The Thai government is planning to cancel bail for all of Bangkok's male asylum seekers – many of them Christians – forcing them to move to overcrowded detention centres immediately.
An estimated 11,500 Pakistani Christians could be subject to detention, according to World Watch Monitor.
The move would not affect women, children or those with official refugee status. It would reportedly also see those with serious medical conditions exempt.
Thailand has faced international criticism for its treatment and alleged persecution of Christian refugees, who are fleeing radical Islamists in Pakistan. These asylum seekers are registered by the UN, but many face little chance of ever being processed and welcomed into Thailand.
In 2016 it was reported that resettlement of refugees through the UNHCR was taking as long as five years, when it had previously only taken one year.
The cancelation of bail for Bangkok's asylum seekers could overwhelm Bangkok's detention centres, which reportedly already suffer from the presence of tuberculosis, hepatitis and scabies.
Some see the move as a bid to force the asylum seekers to return to Pakistan. Last year several Pakistan Christians said that the UNHCR was unsympathetic to their plight and was deliberately delaying their applications for resettlement.
