:01:59 > 0:02:06Suicide bombers and gunmen have killed hundreds of Christians
0:02:07 > 0:02:14The country's blasphemy laws have been used as a pretext by Islamist
0:02:15 > 0:02:22Others have been imprisoned, or sentenced to death.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25You can see why Thailand is their best option for escape.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Pakistan's border countries are Islamic, war-torn, communist,
0:02:30 > 0:02:36Cheap flights and easy to obtain holiday visas get entire families
0:02:37 > 0:03:10But not all of them get away in time.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16You are clearly someone who has to be strong all the time
0:03:17 > 0:03:19for everybody else and that's because the pastor and his
0:03:20 > 0:03:27congregation's trauma is far from over.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30Thailand has long been signed up to tourism.
0:03:31 > 0:03:37But the country hasn't signed up to a UN international agreement to
0:03:38 > 0:03:44Under Thai law, anyone without a valid visa
0:03:45 > 0:03:50We're here to investigate what happens to those who say
0:03:51 > 0:03:53they have no choice but to flee to Thailand.
0:03:54 > 0:04:00To investigate, we're filming discreetly and at times under cover.
0:04:01 > 0:04:09All the names of people in this film have been changed.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13A network of Bangkok apartment blocks has become
0:04:14 > 0:04:17They arrive with few possessions, relying on money
0:04:18 > 0:04:27It's enough for food and a single room, with no toilet or kitchen.
0:04:28 > 0:04:36They also arrive with their own stories of persecution,
0:04:37 > 0:04:46but they still have a chance at a new life.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Thailand has allowed UNHCR to step in to investigate the credibility
0:04:52 > 0:04:58They are either relocated to another country or repatriated.
0:04:59 > 0:05:04The process is supposed to take six months, but all of these families
0:05:05 > 0:05:12And a new generation is being born here.
0:05:13 > 0:05:2525 days ago, this baby came into this stateless world.
0:05:26 > 0:05:35When she was five days old, her mother died of tuberculosis.
0:05:36 > 0:05:42Asylum seekers have no access to work, education or healthcare.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46Now it's just the baby and her father.
0:05:47 > 0:05:56Your wife got to spend some time with her before she passed away?
0:05:57 > 0:06:00He has been waiting two years for his asylum case to be processed.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03It appears the Thai immigration police are losing their patience
0:06:04 > 0:06:26We are warned the immigration police could strike at any time.
0:06:27 > 0:06:36We hear there's been a raid in a block nearby.
0:06:37 > 0:06:38We've just come to this apartment block
0:06:39 > 0:06:46Has this woman's husband been taken away?
0:06:47 > 0:07:02The Thai police have raided the apartment that
0:07:03 > 0:07:04many of the asylum seekers from Pakistan stay in and burst
0:07:05 > 0:07:09the doors down and started to take people away.
0:07:10 > 0:07:49This is what can happen to those seeking refuge in a country that has
0:07:50 > 0:07:53not signed up to the UN refugee Convention.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56The husbands are taken to court, charged with illegal immigration,
0:07:57 > 0:08:05In Thailand, asylum seekers are seen as criminals, not victims.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08All registered asylum seekers, including the men just arrested,
0:08:09 > 0:08:13It certifies them as an internationally recognised UN
0:08:14 > 0:08:19That means they should not be arrested or detained for seeking
0:08:20 > 0:08:27asylum, while the UN investigate their case.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30That day, in a series of raids, a total of 50 Pakistani
0:08:31 > 0:08:33UN-registered asylum seekers were arrested,
0:08:34 > 0:08:44The charity Jubilee Campaign says hundreds are detained every month,
0:08:45 > 0:08:47mainly Pakistanis, as they are easy to find in one of the largest asylum
0:08:48 > 0:08:51communities living in concentrated areas.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56The message is crystal clear - asylum seekers are not welcome
0:08:57 > 0:09:08The UNHCR say in the last six months they've saved
0:09:09 > 0:09:14They say they constantly remind the Thai authorities that increased
0:09:15 > 0:09:18detention of asylum seekers has proven to have limited deterrent
0:09:19 > 0:09:37value, but carries significant costs, both monetary
0:09:38 > 0:09:52This man's wife, Laila, was arrested by immigration police
0:09:53 > 0:09:57as she visited friends in another part of Bangkok.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02Her family share this one room, all ten of them.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05The man, his two daughters, his in-laws, their children
0:10:06 > 0:10:18For now, their only chance of being reunited with
0:10:19 > 0:10:25But how can this existence in Thailand be better
0:10:26 > 0:10:34He claims that back in Pakistan a gang tried to kill him
0:10:35 > 0:10:38and his brother when they refused to convert to Islam.
0:10:39 > 0:10:55Their UN asylum hearing isn't until 2018.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00Until then, their survival is down to charity handouts
0:11:01 > 0:11:06So, why is the UN's asylum process taking so long,
0:11:07 > 0:11:15leaving thousands vulnerable to arrest?
0:11:16 > 0:11:18UN sources tell us there are only eight specialist staff in Thailand
0:11:19 > 0:11:22for more than 100,000 asylum seekers, including an estimated
0:11:23 > 0:11:52In a statement the UNHCR admits:
0:11:53 > 0:12:02In its response, the Thai government says:
0:12:03 > 0:12:08While they insist specific communities are not targeted,
0:12:09 > 0:12:34to the BBC the immigration police announced:
0:12:35 > 0:12:38I am going to Bangkok's main immigration detention centre
0:12:39 > 0:12:42It holds anyone found guilty by a Thai court
0:12:43 > 0:12:47They have already paid a fine, but still end up here.
0:12:48 > 0:12:55The conditions are being described by human rights groups as inhumane.
0:12:56 > 0:12:57Not surprising, then, that journalists and cameras
0:12:58 > 0:13:03But we are still going in, posing as charity volunteers
0:13:04 > 0:13:06delivering water and food for inmates.
0:13:07 > 0:13:18Our hidden cameras are meant to be search proof.
0:13:19 > 0:13:25For one hour a day some of the 200 asylum seekers held here are let out
0:13:26 > 0:13:29of their cells to meet visitors, mainly charity workers.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32The detainees I see are mainly Pakistani Christians, men,
0:13:33 > 0:13:52But all the charity volunteers can offer them is food and water.
0:13:53 > 0:14:15On the one side you have got charity workers trying
0:14:16 > 0:14:16to have a conversation with the detainees
0:14:17 > 0:14:19between two fences and there is a metre gap between them.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22On the other side all I can see is men, women and children mainly
0:14:23 > 0:14:27A lot of the women are complaining that the children are ill
0:14:28 > 0:14:29with vomiting and diarrhoea because of the dirty water.
0:14:30 > 0:14:37Her mother has been here three months since she was arrested
0:14:38 > 0:14:42The Thai government says parents often choose to have their children
0:14:43 > 0:14:47What we are witnessing is a breach of UN International law,
0:14:48 > 0:15:02Laws that ban the present of children, particularly with
0:15:03 > 0:15:06Laws that ban the imprisonment of children,
0:15:07 > 0:15:08particularly with adults, even with their parents.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11Nobody has visited you from the United Nations?
0:15:12 > 0:15:27In the chaos I find Sabir's wife, Laila.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33Hello, I saw your husband, and all your family.
0:15:34 > 0:15:45They asked me to send a message to you.
0:15:46 > 0:16:02She has not seen her children for two months.
0:16:03 > 0:16:16The men are taken back to this overcrowded cell.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19Rare snapshots of their life behind bars obtained by the British
0:16:20 > 0:16:40The women and children are separated from the men.
0:16:41 > 0:16:46A lot of the people in the detention centre manage to write letters
0:16:47 > 0:16:55One of the detainees wrote a note saying, hello, how are you,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58I have been in IDC for the last two and a half months.
0:16:59 > 0:17:18There is a price offered for their freedom.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22The Thai government brands it as bail, allowing local charities
0:17:23 > 0:17:24to pay for the release of those deemed vulnerable.
0:17:25 > 0:17:39This pastor and his wife were in detention for six months.
0:17:40 > 0:18:12They are among the chosen few to be released on bail.
0:18:13 > 0:18:14In response to our investigation the UNHCR says it is working
0:18:15 > 0:18:29The Thai government denied the enforced imprisonment
0:18:30 > 0:18:33of children and dirty, overcrowded conditions
0:18:34 > 0:18:41in the detention centre, saying:
0:18:42 > 0:18:44For other Pakistani asylum seekers there is a worse fate
0:18:45 > 0:19:00They are locked up with real criminals in a notorious
0:19:01 > 0:19:03Heads shaved, stripped, searched, and shackled.
0:19:04 > 0:19:05Rare photos by a local journalist of what happens to those
0:19:06 > 0:19:08who are charged with illegal immigration and cannot afford to pay
0:19:09 > 0:19:10the fine imposed by the Thai authorities.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13Some of these asylum seekers have now been released on bail.
0:19:14 > 0:19:50The women and children are put in a separate cell from the men.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53Another mother she shared a cell with tells me prayer
0:19:54 > 0:20:26was all they could offer their sick and hungry children.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29We asked the Thai government to respond to allegations
0:20:30 > 0:20:32by these asylum seekers of inhumane imprisonment with criminals.
0:20:33 > 0:20:44These prisoners were eventually released when missionaries
0:20:45 > 0:20:48Only to be sent to a detention centre, forcing charities to pay
0:20:49 > 0:21:31His wife has died and he is alone with his daughter.
0:21:32 > 0:21:33He is appealing to the UNHCR at their offices
0:21:34 > 0:21:49Is it not an option to go back to your family in Pakistan,
0:21:50 > 0:21:59who can help you look after your baby?
0:22:00 > 0:22:05There is no guarantee they will be given a new life in another country.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10Weeks later the UNHCR decided to prioritise his case after all.
0:22:11 > 0:23:16Hello. The start of the meteorological spring may be around
0:23:17 > 0:23:17the corner