ON TEMP. PROTECTION OF REFUGEES IN (r)

[fiassct@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Re: ON TEMP. PROTECTION OF REFUGEES IN THAILAND (6/4/94)

FROM:  Gary Risser, Asian Research Center for Migration, Chulalongkorn 
University

I just wanted to briefly update some of the information provided by Dr. U 
Ne Oo as the resources he utilized are some one or two years old as is 
his article (April 1994).

On 31 Oct 1995 uneoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> /* --------" Temporary Protection of Refugees in Thailand "------ */

> Although the Royal Thai Government is not a signatory to
> 1951 Convention regarding status of refugees, they can arrange some
> form of temporary asylum for Burmese nationals.

Temporary asylum is already being provided to both the ethnic minorities 
at the border and the students in the Baan Maneeloy Safe Area.

> The protection issue will be much difficult since the refugees are 
> mixed with displaced Burmese. We should, however, be hoping the UNHCR 
> to give protection
> to the ethnic minorities in the camps and political exiles at least.

Of course we must define what you mean by protection.  If it is physical 
protection from military incursions by the Democratic Kayin (Karen) 
Buddhist Army, then that is the responsibility of the host state under 
the rights of territorial sovereignty.  The UNHCR has no mandate in this 
circumstance.  If we are talking about protection from human rights 
violations, again, the UNHCR has no mandate, but serves as a kind of 
watchdog to report violations.  I would argue that the NGOs providing 
relief along the border already fill this role quite sufficiently.  But 
if we are talking about the provision of the numerous rights of a 
citizen, then the UNHCR can play a specific role as a mediator in the 
legal procedure.
 

> 
> Call for Action: To write letter to the Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai,
> Government House, No 1. Phitsanuloke Road, Dusit, Bangkok 10300,
> Thailand. Fax: 66 2 280 0858.

The prime minister of Thailand is now Banharn Silipaarcha
 
> 2) Urge the Royal Thai Government(RTG) to grant a temporary
>  asylum to all displaced Burmese people in Thailand.  Encourage the RTG to
> solve the Burmese refugee crisis in cooperation with UNHCR. 

Again, the Thai government is providing temporary asylum to the Burmese 
in the camps.  Thailand is undertaking an extensive survey and policy 
review on how to regulate the influx of those displaced persons that are 
engaging in employment.  One of the ways has been to register them.  
Those who have proper permits are permitted to work along the border.  The 
problem is they need at least a Burmese identity card or passport but can 
not obtain these readily from the the Burmese government.


> These students are not being recognized as
> `refugees' but rather as `persons of concerns to UNHCR' which virtually
> receive no better protection than illegal immigrants.

The Safe Area, though not perfect, does provide them protection.  Once 
registered in the Safe Area, they are allowed to enter education programs 
in Bangkok and if they choose not to, may leave the immediate Safe Area for 
one week per month.  Additionally, if they are registered, they may come 
to Bangkok and protest through this one week scheme without fear of 
imprisionment.  The Indochinese refugees, in fact many refugees 
worldwide, were never permitted such liberties.  It is those that choose 
to remain outside of the Safe Area that risk arrest because under Thai 
law, they are illegal immigrants.
 
 
> ...General Chavalit who, then was Commander in Chief and now the 
> Minister of Interior,

General Chavalit is now Minister of Defense

Concerning the Mon, the New Mon State Party recently returned from 
negotiations in Rangoon where they signed a cease-fire and arranged for a 
repatriation to Burma. 
 
Concerning illegal immigrants...

> These people are clearly the victims of gross
> and persistent violations of human rights in Burma and who found life is
> impossible under SLORC. The RTG classify these new comers as `illegal
> immigrants'.

Yes, there certainly are numerous cases of these laborers migranting to 
Thailand because of human rights violations, but there are also those who 
are moving for economic advantages.  The Burmese economy is still not 
running well and the Thai need cheap labor for those jobs that the Thai 
now shun.  A considerable portion of Thai labor has migrated to other 
countries in Southeast and East Asia for the same reasons.
 
> These new comers are not being absorbed by the ethnic refugee groups whose
> camps are located along Thai-Burma border, a fact that highlights the
> limited ability of NGOs to cope with new comers.

To my knowledge, the NGOs have not ever rejected the new comers.  If I 
recall, since 1992/3 a large number of Burmese have been reporting to the 
camps after fleeing development projects.  The NGOs are certainly 
operating on limited budgets but they do not turn people away that are 
fleeing human rights abuses.  What camp authorities do, however, is send 
those away who have been "deported" from the Thai Immigration Detention 
Center to the border.  Actually, many of these labor migrants are quickly 
recruited for new jobs as soon as they are off the trucks.

> Since last June, the local Thai authorities allow these
> Burmese to register for entering Thailand (now official total 350,000)[1].
> At the same time, however, Thai authorities are deporting them on a
> regular basis

Those who are properly registered at the border are not deported.  
Thailand needs the labor.
 
> In Closing
> ----------
> 
> The reader may be able to notice now that a common fear for all displaced
> Burmese - from political activists to prostitutes - is being deported back
> to Burma. Unfortunately, this fear of refugees have been exploited by the
> Thai businesses as well as brothel owners. 

Though I am sure no Burmese wants to be deported back to the border, I am 
not so sure this is an all consuming fear.  It is certainly an economic 
inconvenience, but they are not being handed over to Burmese 
authorities.  In fact, the Burmese authorities, who also lack resources, 
for the most part want nothing to do with returned Burmese.  Many Burmese 
laborers actually travel back and forth between Burma and Thailand 
sending monetary remittances and in some cases electrical appliances back to 
their families.  This is also the system in which recruitment of new 
labor occurs - a worker returns to his/her village with new found wealth 
and signs up another 20 people to return to Thailand.  This practice is 
quite common, attracting Burmese from many parts of the country.  Yes, 
there are those who come because of human rights violations, but there 
are many others who come to improve their lives and the lives of their 
families by repatriating their income, meager though it may be.

 
> The problem is growing to become a threat to the
> regional security. The international community must, therefore, be called
> upon to resolve the Burmese refugee problem.

I would argue that the Burmese refugee situation is a threat to Thai 
national security but not to the region.  There are only a sprinkling of 
Burmese in Malaysia, though there have been reports of an increase in 
labor migrants.

> Since Thailand is not a party to the 1951 international conventions
> relating to the Status of Refugees or to that of 1967 protocol, the UNHCR
> can not assist these refugees in practice.

Again, just a correction of a little technicality.  Yes, Thailand is not 
a signature to the 1951 Convention or its 1967 Protocol, but this 
does not stop the UNHCR from assisting the refugees.  Even states 
that have signed the convention can refuse UNHCR access to refugees.  
Thailand is, however, a member of the UNHCR Executive Committee and 
should ideally, adhere to its principles.  International law is not 
yet effective enough to enforce this.  Thailand denies UNHCR access 
by claiming that its country agreement was for Indochinese refugees 
ONLY not the Burmese.  This does not carry much weight though as the 
UNHCR's mandate gives it access to all refugees.  This brings us back 
to the fact that if a state chooses to ignore the convention it can 
with little fear of repurcussions.


owever, the RTG
> Our concerns should appropriately be raised upon the
> humanitarian ground. The UNHCR should be called upon to protect all the
> displaced Burmese in Thailand and to assist their temporary stay.

Again, the NGOs do a good job of providing relief assistance already.  
UNHCR cooperates with them and does have access to the border though it 
may not have staff based there.  The UNHCR has applied to have a roving 
protection officer based at the border but this person would be of 
limited efficacy and the NGOs are already thorough in their reporting of 
human rights violations.

The UNHCR is not always the best answer.  In terms of relief, the program 
operated by the consortium of NGOs has been appropriate.  With an aim to 
limit dependecy, the refugees were allowed to stay in villages similar to 
their home environment.  This will ultimately be more beneficial when 
they return home.  What the UNHCR can do though is try to play an 
important monitoring role when the refugees repatriate.  This was not 
included in the Mon agreement unfortunately.

There has been considerable pressure placed on the minority groups and 
the refugees to settle with Rangoon and there is not a foreseeable end to 
this.  The minority position has been much weakened through military 
defeat so we should expect more cease-fires and repatriations/returns in 
the not so distant future.  The UNHCR should play a role, but the 
question will be, will they be allowed to?