By Anthony Barich
National Reporter
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has mobilised the Australian Embassy in Bangkok to liaise with the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help find 50 children feared abducted for sexual trafficking from a Perth-funded Thai orphanage.
Mr Smith told Archbishop Hickey in a letter sent on 2 March that One Heart Association member Adelia Bernard’s account of the children’s disappearance was “gravely disturbing”.
Mr Smith said the Australian Embassy in Bangkok contacted the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs as soon as his office received Archbishop Hickey’s letter.
“The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed concern for the children and has already begun to consult with relevant Thai agencies,” the Foreign Minister said in the letter.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to commend the One Heart Foundation (which has raised $700 a month over the past six years for the orphanage), especially [Presentation] Sisters Cecilia and Consuela, for the compassion and life-preserving assistance they have given to the children at the Sang Khan Buri orphanage.
“Thank you for bringing this case to the attention of the Government. I assure you we will continue to work with the Thai Government to seek answers about the disappearance and ensure that you and the One Heart Foundation are kept updated.”
For Foreign Minister’s reply came after Archbishop Hickey wrote to him on 15 February seeking urgent help in finding the orphans aged 10-13 and were believed to have been kidnapped in a highly orchestrated operation on 28 December.
Mrs Bernard, a parishioner of St Joseph’s parish in Midland, has worked for over 30 years for the Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees (COERR) established by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Thailand in 1978.