ACTION REQUEST:- ETHNIC MINORITY RE (r)

[an400642@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: ACTION REQUEST:- ETHNIC MINORITY REFUGEES IN THAILAND (2/3)

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ACTION REQUEST:- ETHNIC MINORITY REFUGEES IN THAILAND
part 2 of 3.  For more information, contact :-
refugee_help@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Here are some ideas you might like to start with :-

        1.   Introduce  yourself  -  your interest in Burma and/or
Thailand - If you represent an organization, please explain.
        2.   Acknowledge  the humanitarian assistance and hospitality
shown by Thailand to Indo-Chinese refugees for many years, and the
temporary protection now enjoyed by 100,000 refugees on the Thai-Burma
border.
        3.   If you sponsored  refugees  from Burma in the past, state
how many were ethnic minority refugees, separate from political
refugees.
        2.   Explain what you want. (1) for all cases accepted by
another country to be allowed to leave Thailand, whether through the
Safe Area or not. (2) for new cases to be allowed access to screening
and departure if successful.
        3.   Explain that the small numbers of successful cases will not
necessarily represent a magnet effect or any need for a public change in
policy because each case is assessed individually by a foreign embassy
on the basis  of personal humanitarian need, to remove them from danger,
and using stringent criteria, and very few are accepted. Also few
refugees will take the risk of travelling to Bangkok to reach the
embassy without protection or support.
        5.   Conclusion. Thailand has a good international  reputation
for its humanitarian treatment of refugees arriving in the country,
there is growing international interest in the just treatment of
minorities from Burma -  it must be in Thailand's interests to be seen
in a good light with this issue. Growth of international trade and
tourism are affected by Thailand's international reputation.
        6.   Hope that Thailand's humanitarian principals will allow
these few people to leave the country. The world will know.

If you want to add more positive remarks or to personalize this letter
in any way, please do so.

A single letter would be wonderful: more would be more so.

If you do not have the time to write a personal letter or two, please
just sign the sample letter (in the next message), and send it off as
soon as possible.

You CAN make a difference!

For more information, please contact:- 
refugee_help@xxxxxxxxxx com
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