In an immigration centre in Bangkok, 83 Rohingya men still languish in detention in stateless limbo - a symbol of the many unanswered questions about Thailand's treatment of the boatpeople in the year since their plight first emerged.
Hundreds of their fellow Rohingya are dead or presumed so as a result of a controversial and secret Thai army policy of detaining them on isolated islands before towing them out to sea in powerless boats and abandoning them. At least 1,190 were abandoned in the Andaman Sea in such fashion before a series of reports in the South China Morning Post last January forced the Thai leadership to scrap the policy and vow it would never happen again.
The detention of the 83 survivors for a full year is of 'great concern' to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. They were originally held in conditions so appalling that two died in custody.
'We are urging the Thai authorities to expedite [solving] issues of their background and nationality so we can find solutions,' said UNHCR spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey. 'We do occasionally visit them but we can't do much that is meaningful for them at this point.'
Those solutions are far from clear. Thailand is unlikely to allow them to be formally screened in as refugees on their soil, lest it trigger a new flood of Rohingya migrants from neighbouring Myanmar. Before news of Thai mistreatment emerged, the Rohingya set sail every year in their thousands; for now, that tide of boatpeople seems to have halted.
Yet they still face persecution in their home, northern Rakhine state, that is considered as bad as that faced by any people anywhere.