Burmese refugees: discussion groups

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Title: Burmarefugees
Description: Discussion and alerts concerning refugees from Burma. Hundreds of thousands of refugees are being driven into neighboring Thailand, India, Bangladesh, and China. Discuss the most needed aid and the best way to provide it. What?s the UNHCR doing? What?s the latest policy of the Thai govt? Want to change it? Visiting Thailand soon? Ask these folks what to take and how to help.
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Title: Myanmar govt, UN team join hands to protect children in conflict areas
Description: "...The Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement and the UN Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting are working together to shield children from violence in conflict areas. U Win Naing Tun, secretary of the Committee for Preventing Grave Violence against Children in Armed Conflict, said they have drafted a plan to protect children from physical harm and sexual abuse..."
Source/publisher: Myanmar Times
Date of publication: 2020-03-20
Date of entry/update: 2020-03-21
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
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Title: Statement on World Refugee Day
Description: "On this World Refugee Day, the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) celebrates the strength and courage of people forced to flee Burma to escape conflict and persecution. For internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Karen State, for communities sheltering in refugee camps in Thailand, and for those on the run along the Thai-Burma border, KHRG draws international attention to the needs and hopes of the displaced. Today, KHRG calls on the international community to stand in solidarity with all who have been forced to flee their homes to escape the junta's targeted attacks on civilians. We call on neighbouring countries, as well as global international actors, to take concrete and effective action to protect civilians fleeing such brutality and those who support them. Despite initial voluntary repatriations and returns had increased after the signing of the 2015 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA),[1] the 2021 Coup and the violence that followed have reinvigorated the mass displacement of civilians in Karen State and other regions. The State Administration Council (SAC) is responsible for the ongoing violence, persecution and other serious human rights violations, including indiscriminate shelling, air strikes and the burning of entire villages, which have plunged the country into chaos and created a dire humanitarian crisis. Children are the most disproportionately affected by the fighting, facing dangers and disruptions to their education and well-being. Deprived of their childhoods, they are the future of Burma, and ensuring their access to education is crucial to lasting peace. The SAC continues to deny the critical humanitarian needs of displaced civilians, while actively obstructing and sabotaging the delivery of humanitarian aid to those in desperate need. This is a clear violation of international humanitarian law, which underlines the obligation to prevent and repress forcible displacement of the civilian population by warring parties,[2] and to protect and assist civilians fleeing systematic violence and conflict.[3] Moreover, under international refugee law, the 1951 Refugee Convention sets the standard for protection: although most Southeast Asian countries are not signatories to the Convention, its core principle of non-refoulement, which states that refugees should not be rejected entry to a safe country, nor should be returned to a country where they face a serious threat to their life or freedom,[4] is universally recognised as customary international law.[5] Displacement has a profound and lasting psychological impact, not only on the survivors but also on the wider community. When attacks against the civilian population are particularly widespread, especially when they are part of or combined with other acts of terror and intimidation, those who perceive themselves or their children to be at risk may live in fear and experience lasting psychological trauma. This trauma can also affect social cohesion within the community, straining relationships and making it difficult to rebuild a sense of normalcy.[6] On this World Refugee Day, KHRG urges international stakeholders and foreign governments to: Ensure that neighbouring countries’ authorities do not deny entry to people crossing the border seeking refuge, and encourage them to work with cross-border organisations to develop support and protection services for those seeking refuge. Allow aid to enter Burma through cross-border aid agencies and local civil society organisations (CSOs) already working in the area. Diversify the distribution of funds to include non-state actors, especially local ethnic service providers and CSOs, regardless of their registration status, and involve local actors and communities in decision-making on humanitarian response and crisis resolution. Recognize that the SAC is the root cause of the current human rights and humanitarian crisis and refrain from legitimizing the junta by signing agreements or working with them. Ensure the SAC has no decision-making power over aid distribution and prevent funds from being indirectly channelled through them. Take immediate steps to bring Burma's military leaders to international justice for ordering and/or permitting the targeting of civilians..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
Date of entry/update: 2024-06-20
[field_licence]
Type: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 243.46 KB 316.87 KB 279.63 KB
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Title: KHRG's Statement on World Refugee Day
Description: "Today, World Refugee Day, KHRG is calling on the international community and relevant stakeholders to stand for the protection and survival of the 71.7 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) around the world who have been uprooted from their homes and ancestral lands. Since the military coup on February 1, 2021, there has been a sharp increase of political instability and civil war resulting in the forcible displacement of local ethnic communities and they are in the emergency need of humanitarian support. However, the State Administration Council (SAC) has been ignoring requests for needed humanitarian support for the local ethnic communities who are fleeing from armed conflict. In addition, we have seen that the SAC is blocking access to humanitarian support and destroying humanitarian aid meant for the displaced communities. This is a violation of international humanitarian law. Due to the increase in political instability and the intensification of hostilities, IDPs and refugees are unable to return to their places of origin in southeast Myanmar. They fear that if they return to their homes their safety would be threatened by the ongoing hostilities in southeast Myanmar; the Tatmadaw' s indiscriminate shelling and bombings of villages; landmine contamination; ongoing militarization; political instability; and the risk of abuse by the Tatmadaw, Border Guard Forces (BGFs) and some Ethnic Armed Organizations. Their main concerns are safety, access to land, and loss of livelihood. In addition to the political instability and civil war in Myanmar, the COVID-19 pandemic has added another layer of insecurity in the already deteriorating human rights and humanitarian crisis. In our recent report Left Behind we found that the country’s COVID-19 response and support infrastructure collapsed after the military coup. In order to ensure the safe, voluntary and dignified return of refugees and IDPs to their places of origin, KHRG recommends the following: • The international community, including the UN Security Council, UN General Assembly, and ASEAN must strongly pressure the SAC to stop attacking civilian areas, and unarmed civilians. • Neighboring countries of Myanmar must protect the people fleeing from Myanmar and provide them with security and humanitarian aid. • SAC must stop the interruption and blockade of humanitarian aid to IDPs and others affected by the conflict. • SAC must allow stakeholders supporting communities affected the COVID-19 pandemic to operate freely. SAC must also resume the COVID-19 response and support operations. • The international community must recognize the actors providing humanitarian aid in ethnic areas and must collaborate with and support them..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-20
[field_licence]
Type: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 31.56 KB
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Title: On World Refugee Day, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland Condemns the Forced Internal Displacement of Civilians in Burma with Release of Briefing Paper on Humanitarian Crisis
Description: "On World Refugee Day, HURFOM is reminded of Burma’s history, which over the last seven decades has been marred by violence by the Burma Army. Their onslaught led to the establishment of nine refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border where hundreds of thousands traumatized survivors sought safety. Ethnic people have long been targeted by the regime for their culture and traditions as well as their resistance to live under the regime’s occupation. Today is a testament to their ongoing strength and willful determination to live freely and peacefully in their home country. It saddens HURFOM that the current reality is not safe for their return. Since seizing power in a coup on 1 February, the people of Burma have been forced to suffer deep-rooted consequences. Their livelihoods have been put on hold as the economic state of affairs spirals. In addition to increased militarization, warrantless arrests and property destruction, civilians have been forced to make difficult choices. In Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi region, civilians have been forced to flee for various reasons including being targeted by the regime for their anti-coup activities. Thousands have fled to escape violent conditions in their townships as well as to seek greater livelihood opportunities. HURFOM documentation suggests at least 41 have been killed, 1,372 arrested and detained and over 222 injured in our target areas since the coup. HURFOM is deeply worried for the future of Burma. Innocent civilians should not be forced to carry the burden of war. Therefore, we call on the international community for urgent humanitarian assistance including food, water, and shelter for displaced populations. Further, donors and international agencies focusing on war-affected refugees and IDPs must recognize the work of local community-based service providers, organizations, and civil society groups trusted by the beneficiaries to coordinate an effective and efficient humanitarian response..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Foundation of Monland
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-20
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Type: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar: Humanitarian Response Plan 2019
Description: "Humanitarian needs in Myanmar are characterized by a complex combination of vulnerability to natural disasters, food insecurity, armed conflict, inter-communal tensions, statelessness, institutionalized discrimination, protracted displacement, human trafficking and risky migration. In Rakhine, the situation remains tense following the armed attacks and the military operations and violence in 2017 that led to the exodus of over 700 000 people to Bangladesh. In Kachin and Shan states, the escalation of armed conflict caused new and secondary displacements..."
Source/publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Date of publication: 2019-01-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-15
[field_licence]
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.64 MB
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