Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - June 6, 2001
Achara Ashayagachat and Onnucha Huttasingh
The San Diego court ruled that Phanuphong Khaisri, or Got, should remain in the US until maturity, to decide on his own whether or not to return to Thailand.
The US Immigration Naturalisation Service earlier determined that Got-who was detained and later found to have been used as a prop in a human smuggling ring in April last year-should be sent back to Thailand.
An LA-based Thai People Promotion Centre, who has looked after the boy since his detention, petitioned the court to allow the boy to take refuge there.
This resulted in a court battle with the boy's paternal grandparents Boonlue and Sumalee Khaisri, who sought help from Thai officials and parliamentarians to fight for custody of their grandson and his return to Thailand.
The court said Phanuphong should remain in the US to receive proper treatment and general health care since he was a HIV-infected victim.
The decision was also to ensure the boy's safety since his grandmother had been convicted on drug charges, the court said.
The prosecutor, on behalf of the INS, could appeal to a higher court, but the boy's grandparents are reportedly preparing a plea to the preliminary court to open a "full hearing" so as to overturn the court's decision, according to the Thai consulate-general.
Meanwhile, Senator Wallop Tangkhananurak said the court's decision reflected weakness on the part of the Foreign Ministry.
Mr Wallop, also an expert on child welfare, said the decision-based on the belief the HIV-infected boy would receive better care in the US-was an insult to Thailand, whose doctors have been recognised worldwide for their ability to cope with Aids.
The US court might have based its judgment on the Public Welfare Department's lack of efficiency, he said.
"According to the principle of basic rights, Phanuphong has the right to return to the care of his relatives in Thailand. But concerned Thai agencies, especially the Foreign Ministry, are too weak to protect the rights of Thai people suffering abroad," the senator said.
Thongbai Thongpao, a Maha Sarakham senator and human rights lawyer, disagreed with the court's decision, saying it was an infringement of children's rights.
If the boy was regarded as an illegal immigrant, he should be deported and not kept in the US until he is 18, hesaid.
Mr Thongbai suggested Phanuphong might have become a tool of some people who wanted a large subsidy from the US government to keep the boy in custody.
Sappasit Khumpraphan, director of the Centre for Protection of Children's Rights, said the boy should have the right to live with his relatives in Thailand.
Pranee Somna, a psychologist at the public welfare office in Chiang Rai, said a request by the boy's grandparents to become his adoptive parents was approved by a provincial committee chaired by governor Samroeng Boonyopakorn late last year.
The drug case against Phanuphong's grandmother 10 years ago had long since been closed, she said.
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