The Nation(17/7/99)

[mandalay@xxxxxxxxxx]

Ministry warns of refugee repatriation

THAILAND cannot serve as a permanent host to displaced persons and illegal
immigrants and there is a ''certain cut-off point when all of them will be
repatriated home'', said a senior Foreign Ministry spokesman yesterday. 

Don Pramudwinai told a press conference that the repatriation of Burmese
immigrants should not be a problem ''if the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees is involved and Burma is consulted and agrees to the practice''. 

He said there are different categories of immigrants, displaced persons,
illegal immigrants, refugees and that Thai government agencies had met to
discuss their repatriation. 

It was only a matter of time when repatriation of such a large group of
people takes place as it would require preparation, he added. 

Priority is given to illegal migrant workers, ''who have less risk to life
back home. Of course life will not be as comfortable as before but Thailand
cannot play a permanent refuge centre,'' said Don. 

''There needs to be a certain cut-off point,'' he added. 

Apart from the estimated 100,000 Burmese refugees and half a million
Burmese migrant workers, there are still a small number of Lao refugees
awaiting repatriation home or settlement in a third country. 

The Thai government is also trying to resolve the controversial presence of
tens of thousands of Hmong refugees from Laos taking shelter at a Thai
temple in Saraburi province. 

National Security Council chief Kajadpai Burutpat said on Tuesday that
Thailand would start the repatriation of about 100,000 Burmese refugees
from camps along the Thai border and expect the operation to be completed
in three years. 

He said the Burmese junta has agreed to welcome these refugees who are
mainly of ethnic Karen, Karenni and Mon origin. 

Under a bilateral agreement between the Burmese and Bangladeshi
governments, the refugee office has been involved in the repatriation of
some 250,000 Rohingya from Bangladesh. 

Still, relief workers who have visited the refugee camps on the Bangladeshi
border said many of the returnees have complained that they were not
resettled in their original home villages but designated areas by the
Burmese regime. 

The workers said while Thailand can repatriate the Burmese refugees, there
are certain rules that it has to take into account. For example, the
refugees must not be sent home against their will, their safety at home

must not be at risk and international access to monitor their safety must
be made available. 

The workers said there are well-founded concerns that the situation in
Burma is not yet safe for the refugees to go back home. There are still
some 2,000 refugees who cross the border into Thailand monthly and apart
from that, there are a large number of internally displaced people as a
result of ongoing forced labour and relocation, they said. 

Meanwhile, the 10 Asean members will not discuss the policy of ''flexible
engagement,'' which Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan had proposed last year
in Manila to replace the much-criticised constructive engagement policy
towards Burma. 

Don said the matter will not be raised at the annual meeting of Asean
foreign ministers later this month in Singapore. Since it was raised at
last year's meeting, the matter ''has been understood and there is no need
to dwell on it.'' 

Surin faced a barrage of criticism when he proposed the new policy without
prior consultations with other Asean foreign ministers who later shot it
down for fear that the new policy would in the future invite intervention
in their internal affairs. 
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