STATEMENT OF THE KAREN REFUGEE COMM

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Subject: STATEMENT OF THE KAREN REFUGEE COMMITTEE

                         KAREN REFUGEE COMMITTEE
                                    
            STATEMENT OF THE KAREN REFUGEE COMMITTEE ON THE 
           PRESENT SITUATION WITH REGARD TO THE KAREN REFUGEE 
                PROBLEM AND THE QUESTION OF REPATRIATION


June 20, 1995


In light of the present situation and the views expressed by
certain quarters on possible repatriation of the Karen refugees,
the Karen Refugee Committee, is obliged to express its views on
the situation with regards to the Karen Refugee problem and
define its stand on the question of repatriation.

The Committee begs to refer briefly to the situation in 1984 when
through the permission of the Royal Thai Government and the kind
auspices of the Coordinating Committee for services to Displaced
persons in Thailand (CCSDPT), a simple but effective relief
operation began with the support of a small group of NGOs to
provide for the need of some 10,000 Karen who fled into Thailand
because of heavy fighting that broke out then along the Moei
stretch of the Thai-Burma border. The Karen Refugee Committee has
a small role since then in this relief operation with a system
that ensured that basic needs were met but self reliance and
self-respect maintained.

The number of refugees grew steadily during the past ten years or
more and the total numbers of refugees in the various Karen
refugee camps in Thailand is 69,348 as of May 1995. The system of
providing assistance has been maintained and expanded
proportionate to the need.


Review of the current situation
-------------------------------

Following the series of attacks on Karen refugees camps in Tak
and Mae Hong Son provinces during the summer of 1995 by armed
intruders directed and actively supported by the SLORC, the karen
situation has come under review, especially the question of how
to provide security for the refugees. The Thai authorities have
now taken a new measure to consolidate the refugee camps in
larger locations which can more easily be made secure.

The Karen Refugee Committee is of the same opinion that security
has become a very urgent issue and thus it is cooperating with
the Thai authorities in resettling the refugees in larger and
more controlled camps where security can be better and more
effectively provided.

The Committee is however greatly concerned about the question of
repatriation as SLORC has made it known that it believes that the
refugees should be returned to Burma and the question is being
asked in Thailand as to how long the refugees should stay on in
the camps before they return to Burma. The situation is now more
complicated because of the internal conflict of the Karens and
some refugees have returned to Burma. The Karen Refugee Committee
has made it very clear to everyone in the camps that they are
free to choose between going or staying. It has cautioned them
however to be more careful in making decisions.


Cause of the refugees problems
------------------------------

The Karen Refugee Committee wishes to state clearly its belief
that it is in the best interest of the refugees that they should
ultimately return to Burma. The Committee has never attempted to
prevent refugees from returning to Burma but it believes that the
return must be voluntary and it must be to a situation of safety.

This raises the question of how the safety of returning refugees
can be assured. The Committee has stated on various occasions
that fighting in Burma is not the only reason why refugees leave
their homes and flee into Thailand. In fact, lack of respect for
human rights and activities associated with it had caused tens of
thousands of civilians from even outside the war zones to flee
from the their country. They had suffered incidental as well as
systematic persecutions under the country's military rulers. This
is shown by the fact that refugees continue to stream into
Thailand even during periods of little or no actual fighting.

People free from their homes and villages in Burma for many
others apart from actual fighting. Some of the reasons most
commonly attributed to the cause of their flight into Thailand
for refuge are:

-Persecution, brutality and intimidations;
-Consistent demand for so-called voluntary labour and forced      
 labour;
-Extortion of money and property;
-Lack of respect for the lives and property of the civilian       
 populations;
-Lack of respect for the fundamental rights and privileges of     
 individual or groups;         
-Forced relocation.

The Karen Refugee Committee believes that the Karen refugees have
fled from systematic persecution and they qualify as refugees
with the rights of refugees as recognised by the international
community. Consequently, safe voluntary of the refugees to Burma
can be achieved only with the ending of this systemic
persecution. In it recent consideration in March, 1995, of the
question of human rights abuses in Burma, the UN Commission on
Human Rights, once again expressed its grave concern at the
violation of human rights in 'Myanmar' which remains extremely
serious, in particular the practice of torture, summary and
arbitrary executions, forced labour, including forced portering
for the military, abuse of women, politically motivated arrests
and detention, forced displacement of the population, the
existence of important restriction on the exercise of fundamental
freedoms including the freedom of expression and association, and
the imposition of oppressive measures directed, in particular, at
ethnic and religious minority groups.


Conditions for safe, voluntary repatriation
-------------------------------------------

Given this view of the current situation in Burma, the Karen
Refugee Committee would therefore like to propose the conditions
which should be met in order that the safe, voluntary return of
Karen refugees to Burma can be achieved.

1. The refugees must have access to reliable information about
the situation inside those areas of Burma from which they came
and, or to which they would return.

2. There must be effective protection and support for the
refugees after they have returned to Burma.

3. There must be a real possibility of the refugees returning
safely to their place of choice with access to assistance through
which to reconstruct their sheltered communities.

4. There must be a continuing access to refuge in Thailand if
they are subject to attack or further persecution.


Proposal of the Karen Refugee Committee
---------------------------------------

The Karen Refugee Committee therefore proposes that in order to
allow for the safe voluntary return of Karen refugees to Burma,
the following steps should be taken.

1. An appropriate independent body must be designated or created
with the possibility of systematically monitor the situation
inside those areas of Burma from which the refugees came and to
which they would return and systematically provide to the
refugees the information obtained.
    
2. When it becomes clear that on the basis of such information
there are refugees clearly willing to return to Burma, there
should be a careful, stage by stage process of moving willing
refugees to temporary camps inside Burma, where they can be
provided with assistance and protection as a means of building
confidence. For this to be achieved, there should be a formal
guarantee from SLORC that the refugees will not be attacked or
harassed, there should be provision of humanitarian support from
across the border similar to that provided to the refugee camps
in Thailand, and there should be continuing monitoring of their
situation by the independent body. There should also be a clearly
expressed willingness by the Thai authorities to allow the
refugees access to refuge in Thailand should they be attacked or
harassed.
  
3. When it becomes clear that SLORC is willing to cooperate and
the refugees have confident to return further inside Burma, there
should be a process of identifying specific areas from which
refugees have fled and to which they are willing to return and
which are considered safe by the independent monitoring body.
Provision should then be made to resettle the refugees in these
areas with continuing guarantees of food supplies until they can
become self-sufficient as well as the support necessary for
rebuilding their farms and villages. Provision should be made for
their access to basic health and educational services. Again,
there must be provision for monitoring the well-being of the
these refugee area by the independent monitoring body and to
provide assistance to such refugees communities from across the
border in Thailand until such time as it can be shown that such
assistance can be provided satisfactorily from inside Burma.

The Karen Refugee Committee sees monitoring inside Burma as the
key to establishing whether SLORC is sincere regarding its stated
desire for the refugees to return to Burma. For its part the
Karen Refugee Committee would welcome the presence of an
appropriate independent monitoring body in the camps in Thailand
with the responsibility of informing the refugees concerning the
situation inside Burma and establishing which refugees are
willing to return.

In Closing, the Karen Refugee Committee humbly expresses its
sincere gratitude to the Thai authorities and to the people of
Kingdom of Thailand for their kindness in granting refuge to the
Karens and other displaced people from Burma who are in trouble
and need. The Committee is fully aware of the fact that this
kindness and understanding is vital for the survival and welfare
of these people during their time of refuge in Thailand. This
noble gesture of goodwill is sincerely appreciated and will
always be remembered by the Karens of Burma. The Committee also
expresses its gratitude to the individuals and agencies for their
help and support in many ways through these long years to keep
the relief operation from coming to a halt. The commitment of all
those concerned in this mission of mercy is also appreciated.



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