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UNHCR slammed for inaction on refug



Subject: re: UNHCR slammed for inaction on refuge

I understand that the UN believes it has no juristiction over the situation in
 Burma because it is an internal, not an international problem.

However, when refugees start flowing into another country - which began in Tha
iland more than 10 years ago - then it is an international problem.

In fact, many of the ASEAN countries, including Thailand, have voiced their co
ncerns about security in the region in the face of the current SLORC offensive
s on the Karen people and related incursions into Thai territory by SLORC sold
iers.

How can we convince the UN and UNHCR that they should finally start doing some
thing about this situation and for these people?

The UN and UNHCR should have a mandate to help all refugees, regardless if a c
ountry is technically at war or not. Even though the UN cannot get involved in
 the horrors that are daily occuring inside Burma it should at least help thos
e that escape, homeless, hungry and vulnerable - both to the cross-border atta
cks of the SLORC and the whim of the Thai government and army commanders.

I am sympathetic with the Karenni people but I feel that Aung San Suu Kyi's em
phasis on peace is preferable to armed conflict, and even defence should not j
ustify fighting. The UN's control of Thai refugee camps would prevent anyone f
rom prolonging the fighting.  Note the following:

********************************************
NATION:ARMY FINDS BIG KNU ARMS CACHE  March 3, 1997
Reuter

UMPHANG - The Thai army dealt another big blow to the beleaguered
Karen National Union (KNU) when it unearthed a cache of its weapons at the
Thai-Burma border and confiscated them, officials said yesterday.

They said that about 200 soldiers made a surprise raid late on Saturday at
Htee Ho Koh near Maechon village on the northwestern border with Burma and
found the cache. Among the weapons seized were 87 rocket launchers, 11
recoilless rifles, nine machine guns and 1,239 other rifles.

The assortment of arms, the military's biggest seizure of its kind in recent
years, was believed to have been hidden by KNU guerrillas fleeing a Burmese
army offensive against them earlier this month, the officials said.
***********************************************************************

Although many NGOs, the UNHCR and the US accuse Thailand of repatriating non-c
ombatants, the Thai government claims that only armed KNU soldiers are prevent
ed from crossing the border.  If the border could be monitored by an internati
onal group then I agree that only non-combatants should be allowed to take ref
uge in Thailand.  
The sooner the fighting stops the better it will be for everyone.  Even senior
 KNU members acknowledge that the KNU cannot win militarily. All Burmese peopl
e should be given protection outside Burma, in refugee camps, and all possible
 peaceful and political measures should be used to pressure the SLORC into sub
stantial reform.

If Thailand continues to force people back into Burma, as alledged, they are s
imply providing the SLORC with more victims. If refugees are protected, then t
he SLORC will no longer have the slave labour it needs to build its roads, air
ports, pipelines, etc.

Some people may argue that the UN cannot interfere in the sovereign affairs of
 Thailand, but this is not only Thailand's problem.  The citizens of one count
ry should not be subjected to harmful treatment of nother country, especially 
when they are not there by choice.  For a long time Thailand was very kind to 
have sheltered refugees from Burma, but now that the situation is becomming mo
re serious and the Thai army no-longer provides protection, the UN should step
 in.

No country should bear the costs and difficulties of helping refugees alone. I
n any refugee situation all countries of the world should share in the effort 
to protect, house, feed and educate violently uprooted people. The UN is the o
nly organiation of countries which can do this.

Thank you for reading.

In hope,

Martin Sieg

People's Forum on Burma - Japan
(member)

********* FORWARDED in part *************************
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 00:42:49 -0600
To: Multiple recipients of list <free-burma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

**************************************
UNHCR slammed for inaction on refugees
2.3.97/Thailand Times
by benchamas Chumworathayee

BANGKOK/RATCHABURI: In a rare show of agreement, a human rights
group yesterday joined with the military in condemnation of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for its
failure to provide assistance to Karen refugees sheltering in
Thailand.

Despite repeated calls from human rights groups for the UNHCR to
lend a hand, UNHCR officials were only observing the situation
and did nothing concrete to help the refugees, said Puttinee
Kangkan, a spokeswoman for the Thai Action Committee for
Democracy in Burma (TACDB).

Her remarks support those of Maj Gen Taweep Suwannasing,
commander of the Surasi Task Force that currently looks after the
refugees, who said on Thursday that the military had not received
any UN assistance to help the aid operation.

He said the Interior Ministry's initial allocation of 500,000
baht to provide aid for the thousands of new arrivals fleeing
from Burma's civil war was insufficient unless backed up by
outside funds.

Over 100,000 refugees have crossed the border in recent weeks
following a severe military crackdown against Burma's ethnic
minorities by the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council
(Slorc).

Around 10,000 refugees are sheltering in Kanchanaburi and
Ratchaburi provinces alone, where they are forced endure
primitive conditions.

Frankie Abreu, 38, a Karen refugee at a temporary camp near
Kanchanaburi's Pu Nam Ron village, called on humanitarian
organizations across the globe to take heed of their plight.

Abreu, one of some 3,000 refugees sheltering in the camp, said
the refugees lack food, water, medicine, clothes and even basis
shelter. With only plastic sheeting to cover the shacks that they
live in During the day they are at the mercy of the fierce sun,
while at night they have no protection from the dew.