Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Websites/Multiple Documents
Description:
Medizinische Grundversorgung unter den Fl�chtlingen an der thail�ndisch-burmesischen Grenze. Die Klinik wurde von Dr. Cynthia gegr�ndet. Im Mittelpunkt stehen Ausbildung von medizinischen Hilfskr�ften und Hebammen sowie Kurse in Gesundheitslehre f�r die M�tter und ihre Kinder, ein mobiler medizinischer Hilfsdienst, der Gebiete Burmas besucht, die keine eigene medizinische Versorgung haben, sowie ambulante und station�re medizinische Versorgung der Klinik. keywords: primary health care, IDP in Burma, education of health care personnel.
Source/publisher:
Netzwerk engagierter Buddhisten
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Health of Burmese refugees and migrants, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Refugee Health Care
Language:
Deutsch, German
more
Description:
Figures back to December 1998
Source/publisher:
The Border Consortium (TBC)
Date of entry/update:
2012-12-24
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Groups working with/for refugees from Burma/Myanmar
Language:
nglish
more
Individual Documents
Sub-title:
End Pushbacks, Grant Access to Aid and Asylum
Description:
"Malaysia and Thailand should urgently rescue Rohingya refugees stranded at sea and provide them with assistance and access to asylum, Human Rights Watch said today. On June 8, 2020, Malaysian authorities detained 269 Rohingya refugees who arrived on a damaged boat off Malaysia’s coast at Langkawi. A second boat with an estimated 300 Rohingya remains at sea near Thailand’s Koh Adang island, according to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.
Both boats left from Bangladesh in February, meaning that the hundreds of ethnic Rohingya on board have been at sea for four months without access to adequate food and water. On a previous boat of Rohingya bound for Malaysia that was rescued by the Bangladesh coast guard, as many as 100 may have died on board as a result of the deplorable conditions.
“Southeast Asian governments are callously passing the buck on protecting Rohingya refugees desperate for sanctuary and a future after Myanmar’s military drove them from their homes with mass atrocities,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “While Myanmar remains ultimately responsible for the Rohingya refugees’ plight, Malaysia and Thailand should stop wearing blinders about the immediate risks and suffering that they face at sea.”
Malaysian officials who intercepted the boat carrying Rohingya on June 8 intended to return it to international waters, but a damaged engine prevented the pushback. Approximately 50 refugees jumped off the boat and swam to shore, where they were detained, while the boat with the remaining passengers was towed to Langkawi. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency arrested them on arrival and has detained them at the Nation Building Camp center..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-14
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Infographic: Thailand-Myanmar Border Resettlement Dashboard - January 2020..."
Source/publisher:
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva) via reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-11
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
362.54 KB
more
Description:
INFOGRAPHIC
Source/publisher:
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva) via Reliefweb (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
363.39 KB
Local URL:
more
Sub-title:
Report says mental health crisis surges in refugee camps after cuts to aid and end of resettlement programmes.
Description:
"Drastic cuts to humanitarian assistance for refugees who fled Myanmar for Thailand have stoked widespread "hopelessness and depression" in camps along the border, deepening a mental health crisis that has seen suicide rates soar, a coalition of civil society groups says.
Major donors including Norway and Sweden have withdrawn funding for the camps in recent years, while the European Union has ended food aid in favour of other projects, leading to cuts in food rations for around 100,000 refugees as aid workers struggle with less than half the money they had in 2012.
Fifteen local groups have urged foreign donors to reinstate funds in a report published on Thursday to mark World Refugee Day. The report, There Is No One Who Does Not Miss Home, is based on interviews with 338 displaced people from various ethnic minority groups living in camps in Myanmar and Thailand.
The report noted cuts to aid have led to concern that refugees are coming under pressure to move out of the 10 camps along the border and back to Myanmar, where negotiations to end decades of conflict between the military and various rebel groups have stalled and violence continues.
The situation has led to "higher rates of depression and suicide" in the camps, the report said..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Proposed return of Burmese asylum-seekers from Thailand to Burma, Refugee Health Care
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"ကီၢ်ကၠီၣ်တဲၣ်-ကီၢ်ပယီၤကီၢ်ဆၢ ဘၣ်ကီဘၣ်ခဲ ဒဲက၀ီၤသ့ၣ်တဖၣ်အပူၤ (The Border Consortium-TBC )လၢအဆီၣ်ထဲမွၤစၢၤ ဒဲက၀ီၤဖိသ့ၣ်တဖၣ် ဖဲတလါအံၤအတီၢ်ပူၤ သုးကျဲၤ၀ဲ လၢကစူးကါအါထီၣ် (Food card ခးက့) အဂ့ၢ်န့ၣ် ဒဲက၀ီၤ ဘၣ်မူဘၣ်ဒါတဖၣ်တဲ၀ဲန့ၣ်လီၤႉ
ဖဲအပူၤကွံာ် ၂၀၁၆နံၣ်၊ လါယူၤလံန့ၣ် (TBC) စးထီၣ်သူကွၢ်၀ဲ ( Food card ခးက့) အံၤလၢ ဒဲက၀ီၤ ၂ဘ့ၣ် လၢအမ့ၢ် နိၣ်ဖိဒီး ထါမ်ဟ့ၣ်ဒဲက၀ီၤခံဘ့ၣ်အပူၤလီၤႉ စးထီၣ်က့ၤ တနံၣ်အံၤလါဖ့ၤဘြူၤအါရံၤအပူၤ ဒဲက၀ီၤလၢအအိၣ်တ့ၢ် တဖၣ်န့ၣ် ကသူအါထီၣ်၀ဲအဂ့ၢ် ကညီဘၣ်ကီဘၣ်ခဲကမံးတံာ်=( KRC)ၦၤပၢၤလီၢ်ဆ့ၣ်နီၤ စီၤရီပၠဘၢးထွ့တဲဘၣ်ခ့ၣ်အဲးစံၣ်-ကညီတၢ်ကစီၣ်န့ၣ်လီၤႉ..."
စးအဲၣ်ဆူ
Source/publisher:
KIC (Karen Information Center)
Date of publication:
2019-02-20
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Documents in Pwo-Karen and S'Gaw Karen, Armed conflict and peace-building in Burma - theoretical, strategic and general, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Food Security and displacement in Burma
Language:
Sgaw Karen
Local URL:
more
Description:
"ဒ် တၢ်က့ၤဆူအလီၢ်အကျဲလၢ နီၢ်ကစၢ်တၢ်ဘၣ်သး (Voluntary Repatriation Center-VRC)အတၢ်ရဲၣ် တၢ်ကျဲၤအသိး ဖဲတလါအံၤ လါဖ့ၤဘြူၤအါရံၤအတီၢ်ပူၤန့ၣ် ကီၢ်ကၠီၣ်တဲၣ်=ကီၢ်ပယီၤကီၢ်ဆၢ ၦၤဘၣ်ကီဘၣ်ခဲ ဒဲက၀ီၤတဖၣ်ပူၤ ၦၤဒဲက၀ီၤဖိ (၅၇၅)ဂၤ ကက့ၤလီၤ၀ဲဆူကီၢ်ပယီၤအပူၤန့ၣ်လီၤႉ
ကီၢ်ကၠီၣ်တဲၣ်၊ ကီၢ်ပယီၤပဒိၣ်ဒီး (UNHCR) ၦၤဘၣ်မူဘၣ်ဒါတဖၣ် မၤသကိးတၢ်အဖီခိၣ် စးထီၣ် ဖဲတလါအံၤလါဖ့ၤဘြူၤအါရံၤ (၂၀) သီအနံၤ၊ မဲၢ်လးဘၣ်ကီဘၣ်ခဲဒဲက၀ီၤအပူၤ ၦၤနီၣ်ဂံၢ်(၁၃၃)ဂၤ၊ ဖဲလါဖ့ၤဘြူၤအါရံၤ (၂၁)သီအနံၤန့ၣ် အူးပၠၣ် ဘၣ်ကီဘၣ်ခဲဒဲက၀ီၤအပူၤ ၦၤနီၣ်ဂံၢ်(၂၀၁)ဂၤ၊ ဒီးဒဲက၀ီၤအဂၤ ဒ်အမ့ၢ်နိၣ်ဖိ(၁၃၇)ဂၤ၊ ဘါဒိၣ်ယါ(၄၅)ဂၤ၊ ဘးမဲၣ်နဲစဲၣ် (ကရ့ၣ်နံၣ်ဘၣ်ကီဘၣ်ခဲဒဲက၀ီၤ) ၅၉ ဂၤခဲလၢာ်(၅၇၅)ဂၤ ကပိာ်ထွဲဒီးက့ၤအခံအဂ့ၢ်န့ၣ် ဒဲက၀ီၤၦၤဘၣ်မူဘၣ်ဒါတဖၣ်စံး၀ဲန့ၣ်လီၤႉ..."
Source/publisher:
KIC (Karen Information Center)
Date of publication:
2019-02-22
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of several ethnic groups., Documents in Pwo-Karen and S'Gaw Karen
Language:
Sgaw Karen
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The women discussed issues for two days and decided to form the new Grassroots Women’s Network. At the conclusion of the seminar the attendees jointly endorsed the following resolutions:
We call on the Burma Army to stop their military operations in all ethnic areas.
We want the 2008 constitution to be abolished and call on the Burma Government to begin a process whereby a genuine federal constitution can be drawn up.
We also call on all stakeholders to stop mega development projects in all ethnic areas until there is genuine peace and a political settlement.
There must be no forced repatriation of refugees.
We also call on the international community and donors to continue to support
humanitarian aid to refugees and IDPs according to international standards until peace is restored in the country..."
The Karen Women’s Organisation
Source/publisher:
Karen Women's Organisation
Date of publication:
2018-03-30
Date of entry/update:
2018-12-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Women and Politics in Burma/Myanmar, Various rights: reports of violations against several ethnic groups, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Karen National Union (KNU)
Language:
Sgaw Karen, Burmese ျမန္မာဘာသာ, English
Format :
pdf
Size:
336.17 KB
more
Description:
"ကီၢ်ကၠီၣ်တဲၣ်ကီၢ်ကယီၤကီၢ်ဆၢ၊ မဲၢ်လးကညီဘၣ်ကီဘၣ်ခဲဒဲက၀ီၤပူၤ ၦၤဘၣ်ကီဘၣ်ခဲဖိဂ့ၢ်၀ီ ဘီမုၢ်စၢဖှိၣ်၀ဲၤဒၢး (UNHCR) အိးထီၣ်ဃာ်၀ဲ (Voluntary Repatriation Center-VRC ) လၢအမ့ၢ်တၢ်က့ၤကဒါက့ၤလၢနီၢ်ကစၢ်တၢ်ဘၣ်သး အံၤအ၀ဲၤဒၢးအပူၤ ၦၤလၢအဟဲတီၣ်ထီၣ်ဃာ်မံၤ ၁၈ ဂၤအံၤ ဖဲလါနိၣ်၀့ဘၢၣ် ၁၅သီအနံၤ ကီၢ်ကၠီၣ်တဲၣ်ဒီးကီၢ်ပယီၤၦၤ ဘၣ်မူဘၣ်ဒါတဖၣ် ဟဲတၢ်ထံၣ်လိာ်သံဒိးသံကွၢ်အ၀ဲသ့ၣ်၀ံၤ၀ဲလံအဂ့ၢ်န့ၣ် ဒဲက၀ီၤၦၤ ဘၣ်မူဘၣ်ဒါတဖၣ်တဲ၀ဲန့ၣ်လီၤႉ..."
Source/publisher:
KIC (Karen Information Center)
Date of publication:
2018-11-23
Date of entry/update:
2018-12-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Refugees and immigrants in Thailand - Thailand's international treaty obligations and relevant Thai legislation
Language:
Sgaw Karen, English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Unrecognised Leaders, Tomorrow?s Hope: Raising the Voices of Forgotten Youth” is a documentary film by Burma Link, the Karen Student Network Group (KSNG) and the Karen Youth Organisation (KYO). The documentary amplifies the voices of ethnic refugee youth who live on the Thailand-Burma border, highlighting their calls for inclusion in political processes and recognition of refugee education certificates. The documentary was launched in a press conference in Yangon, Burma, on 22 February, 2017.
For more information, please visit:
Facebook: facebook.com/voicesofyouthfilm
Website: voicesofyouth.burmalink.org
The distribution of this documentary is supported by the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network and Right to Play.
Source/publisher:
Burma Link, the Karen Student Network Group (KSNG) and the Karen Youth Organisation (KYO)
Date of publication:
2017-02-22
Date of entry/update:
2017-03-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Karen, English, English sub-titles. Burmese
Local URL:
more
Description:
"In an interview with Burma Link, the refugee who led the petition signed by over 3,600 refugees in Mae La camp explains how he feels about the profiling survey and why he organised a campaign to have the survey modified and re-authored with refugees? participation and approval. He also details the hurdles they faced when campaigning against camp authorities? will, and shares his thoughts about life being confined to a refugee camp in Thailand. The survey is set to begin today, June 17th, in Mae La camp."
Source/publisher:
Burma Link
Date of publication:
2015-06-17
Date of entry/update:
2016-03-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Refoulement, push-backs and rejection at borders, Proposed return of Burmese asylum-seekers from Thailand to Burma
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Christine is a 22-year-old Karen refugee who lives in Mae La refugee camp with her husband and young daughter. She has lived there for seven years ?as a prisoner? inside the barbed wire fence, and now teaches in one of the post-ten schools in the camp. In this interview, Christine talks about the desperation and lack of hope in Mae La as uncertainty about the future mounts and refugees feel that they have no control over their own future. She fears that authorities will organise forced repatriation although they ?don?t know where to go? and ?nothing has changed for the poor?. Christine recently completed Burma Link?s AOC (Agents of Change) training and she is eager to have her voice heard. She wants authorities to take action NOW to help refugees like her and her young daughter."
Source/publisher:
Burma Link
Date of entry/update:
2016-03-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen (cultural, historical, political), Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Naw Eh is an incredibly determined 20-year-old Karen woman whose perseverance, motivation and hopeful spirit have taken her far beyond what she ever could have imagined as a child. Growing up as an undocumented migrant under extreme poverty and lack of opportunity, unlike many others in Thailand young Naw Eh had no chance to go to school. Instead, she spent her mornings selling snacks to school children, before starting her daily round of looking after the household and collecting recyclables on the streets. Naw Eh was 12 years old when she finally had the opportunity to go to school.
From childhood of labour, desperation and rejection by other children, Naw Eh?s determination has, incredibly, led her to study for an internationally recognised GED diploma on the Thailand-Burma border. This is her account on how education, trying incredibly hard, and never giving up, has changed her life and led her towards light and new opportunities."
Source/publisher:
Burma Link
Date of publication:
2014-12-15
Date of entry/update:
2016-03-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen (cultural, historical, political), Women of Burma -- bibliographies, Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Education in Karen (Kayin) State
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"John Bosco is like any 23-year-old who dreams of good education and a career, and who likes to read, use the internet, and play football. Unlike many young people, however, John?s life is confined within the fences of Ban Mai Nai Soi refugee camp in Thailand. John is ethnic Karenni and comes from a big family in a rural village with no access to electricity or water. Although John grew up under militarization and afraid of ?the sounds of guns shooting and bombs exploding,” his main priority was education. John?s family wanted him to have a better life and a future, and they sent him to the Ban Mai Nai Soi refugee camp in 2009. He hasn?t been able to see his family since. In the camp, John says that restrictions on movement and travel are increasing hand in hand with decreasing aid. Like so many others, John is now trapped in one of the most isolated refugee camps in Thailand, which remains out of the electricity grid and is surrounded by landmines. John still considers himself lucky; he doesn?t have to worry about repatriation as much as the many others who have no family in Burma and no place to go."
Source/publisher:
Burma Link
Date of publication:
2015-03-24
Date of entry/update:
2016-03-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karenni (Kayah) - cultural, political, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education, Armed conflict in Karenni State, Children and armed conflict, Education in Kayah (Karenni) State, Education in refugee camps in Thailand
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Kataerina, a Kayan (also known as Padaung) woman from Pyin Soung village in southern Shan State, is now 35 years old and has three daughters. Her life seems smooth for now, but it was tough and full of struggles for food, education and freedom. Kataerina?s story echoes so many voices from the people of Burma, who have had to endure child labour and an ongoing struggle for food and basic living standards. From armed conflict to being locked up and nearly killed by Burmese soldiers, Kataerina?s struggles finally led her to the Thailand-Burma border where she now lives in the Ban Mai Nai Soi refugee camp in Mae Hong Son Province. From Katarina?s story, you can learn more about the difficulties faced by the Kayan people in eastern Burma, where Kataerina hopes she will not be forced to return to."
Source/publisher:
Burma Link
Date of publication:
2015-08-29
Date of entry/update:
2016-03-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karenni (Kayah) - cultural, political, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Discrimination/violence against women: reports of violations in Burma, Discrimination against the Karenni (Kayah), Padaung (Kayan), Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
Executive Summary: "All women and girls, no matter where they live, have the fundamental right to be free from violence. This Report examined the extent to which women and girls who live in the seven Karen-majority camps along the Thai-Burma border enjoy, and can exercise, this fundamental human right. Specifically, this study examined 289 cases of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) against women in Mae Ra Ma Luang, Mae La Oon, Mae La, Umpiem Mai, Noh Poe, Ban Don Yang and Htam Hin refugee camps from 2011 to 2013 to determine the factors contributing to official reporting of crimes as well as the justice system?s response to such crimes. We conclude that the justice system provided an inadequate outcome for victims of violence in 80% of cases in 6 of the 7 camps. This stunning figure suggests that the justice system available to women and girls completely fails to protect them or ensure their basic human rights."
Source/publisher:
Karen Women?s Organization (KWO)
Date of publication:
2012-11-30
Date of entry/update:
2016-01-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Karen (ကရင်ဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.94 MB
Local URL:
more
Description:
Executive Summary: "All women and girls, no matter where they live, have the fundamental right to be free from
violence. This Report examined the extent to which women and girls who live in the seven Karen-majority camps along the Thai-Burma border enjoy, and can exercise, this fundamental human right. Specifically, this study examined 289 cases of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) against women in Mae Ra Ma Luang, Mae La Oon, Mae La, Umpiem Mai, Noh Poe, Ban Don Yang and Htam Hin refugee camps from 2011 to 2013 to determine the factors
contributing to official reporting of crimes as well as the justice system?s response to such crimes. We conclude that the justice system provided an inadequate outcome for victims of
violence in 80% of cases in 6 of the 7 camps. This stunning figure suggests that the justice
system available to women and girls completely fails to protect them or ensure their basic
human rights."
Source/publisher:
Karen Women?s Organization (KWO)
Date of publication:
2012-11-30
Date of entry/update:
2016-01-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.78 MB
Local URL:
more
Description:
Introduction: "1.1 This ?Comprehensive Plan Addressing the Needs
of Displaced Persons on the Thailand/Myanmar
(Burma) Border in 2007/8? has been prepared by t
he Committee for the Coordination of Services to
Displaced Persons in Thailand (CCSDPT) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) Regional Office in Bangkok...
1.2 The first CCSDPT/ UNHCR Comprehensive Plan was for 2006 and was drawn up through a participatory
process during 2005. It was presented to the Royal Thai
Government (RTG) at a workshop in December that
year. The 2006 plan was then expanded for 2006/ 7 and presented to Donors at a Donor Forum in May 2006
also attended by the National Security Counc
il (NSC) and the Ministry of Interior (MOI)...
1.3 The Comprehensive Plan for 2007/8 draws on the earlier
processes but this time also incorporates inputs
from UNHCR?s Strengthening Protection Capacity Projec
t-Thailand (SPCP-Thailand). This was initiated in
August 2006 and is another gap ident
ification exercise aimed at impr
oving the protection capacity of
Thailand to receive and protect refugees, enhance t
heir means of self-reliance and expand opportunities for
durable solutions...
1.4 The result is a more complete document whic
h summarises current protection and humanitarian
assistance services in 2007, anticipat
ed services in 2008 and gaps identif
ied in each sector. For many of the
most important gaps, specific project propo
sals with budget estimates are appended...
1.5 Implementation of the Comprehensive Plan will
require ongoing cooperation between all stakeholders
Specific challenges requiring action to move the pl
an forward are set out for CCSDPT/ UNHCR, the Donors
and the RTG..."
Source/publisher:
CCSDPT and UNHCR
Date of publication:
2007-11-30
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of several ethnic groups., Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.32 MB
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"Since late 2011, I have made contacted
with Karen refugee communities in two geographic locations ?one on the Thai-Burma border and one in Melbourne, Australia, which has provided me
opportunities to observe and participate in a number of activities
organized by those
displaced
residents. During
my
three-year engagement,
I have
come across
many Karen
refugees
who
have
enthusiastically taken part in the production as well as circulation and consumption of Karen pop
music, especially in the form
of music CDs or DVDs and
audio and video files
shared through online
media
platforms
such as YouTube.
Some explain that
music offers them opportunities to enjoy
themselves and to ?hang out? with like-minded
fellow
Karen. Moreover,
I have found that
music
involvement
helps some Karen individuals to cope with and to make sense of situations of
displacement, oppression and alienation. Notably, the sentimental charge of song lyrics and
melodies as well as the visual representations in music videos
become
a
source of a sense of Karen
identity and solidarity,
and
thereby
make
it possible for the producers as well as their
audiences
to
maintain connections with their counterparts in different countries.".....Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-26 July 2015.
Manoch Chummuangpak
Source/publisher:
International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-26 July 2015
Date of publication:
2015-07-26
Date of entry/update:
2015-08-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Third country resettlement of refugees from Burma, Anthropological literature on refugees and migrants, Migrant children and youth, International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies (ICBMS) 23-26 July, 2015
Language:
English
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pdf
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373.42 KB
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Abstract:
"An estimated twelve million people worldwide are stateless, or living without the legal
bond of citizenship or nationality with any state, and consequently face barriers to
employment, property ownership, education, health care, customary legal rights, and
national and international protection. More than one-quarter of the world?s stateless
people live in Thailand. This feminist ethnography explores the impact of statelessness
on the everyday lives of Burmese women political exiles living in Thailand through the
paradigm of human security and its six indicators: food, economic, personal, political,
health, and community security. The research reveals that exclusion from national and
international legal protections creates pervasive and profound political and personal
insecurity due to violence and harassment from state and non-state actors. Strong
networks, however, between exiled activists and their organizations provide community
security, through which stateless women may access various levels of food, economic,
and health security. Using the human security paradigm as a metric, this research
identifies acute barriers to Burmese stateless women exiles? experiences and expectations
of well-being, therefore illustrating the potential of human security as a measurement by
which conflict resolution scholars and practitioners may describe and evaluate their work
in the context of positive peace."
Elizabeth Hooker
Source/publisher:
Portland University (MS thesis)
Date of publication:
2011-11-30
Date of entry/update:
2013-10-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese and other stateless people in Thailand and Malaysia, Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Women migrant workers
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
587.97 KB
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Description:
Summary:
"Despite decades of experience with hosting millions of refugees, Thailand?s refugee
policies remain fragmented, unpredictable, inadequate and ad hoc, leaving refugees
unnecessarily vulnerable to arbitrary and abusive treatment. Thailand is not a party to the
1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Refugee Convention) or its 1967
Protocol. It has no refugee law or formalized asylum procedures. The lack of a legal
framework leaves refugees and asylum seekers in a precarious state, making their stay in
Thailand uncertain and their status unclear.
Burmese refugees in Thailand face a stark choice: they can stay in one of the refugee
camps along the border with Burma and be relatively protected from arrest and summary
removal to Burma but without freedom to move or work. Or, they can live and work outside
the camps, but typically without recognized legal status of any kind, leaving them at risk of
arrest and deportation. It is a choice refugees should not be compelled to make. Many of
those who decide to live in the camps do so without being formally registered or
recognized. And many of those living outside the camps find the process of applying for
and gaining migrant worker status to be prohibitively expensive and out of reach, leaving
them vulnerable to exploitation, arrest, and deportation.
This report looks at the lives both of refugees inside the camps on the Thai-Burma border
as well as of Burmese living outside of the camps, many of whom are, in fact, refugees,
even though they have not been officially recognized as such, in large part because they
are precluded from lodging refugee claims with the government or with the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This report also looks at the situation of
refugees and asylum seekers from other nationalities and their difficulties in finding
predictable and sufficient protection in Thailand. Finally, the report looks at the situation
of all migrants in Thailand, including refugees and asylum seekers, in their encounters
with police and other authorities, including when faced with being detained in Thailand?s
Immigration Detention Centers (IDCs) and with deportation or expulsion from the country..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
2012-09-13
Date of entry/update:
2012-09-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
Today a grouping of Karen Community Based Organizations (KCBOs) released their collective position in response to recent news about the repatriation of refugees. The position paper outlines the pre‐conditions and processes necessary for a successful and voluntary return of refugees from several camps along the Thai‐Burma border, back to Karen areas. Repatriation without these pre‐conditions and processes will be against the will of the refugees and will not respect their right to return voluntarily in safety and with dignity.
?We are encouraged by the changes in Burma but there are many improvements that would need to happen before refugees would be safe to return,? said Dah Eh Kler from the Karen Women?s Organization (KWO).?We fled the fighting and the abuse by the Burma Army. We know the ceasefires are still fragile and do not yet include an enforceable code of conduct; the troops are still all around our former villages, along with land mines and other dangers. We hope that we can go home one day soon, but it is just not possible under the current conditions in Karen areas.
The position paper is a comprehensive view of what the Karen community needs in order to go home. It outlines several pre‐conditions that must be met before refugees return to Burma, including: achievement of a political settlement between ethnic armed groups and the Burma government, agreement on a nationwide ceasefire, guaranteed safety and security for the people, clearance of land‐mines, withdrawal of all Burma Army and militia troops, end of human rights violations, abolishment of all oppressive laws and resolution of land ownership issues.
?We have learned from the UNHCR that the Burma government has already planned the locations to which refugees will be repatriated. KCBOs were very surprised to hear this as we and the refugees themselves have not been consulted properly on where, when and how they will be repatriated. Refugees have the right to make free choices on where, when and how they will return to their homeland,? said Ko Shwe from the Karen Environment and Social Action Network (KESAN).
In order to make their own choices about their return, the KCBOs have outlined specific processes that must take place, including defining how consultations with refugees and affected communities must be conducted and how refugees and KCBOs must take part in the decision‐making process at all stages, including in preparation, implementation and post‐return phases.
For the full list of pre‐conditions and necessary processes, please see the attached position paper......Burma, Karen, myanmar, refugee, repatriation, return, thailand
Source/publisher:
Women?s League of Burma
Date of publication:
2012-09-11
Date of entry/update:
2012-09-12
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Proposed return of Burmese asylum-seekers from Thailand to Burma, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
Sustainable Solutions to the Displaced Person Situation
on the Thai-Myanmar Border...Executive Summary: "One of six diverse studies examining durable solutions to the displaced persons (DP)
situation along the Thai-Myanmar border, this study analyzes the role of donors, international
organizations and non-government organizations (NGOs). It examines the rationale behind
international intervention, funding policies and organizational mandates; implementation
strategies and the dynamics of cooperation among stakeholders including the Royal Thai
Government (RTG); as well as the operating environment and impacts of this for effective
intervention. ... Findings
will be applied to facilitate the design of an improved strategy to implement policy and to
advocate for a change in policy towards sustainable and long-term solutions for the protracted
displacement situation along the Thai-Myanmar border..."
Dares Chusri, Tarina Rubin, Ma. Esmeralda Silva, Jason D. Theede, Sunanta Wongchalee, Patcharin Chansawang
Source/publisher:
Asian Research Center for Migration Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University
Date of publication:
2011-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2012-08-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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pdf
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875.13 KB
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"...RTG policy has been largely responsive to the DPs issue, rather than proactive,
and the RTG still has no formal asylum law. This has led to practical difficulties in dealing
with the DPs, and has also enabled the RTG to maintain an apparent ambivalence to the
situation in public. In particular, the RTG has maintained that the DPs are a national
security issue, which has led to reluctance to consider certain solutions. In addition, the
DPs issue has been made more complex by the 2 million migrant workers from Myanmar
that work in Thailand, and by Thailand?s strategic relationship with the government of
Myanmar. The lack of clear and open policy on the DPs has meant that they are usually
considered first and foremost as potential illegal immigrants; the DPs have been given
long-term sanctuary and protection from refoulement, but within closed settlements which
iii
have created conditions of dependence and have severely limited self-reliance in contrast
to international standards on treatment of refugees.
The internal factors influencing the RTG policy include concerns about the
security of its sovereignty, local resistance, negative public attitude and other priorities
that remains difficult to resolve; management of migrant workers. Thailand?s relationship
with Myanmar and its commitments to various international conventions are the external
factors that affect RTG policy towards displaced person from Myanmar..."
Premjai VUNGSIRIPHISAL, Graham Bennett, Chanarat Poomkacha, Waranya Jitpong, Kamonwan Reungsamran
Source/publisher:
Asian Research Center for Migration Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University
Date of publication:
2011-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2012-08-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
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723.45 KB
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Description:
Table of Contents:-
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...
FOREWORD...
CHAPTER 1 CONFLICT: THE ROOT CAUSE OF DISPLACEMENT:
1.1 Ethnic diversity and protracted armed conflict;
1.2 Forced out of homes, internally displaced persons;
1.3 Forced out of the land: asylum seekers across the border...
CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND STUDY AREAS:
2.1 Mae La shelter, Tak province;
2.2 Ban Pang Kwai - Pang Tractor shelter, Mae Hong Son
province;
2.3 Shan communities, Chiang Mai province...
CHAPTER 3 LIFE OF CHILDREN BEFORE DISPLACEMENT:
3.1 Children in Kayin state;
3.2 Children in Kayah state;
3.3 Life of Children in Shan State;
3.4 Protection for children in Myanmar...
CHAPTER 4 LIFE AS ASYLUM SEEKER:
4.1 Children in Mae La shelter;
4.2 Children in Mae Hong Son shelter;
4.3 Life of children outside the temporary shelter;
4.4 Protection of children in Thailand...
CHAPTER 5 ARMED CONFLICT SITUATION: IMPACT ON
CHILDREN:
5.1 Children from Kayin State;
5.2 Children in Karenni shelter;
5.3 Children in non-shelter area...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...
RECOMMENDATIONS...
REFERENCES.
Premjai VUNGSIRIPHISAL, Supang Chantavanich, SUPAPHAN KHANCHAI, Waranya Jitpong, YOKO KUROIWA
Source/publisher:
ASIAN RESEARCH CENTRE FOR MIGRATION INSTITUTE OF ASIAN STUDIES, CHULALONGKORN UNIVERSITY Bangkok, Thailand
Date of publication:
2010-10-31
Date of entry/update:
2012-08-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
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630.32 KB
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Sustainable Solutions to the Displaced Person Situation
On the Thai-Myanmar Border.....EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:-
"The study investigates the social welfare and social security situation of displaced persons (DP) living in the temporary shelters along the Thai-Myanmar border. The Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) estimates that 142,653 people were living in these temporary shelters as of February 2011. Displaced persons are essentially dependent on external assistance for the funding of basic needs and services through provision of food and non-food items as well as support for education, healthcare and justice administration services.
In order to find alternative and sustainable solutions to the current situation, the study first assesses the availability of existing welfare services (food/shelter, education, healthcare) and legal protection for displaced persons, and evaluates the extent to which these services are meeting the needs of displaced persons. It then examines the potential implications and sustainability of access to local Thai education, health, and judicial services. In addition, the study identifies possible social tension and conflict between displaced persons and local communities in relation to access to social welfare services.
The research uses a triangulation method which utilizes more than one research technique to verify information and cross-check different sources. Research methods employed include documentary analysis and both quantitative and qualitative fieldwork. Field data was collected between March 2010 and February 2011 focusing on three temporary shelters and surrounding local communities: Tham Hin/Ratchaburi Province; Mae La/Tak Province; and Ban Mai Nai Soi/Mae Hong Son Province. The study applies the Human Security framework and the Right to Education framework to analyze findings from both the documentary and field research..."
Naruemon Thabchumpon, Bea Moraras, Jiraporn Laocharoenwong, Wannaprapa Karom
Source/publisher:
Asian Research Center for Migration Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University
Date of publication:
2011-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2012-08-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.49 MB
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
"This study presents an overview of environmental issues and impacts associated
with displaced peoples? temporary shelters along the Thai-Myanmar border, and
formulates recommendations aimed at improving the environmental conditions in and
around the settlements. Out of nine such temporary shelters, three were selected for
detailed study: Ban Tham Hin (Ratchburi province), Ban Mai Nai Soi (Mae Hong Son
province) and Ban Mae La (Tak province). In each of these shelters a variety of research
methods was used to assess the environmental conditions, analyze displaced peoples? way
of living and use of resources, and disclose displaced peoples? perceptions of the
environmental conditions they face. Data was collected by means of observation (field
trips were made to each of the shelters), surveys, in-depth interviews, focus group
meetings and desk research. Respondents included the displaced people themselves and
staff members working in the shelter areas. Whenever relevant and possible, the scope of
the research was not restricted to the shelters alone. Efforts were made to also assess
environmental impacts produced by the presence of the shelters in the surrounding areas,
amongst other by hearing officials and representatives from these areas in focus group
meetings and through interviews..."
Suwattana Thadaniti, Kanokphan U-Cha, Bart Lambregts, Jaturapat Bhiromkaew, Vullop Prombang, Suchoaw Toommakorn, Saowanee Wijitkosum
Source/publisher:
Asian Research Center for Migration Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University
Date of publication:
2011-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2012-08-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
4.19 MB
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Description:
Sustainable Solutions to the Displaced Person Situation
On the Thai-Myanmar Border.....Executive Summary:
"This study presents an overview of livelihood opportunities of displaced persons in temporary
shelters and of the surrounding communities. It explores labour market conditions and provides
recommendations aimed at improving the livelihoods opportunities of the displaced persons
notably. Three temporary shelters were selected for study; Ban Tham Hin (Ratchaburi
province), Ban Mai Nai Soi (Mae Hong Son province) and Ban Mae La (Tak province). In each
shelter, a variety of research methods was used to analyse livelihoods and labour market
opportunities of displaced persons. Data was collected by surveys, focus group discussion, indepth
interviews and literature review. Respondents included displaced persons, staff members
of NGOs working in shelters areas, local authorities and local entrepreneurs. According to the
agreement of working group, the study assessed the pilot projects which are implemented by
Non Government Organizations instead of creating new pilot project..."
Yongyuth Chalamwong, the Thailand Development Research Institute team
Source/publisher:
Asian Research Center for Migration Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University
Date of publication:
2011-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2012-08-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.44 MB
Local URL:
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Description:
Sustainable Solutions to the Displaced Person Situation
On the Thai-Myanmar Border.....Conclusion:
Resettlement operations within the shelters in Thailand have now been ongoing continuously for more than 5 years with over 64,000 departures completed as of the end of 2010. However, despite the large investment of financial and human resources in this effort, the displacement situation appears not to have diminished significantly in scale as of yet. While no stakeholders involved with the situation in Thailand are currently calling for an end to resettlement activities, there has been little agreement about what role resettlement actually
x
serves in long-term solutions for the situation. For the most part, the program has been implemented thus far in a reflexive manner rather than as a truly responsive and solutions-oriented strategy, based primarily upon the parameters established by the policies of resettlement nations and the RTG rather than the needs of the displaced persons within the shelters.
Looking towards the future, it appears highly unlikely that resettlement can resolve the displaced person situation in the border shelters as a lone durable solution and almost certainly not if the status quo registration policies and procedures of the RTG are maintained. All stakeholders involved with trying to address the situation are currently stuck with the impractical approach of attempting to resolve a protracted state of conflict and human rights abuses within Myanmar without effective means for engaging with the situation in-country. Neither stemming the tide of new displacement flows nor establishing conditions that would allow for an eventual safe return appear feasible at this time.
Within the limitations of this strategy framework, a greater level of cooperation between resettlement countries, international organizations, and the RTG to support a higher quantity of departures for resettlement through addressing the policy constraints and personal capacity restrictions to participation appears a desirable option and might allow for resettlement to begin to have a more significant impact on reducing the scale of displacement within Thailand. However, realistically this would still be unlikely to resolve the situation as a whole if not conducted in combination with more actualized forms of local integration within Thailand and within the context of reduced displacement flows into the shelters.
The overall conclusion reached about resettlement is that it continues to play a meaningful palliative, protective, and durable solution role within the shelters in Thailand. While it is necessary for resettlement to remain a carefully targeted program, the stakeholders involved should consider expanding resettlement to allow participation of legitimate asylum seekers within the shelters who are currently restricted from applying because of the lack of a timely status determination process. Allowing higher levels of participation in resettlement through addressing this policy constraint, as well as some of the more personal constraints that prevent some families within the shelters from moving on with their lives, would be a positive development in terms of providing durable solutions to the situation. In conjunction with greater opportunities for local integration and livelihood options for those who cannot or do not wish to participate in resettlement, the program should be expanded to make the option of an alternative to indefinite encampment within the shelters in Thailand available to a larger group of eligible displaced persons..."
Ben Harkins, Nawita Direkwut, Aungkana Kamonpetch
Source/publisher:
Asian Research Center for Migration Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University
Date of publication:
2011-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2012-08-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Third country resettlement of refugees from Burma
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.4 MB
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Description:
"This report contains the full transcripts of seven interviews conducted between June 1st and June 18th 2010 in Dta Greh Township, Pa?an District by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The villager interviewed seven villagers from two villages in Wah Mee Gklah village tract, after they had returned to Burma following initial displacement into Thailand during May and June 2009. The interviewees report that they did not wish to return to Burma, but felt they had to do so as the result of pressure and harassment by Thai authorities. The interviewees described the following abuses since their return, including: the firing of mortars and small arms at villagers; demands for villagers to porter military supplies, and for the payment of money in lieu of the provision of porters; theft and looting of villagers? houses and possessions; and threats from unexploded ordnance and the use of landmines, including consequences for livelihoods and injuries to civilians. All seven interviewees also raised specific concerns regarding the food security of villagers returned to Burma following their displacement into Thailand."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
2011-05-06
Date of entry/update:
2012-02-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, Non-ILO Reports on forced labour, including forced portering, in Karen (Kayin) State, Reports and maps covering anti-personnel landmines and Burma/Myanmar, Economic oppression, Extortion, Robbery
Language:
English
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Description:
"Research submitted by a KHRG field researcher indicates that fighting between DKBA and Tatmadaw troops between April 22nd and April 30th 2011 in Kya In Township has left at least three civilians dead and eight injured. The indiscriminate firing of mortars and small arms in civilian areas by armed groups involved in the conflict, and conflict related abuse including an explicit threat by Tatmadaw forces to burn civilians? homes, caused at least 143 villagers from Gkyaw Hta, Khoh Htoh, T?Aye Shay and Mae Naw Ah villages to seek refuge in the Ra--- area of Thailand between April 22nd and 30th 2011. As of May 13th 2011, KHRG confirmed that the firing of mortars and small arms was ongoing in the areas of K?Lay Kee and Noh Taw Plah, and that some villagers continued to seek refuge at discreet locations in Thailand."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
2011-05-17
Date of entry/update:
2012-02-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
503.17 KB
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Description:
"For more than 60 years, Karen rebels have been fighting a civil war against the government of Myanmar...In February 1949, members of the Karen ethnic minority launched an armed insurrection against Myanmar?s central government.
In pictures: Sixty years of war.
Over 60 years later, the conflict continues, with more than a dozen ethnic rebel groups waging war against the army in their fight for self-rule.
Now, the war is entering a new and bloody stage.
Myanmar is the only regime still regularly planting anti-personnel mines. But it is not only the army that uses them. Rebel groups also regularly use homemade landmines or mines seized from the military.
As the conflict escalates, civilians are trapped in the middle of some of the worst fighting in decades.
101 East travels to Myanmar, home to the world?s longest running civil war."
Source/publisher:
Al Jazeera (101 East)
Date of publication:
2011-08-11
Date of entry/update:
2011-12-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Individual videos and films on Burma in English and other non-Asian languages, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers, Reports and maps covering anti-personnel landmines and Burma/Myanmar, Non-Ceasefire Groups, Armed conflict in Karen State - general articles and reports
Language:
English, Karen (English sub-titles)
Local URL:
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Description:
"The uncertain plight of more than 140,000 refugees living in camps along the Thai-Myanmar border has become even more precarious.
On April 11, Thailand?s National Security Council chief Tawin Pleansri announced that the closure of the refugee camps was imminent.
He added that the National Security Council, the institution that has overall authority over refugee issues, is in discussions with the Myanmar government and in contact with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) about repatriating the refugees to Myanmar.
This is disconcerting news to those living in the nine official refugee camps dotted along the porous border between Myanmar and Thailand. They fled from armed conflict and structural violence in the Karen, the Karenni and the Shan states on the eastern border as well as other parts of Myanmar. They had been exploited for their labour, food and money by the Myanmar military and its allied groups, which have been waging a long-standing campaign against ethnic insurgent groups since the 1960s..."
Su-Ann Oh
Source/publisher:
"Straits Times"
Date of publication:
2011-04-22
Date of entry/update:
2011-07-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
54.65 KB
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Description:
"The eruption of conflict between the Burmese military and an ethnic rebel faction in eastern Burma has forced over 30,000 people to flee to Thailand since November 2010. Skirmishes are ongoing and both parties have planted landmines in people?s villages and farmlands. While the Thai government has a long-standing policy of providing refuge for ?those fleeing fighting,” the Thai army is pressuring Burmese to return prematurely and restricting aid agencies. Unless the Thai Government strengthens its policy to protect those fleeing fighting and persecution, current and future refugees will have no choice but to join the ranks of millions of undocumented and unprotected migrant workers in Thailand..."
Source/publisher:
Refugees International
Date of publication:
2011-03-24
Date of entry/update:
2011-03-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
93.1 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
Pie gender charts of refugee camps plus UNHCR offices etc.
Figures as at end April 2008
Source/publisher:
UNHCR via ReliefWeb
Date of publication:
2008-05-21
Date of entry/update:
2011-01-12
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Maps and satellite imagery, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"Main Objectives
and Activities:
Ensure that the fundamentals of
international protection, particularly
the principles of asylum and nonrefoulement,
are respected and effectively
implemented; ensure that
refugee populations at the Thai-
Myanmar border are safe from
armed incursions, that the civilian
character of refugee camps is maintained
and that their protection and
assistance needs are adequately met;
promptly identify and protect individual
asylum-seekers; promote the
development of national refugee legislation
and status determination
procedures consistent with international
standards. ..."
Source/publisher:
UNHCR
Date of publication:
1999-11-30
Date of entry/update:
2010-12-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Refugees from Burma: general reports, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"Refugees International Advocate Veronika Martin and human rights lawyer Betsy Apple recently completed an assessment mission to the Thai-Burmese border.
There are few fates worse than being an internally displaced person (IDP) in Burma. IDPs inside Burma are divided into two categories: those living under the strict control of the Burmese government in �relocation sites,� and those living in hiding in the jungle from the Burmese army. Both options present a high risk of human rights abuses, a lack of food, and limited or no access to healthcare and education. According to a recent report compiled by the Burma Border Consortium (BBC), more than 2,500 villages have been either destroyed, relocated, or abandoned, affecting 633,000 individuals over the last five years in eastern Burma. Since 1996, an estimated minimum of one million people living in the ethnic states that border Thailand have been displaced. This year has seen a marked increase in the frequency of counter-insurgency operations in ethnic minority areas, leading in turn to an increase in the level of internal displacement..."
Veronika Martin, Betsy Apple
Source/publisher:
Refugees International via Asian Tribune
Date of publication:
2002-10-10
Date of entry/update:
2010-12-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of several ethnic groups.
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
Executive Summary:
"The impact of decades of military repression on
the population of Burma has been devastating.
Hundreds of thousands of Burmese have been
displaced by the government�s suppression of
ethnic insurgencies and of the pro-democracy
movement. As government spending has concentrated
on military expenditures to maintain its
control, the once-vibrant Burmese economy has
been virtually destroyed. Funding for health and
education is negligible, leaving the population at
the mercy of the growing AIDS epidemic, which
is itself fueled by the production, trade and intravenous
use of heroin, as well as the trafficking of
women.
The Burmese people, whether displaced by government
design or by economic necessity, whether
opposed to the military regime or merely trying to
survive in a climate of fear, face enormous challenges.
Human rights abuses are legion. The government�s
strategies of forced labor and relocation
destroy communities. Displacement, disruption of
social networks and the collapse of the public
health systems provide momentum for the spreading
AIDS epidemic�which the government has
barely begun to acknowledge or address. The
broader crisis in health care in general and reproductive
health in particular affects women at all
levels; maternal mortality is extremely high, family
planning is discouraged. The decay�and willful
destruction�of the educational system has created
an increasingly illiterate population�without the
tools necessary to participate in a modern society.
The country-wide economic crisis drives the
growth of the commercial sex industry, both in
Burma and in Thailand.
Yet, international pressure for political change is
increasing and nongovernmental organizations and
some UN agencies manage to work within Burma,
quietly challenging the status quo. The delegation
met with Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of
the National League for Democracy, who is considered
by much of the international community as
the true representative of the Burmese people.
Despite her concerns that humanitarian aid can
prop up the SPDC, she was cautiously supportive
of direct, transparent assistance in conjunction
with unrelenting international condemnation of
the military government�s human rights abuses and
anti-democratic rule.
The delegation concluded that carefully designed
humanitarian assistance in Burma can help people
without strengthening the military government.
And, until democracy is restored in Burma,
refugees in Thailand must receive protection from
forced repatriation, and be offered opportunities
for skills development and education to carry
home. On both sides of the border, women�s
groups work to respond to the issues facing their
communities; they are a critical resource in
addressing the critical needs for education, reproductive
health and income generation." ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced
Source/publisher:
Women?s Commission on Refugee Women and Children
Date of publication:
2000-02-29
Date of entry/update:
2010-12-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of several ethnic groups., Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
182.55 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"This report gives quantitative evidence in support of claims that there has been a large influx of Shans arriving
into northern Thailand during the past 6 years who are genuine refugees fleeing persecution and not simply
migrant workers. This data was based on interviews with 66,868 Shans arriving in Fang District of northern
Chiang Mai province between June 1997 and December 2002,
The data shows that almost all the new arrivals came from the twelve townships in Central Shan State where
the Burmese military regime has carried out a mass forced relocation program since March 1996, and where
the regime?s troops have been perpetrating systematic human rights abuses against civilian populations.
Higher numbers of arrivals came from townships such as Kunhing where a higher incidence of human rights
abuses has been reported. Evidence also shows increases in refugee outflows from specific village tracts
directly after large-scale massacres were committed by the regime?s troops..."
Source/publisher:
Shan Human Rights Foundation via Shan Herald Agency for news
Date of entry/update:
2010-12-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Internal displacement/forced migration of Shan. Palaung and Wa villagers
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The Pa-O are one of the ethnic minorities of Burma. They live primarily in the Taunggyi area of southwestern Shan State. A smaller number live in the Thaton area of Mon State in Lower Burma. The Pa-O in the Thaton area have become "Burmanized" -- like their neighbors the Mon and Karen, they have adopted Burmese language, dress and customs. The Pa-O in southwestern Shan State have learned to speak Shan, but have maintained their own distinct language and customs, including their traditional dark blue or black dress. Among the earliest Pa-O arrivals in Thailand may have been slaves captured by the Karenni and sold into Siam in the mid and late 1800s. During the 1880s, the Shan States were in chaos, the local princes at war with each other. Large numbers of people fled, many into northern Thailand, very likely including some Pa-O. The Pa-O also went to Thailand as traders of cattle as well as herbal medicines and other trade goods. More recently they have gone as refugees.
Forced relocations have been particularly sweeping in Mon, Karen and Shan States -- those states where most of the Pa-O live. The Pa-O Nationalist Army signed a ceasefire with SLORC in 1991, but because the Pa-O live in many of the areas where other rebel groups are still active they have been swept up in the forced relocations and human rights abuses for which the ruling junta has become infamous. These are their stories..."
Russ Christensen, Sann Kyaw
Source/publisher:
"Cultural Survival Quarterly" Issue 24.3
Date of publication:
2000-10-31
Date of entry/update:
2010-12-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Migrants' rights: reports of violations, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
Civilians in the central Shan State are suffering the enormous consequences of internal armed conflict, as fighting between the tatmadaw, or Myanmar army, and the Shan State Army-South (SSA-South) continues. The vast majority of affected people are rice farmers who have been deprived of their lands and their livelihoods as a result of the State Peace and Development Council?s (SPDC, Myanmar?s military government) counter-insurgency tactics. In the last four years over 300,000 civilians have been displaced by the tatmadaw, hundreds have been killed when they attempted to return to their farms, and thousands have been seized by the army to work without pay on roads and other projects. Over 100,000 civilians have fled to neighbouring Thailand, where they work as day labourers, risking arrest for "illegal immigration" by the Thai authorities.
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International (ASA 16/11/00)
Date of publication:
2000-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2010-11-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Shan, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English, Francais
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Up to a million people have fled their homes in eastern Burma in a crisis the world has largely ignored.
Burma?s refusal to release Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, and the boycotting of the constitutional convention this month by the main opposition, has thrust Burma into the spotlight again.
But unseen and largely unremarked is the ongoing harrowing experience of hundreds of thousands of people in eastern Burma, hiding in the jungle or trapped in army-controlled relocation sites. Others are in refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border.
These people are victims in a counterinsurgency war in which they are the deliberate targets. As members of Burma?s ethnic minorities - which make up 40 per cent of the population - they are trapped in a conflict between the Burmese army and ethnic minority armies.
Surviving on caches of rice hidden in caves, or on roots and wild foods, families in eastern Burma face malaria, landmines, disease and starvation. They are hunted like animals by army patrols and starved into surrender.
In interviews... refugees told Christian Aid of murder and rape, the torching of villages and shooting of family members as they lay huddled together in the fields. They recalled farmers who had been blown up by landmines laid by the army around their crops.
This report, based on personal testimonies from refugees, tells the story of Burma?s humanitarian crisis.
On the brink of the Burmese government?s announcement of a ?roadmap to democracy? for a new constitution, Burma?s Dirty War argues that any new political settlement must include the crisis on the country?s eastern borders.
Burma?s refusal to free Aung San Suu Kyi promises more intransigence and an even slower pace of change - with predictable human costs.
This report calls on the UK and Irish governments, the EU and the UN to use what opportunity remains from the roadmap to democracy to press for an end to the conflict in negotiations with ethnic minorities.
It also argues that the UN must gain access to the areas in crisis - despite the Burmese government ban on travel there by humanitarian agencies.
Key recommendations include:
* that the Burmese government cease human rights abuses, allow access to eastern Burma by humanitarian agencies including UN special representatives, and engage in dialogue with ethnic minority representatives
* that the UK and Irish governments, the EU and the UN fund work with displaced people inside Burma and continue to support refugees in Thailand
* that the UK and Irish governments, the EU and UN Security Council condemn Burma?s human rights abuses against ethnic minorities, demand that it protect civilians from violence and insist that Burma allow access to humanitarian agencies
The report argues that governments must seize the opportunity presented by the roadmap to push for genuine negotiations between the government, the National League for Democracy and ethnic minority organisations which can bring out a just and lasting peace..."
Source/publisher:
Christian Aid
Date of publication:
2004-05-24
Date of entry/update:
2010-11-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of several ethnic groups., The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"...In February and March 2002 Amnesty International interviewed some 100 migrants from
Myanmar at seven different locations in Thailand. They were from a variety of ethnic groups,
including the Shan; Lahu; Palaung; Akha; Mon; Po and Sgaw Karen; Rakhine; and Tavoyan
ethnic minorities, and the majority Bamar (Burman) group. They originally came from the Mon,
Kayin, Shan, and Rakhine States, and Bago, Yangon and Tanintharyi Divisions.(1) What follows
below is a summary of human rights violations in some parts of eastern Myanmar during the last
18 months which migrants reported to Amnesty International. One section of the report also
examines several cases of abuses of civilians by armed opposition groups fighting against the
Myanmar military. Finally, this document describes various aspects of a Burmese migrant
worker?s life in Thailand..." ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced labour, refugees, land confiscation, forced
relocation, forced removal, forced resettlement, forced displacement, internal displacement, IDP, extortion, torture,
extrajudicial killings, forced conscription, child soldiers, porters, forced portering, house
destruction, eviction, Shan State, Wa, USWA, Wa resettlement, Tenasserim, abuses by armed opposition
groups.
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International
Date of publication:
2002-07-17
Date of entry/update:
2010-11-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Various rights: reports of violations against several ethnic groups, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Armed conflict and peace-building in Burma - theoretical, strategic and general, Policies towards Burmese migrants and refugees
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
Table Of Contents:
Acronyms ... Map of Border Provinces and Nine Refugee Camp Locations ... Executive Summary
1. Introduction
2. Situation Assessment
2.1 Camp Refugees
2.2 Migrants
2.3 Cross-border humanitarian programs (IDPs)
2.4 Coordination
2.5 Repatriation – Contingency plans
3. Conclusions and Recommendations
3.1 Camp Refugee health programs
3.2 Migrants
3.3 Cross-border Programs (Burmese IDPs)
3.4 Coordination
3.5 Repatriation – Contingency Plans
Appendix 1: Persons Interviewed
Appendix 2: Documents Reviewed
Appendix 3: Draft RFA
Appendix 4: NGO Organizational Chart
Appendix 5: CCSDPT Coordination of Burmese Refugee Activities
Appendix 6: Morbidity and Mortality Statistics
Appendix 7: Refugees and Migrants
Appendix 8: Coordination
Donald W. Belcher
Source/publisher:
USAID, MSI
Date of publication:
2004-11-30
Date of entry/update:
2010-11-05
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Health of Burmese refugees and migrants
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
Every Burmese refugee has his or her own story of escape—from political persecution, from economic hardship, from the violence of civil war...
"Driven more by fear and hardship than by hope, they come here to escape the ravages of war and repression in Burma, not knowing what awaits them when they cross the border into Thailand.
Whether they are subsistence farmers or highly educated professionals, rebels or ordinary citizens, their lives are suspended—often for years or decades—between a traumatic past and an uncertain future..."
Kyaw Zwa Moe
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 18, No. 5
Date of publication:
2010-04-30
Date of entry/update:
2010-08-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
The jobs are waiting for Burmese refugees, but the road to them is full of obstacles...
"While working on a university graduation thesis at Mae La refugee camp in Thailand?s Tak Province, Burmese student Moe Zaw Oo interviewed a 20-year-old woman resident who ventured outside every day to earn 50 baht (US $1.50) laboring on a nearby farm.
?When she returned to the camp in the evening she also had to sell vegetables for the farmer. She was expected to sell them all or lose her job,? said Moe Zaw Oo.
Unknown numbers of refugees slip out of Mae La and other camps in this way to work illegally on Thai farms and estates for as little as 40 baht ($1.20) a day, risking arrest and deportation..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 17, No. 7
Date of publication:
2009-09-30
Date of entry/update:
2010-02-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
Most Karen refugees hope to return to Burma one day...
"Holding the youngest of her four grandchildren in her arms, 60-year-old Bi Mae said: ?If there is peace again, we will go back to our village.?
Bi Mae and the four children fled to Thailand in July to escape the fighting in her Karen homeland, together with more than 500 other refugees.
Their home now is a makeshift bamboo hut in a temporary refugee camp at Tha Song Yang near the Thai-Burmese border. Since the beginning of June, fierce clashes between a joint force of Burmese government troops and their local allies, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), and their traditional foe, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), have forced around 4,000 Karen villagers to flee to Thailand.
A Karen woman brings her children to a ceremony marking International Refugee Day at Mae La Oon camp. (Photo: MASARU GOTO/TBBC)
They boosted the number of refugees admitted to camps along the Thai-Burmese border to 134,000. A further 50,000 have been resettled in the US and other Western countries. Most of those still in the camps dream of being able to return home to Burma one day..."
Yeni
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 17, No. 7
Date of publication:
2009-09-30
Date of entry/update:
2010-02-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"At least 4,862 refugees from the Ler Per Her IDP camp and surrounding villages in Pa?an District remain
at new arrival sites in Thailand. Though the fighting that precipitated the flight of many of these refugees
in June has decreased, the area from which they fled continues to be unsafe for them to return. This
bulletin provides updated information on landmine risks for refugees who may return, or who have already
returned, including the maiming of a 13-year-old resident of the Oo Thu Hta new arrival site who returned
to visit his village to tend livestock. Refugees face other threats to safe return as well, including
widespread conscription as forced labourers, porters and ?human minesweepers” by the SPDC and
DKBA, as well as forced military recruitment by the DKBA and potential accusation and punishment as
?insurgent supporters.”"
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group News Bulletin (KHRG #2009-B10)
Date of publication:
2009-09-22
Date of entry/update:
2010-02-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
Shows refugee camps with pie charts of age distribution plus location of UNHCR offices, main towns and villages etc.
Source/publisher:
UNHCR
Date of publication:
2008-05-21
Date of entry/update:
2009-12-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Maps and satellite imagery, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
Shows refugee camps, UNHCR offices, main towns and villages etc.
Source/publisher:
UNHCR
Date of publication:
2008-07-07
Date of entry/update:
2009-12-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Maps and satellite imagery, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"This report presents information on abuses in eastern Pa?an District, where joint SPDC/DKBA forces continue to subject villagers to exploitative abuse and attempt to consolidate control of territory around recently taken KNLA positions near the Ler Per Her IDP camp. Abuses documented in this report include forced labour, conscription of porters and human minesweepers as well as the summary execution of a village headman. The report also provides an update on the situation for newly arrived refugees in Thailand?s Tha Song Yang District, where at least 4,862 people from the Ler Per Her area have sought refuge; some have been there since June 2nd 2009, others arrived later. This report presents new information for the period of June to August 2009..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Right Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F14)
Date of publication:
2009-09-08
Date of entry/update:
2009-10-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"While recent media attention has focused on the joint SPDC/DKBA attacks on the KNLA in Pa?an District and the dramatic exodus of at least 3,000 refugees from the area of Ler Per Her IDP camp into Thailand, the daily grind of exploitative treatment by DKBA forces continues to occur across the region. This report presents a breakdown of DKBA Brigade #999 battalions, some recent cases of exploitative abuse by this unit in Pa?an District and a brief overview of the group?s transformation into a Border Guard Force as part of the SPDC?s planned 2010-election process, in which the DKBA has sought to significantly expand its numbers. Amongst those forcibly recruited for this transformation process was a 17-year-old child soldier injured in the fighting at Ler Per Her, whose testimony is included here..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F11)
Date of publication:
2009-06-29
Date of entry/update:
2009-10-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Discrimination against the Karen, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Burmese refugees have been living in Thailand for more than two decades. The situation
is fluid: resettlement programs have provided tens of thousands of people with
new lives, while a new wave of conflict in Burma is changing the political landscape
and forcing thousands of new refugees to flee into Thailand. While the Royal Thai
Government should be commended for its willingness to host new arrivals, it must
also respond to the fact that ongoing conflict in neighboring Burma will prevent refugees
from going home anytime soon. To address the regional challenges of the conflict
in Burma, the Thai government needs to implement a more progressive refugee
policy and the U.S. and other donor governments must provide flexible funding for
Burmese humanitarian assistance."
Source/publisher:
Refugees International
Date of publication:
2009-09-30
Date of entry/update:
2009-10-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
2009 will mark 25 years since the first refugees arrived in Thailand. An entire generation has
arisen who know nothing but confinement and seclusion, as all Burmese refugees in Thailand are
officially required to stay within camp boundaries. Currently, 135,000 refugees reside in nine
camps in Thailand and they are almost entirely dependent on international assistance. Refugees
have no official access to employment opportunities, external education or the right of movement,
if caught outside the camps they are liable to arrest and deportation.
As the security situation in Burma continues to deteriorate, new asylum seekers continue to arrive
in the camps. Camp boundaries have long been demarcated, resulting in overcrowding. Although conditions vary considerably among camps, in several camps housing standards are significantly
below UNHCR minimum standards.
Long-term confinement in the camps is having serious and negative psychological impact on
camp residents, resulting in an increasing number of suicides and serious mental health
problems. As a new generation of refugees grows up entirely within a camp environment, the
need to address the special health and social requirements of the young is particularly acute.
Protection concerns within the camps is now alarming, the levels of extreme violence, crime and
other forms of abuse and exploitation are rising..."
Source/publisher:
International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Date of publication:
2009-02-26
Date of entry/update:
2009-05-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
Due to the nature of displacement and encampment ?
entailing resource scarcity, geographic isolation, restricted
mobility and curtailed legal rights ? refugee victims of crime
often have inadequate legal recourse.
Joel Harding, Shane Scanlon, Sean Lees, Carson Beker, Ai Li Lim
Source/publisher:
"Forced Migration Review" No. 30
Date of publication:
2008-04-22
Date of entry/update:
2008-11-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English, Burmese
Local URL:
more
Description:
Until the Thai authorities and UNHCR can provide an asylum
process that is systematic and fair, as opposed to one that is
conditional on particular events and dates, the current asylum
system will offer nothing more than pot luck.
Chen Chen Lee, Isla Glaister
Source/publisher:
"Forced Migration Review" No. 30
Date of publication:
2008-04-22
Date of entry/update:
2008-11-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Burmese, English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"...Community-based camp management
has focused on keeping refugees in
control of their own situation and
as autonomous as possible. It has
moved from complete hands off?
to compliance with international
standards and procedures. Systems
continue to evolve. The NGO
community needs to build on the
incredible coping skills that refugees
possess. With appropriate support
the communities will continue to
address the daily realities of camp
life where the possibility of return is
unlikely in the near future and where
new arrivals continue to crowd into
the already overcrowded camps."
Sally Thompson
Source/publisher:
"Forced Migration Review" No. 30
Date of publication:
2008-04-22
Date of entry/update:
2008-11-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English, Burmese
Local URL:
more
Description:
Tufts-International Rescue Committee Survey of Burmese Migrants in Thailand..."FIC researcher Karen Jacobsen helped IRC design a survey that documented the experiences of Burmese people living in border areas of Thailand, and explored whether their experience in Burma might mean that they merited international protection as refugees. The data reveals significant differences in the demographic and socioeconomic makeup of the three sites, as well as differences in the reasons the respondents left Burma. Our findings suggest that a great number of currently unprotected Burmese in Thailand, possibly as many as fifty percent, merit further investigation as to their refugee status; and that only a small number of Burmese who warrant refugee status and attendant services actually receive any aid or protection either from the Thai government or from international aid agencies."
Margaret Green-Rauerhorst, Karen Jacobsen, Sandee Pyne with the International Rescue Committee
Source/publisher:
International Rescue Committee, Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
Date of publication:
2008-03-31
Date of entry/update:
2008-11-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
IRC is concerned that there are
significant numbers of Burmese living
in Thailand who qualify for and
deserve international protection and
assistance but who do not have access
to proper registration processes.
Without a transparent, humane and
lawful asylum policy for Burmese
people entering Thailand, it is
impossible to estimate the percentage
of bona fide refugees within the
group of migrants who have left
Burma for other reasons. The lack
of systematic data to document
the reasons people flee Burma
provides the Thai authorities with
the excuse to treat those Burmese
living outside the refugee camps as
mere economic migrants, subject
to deportation. It also weakens the
leverage that agencies working
with the Burmese living in Thailand
have to advocate on their behalf.
Margaret Green, Karen Jacobsen, Sandee Pyne
Source/publisher:
"Forced Migration Review" No. 30
Date of publication:
2008-04-22
Date of entry/update:
2008-11-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Burmese, English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The participation of affected populations in planning or
implementation of humanitarian aid in conflict or postconflict
situations has too often been neglected...There has been a notable progression
to systematic aid dependency among
the Myanmar refugees living in nine
camps along the Thai-Myanmar
border. Refugee participation shifted
from self-reliance for shelter and food
to the current situation in which the
refugees have become fully dependent
on the international community for
their living in Thailand, tempered
by partial self-management of
their own health care, education
services and food distribution..."
Marie Theres Benner, Aree Muangsookjarouen, Egbert Sondorp, Joy Townsend
Source/publisher:
"Forced Migration Review" No. 30
Date of publication:
2008-04-22
Date of entry/update:
2008-11-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English, Burmese
Local URL:
more
Description:
Material objects and the physical actions of making and using
them are a fundamental part of how forced migrants, far
from being passive victims of circumstance, seek to make
the best of ? and make a home in ? their displacement.
Sandra Dudley
Source/publisher:
"Forced Migration Review" No. 30
Date of publication:
2008-04-22
Date of entry/update:
2008-11-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Anthropological literature on refugees and migrants
Language:
English, Burmese
Local URL:
more
Description:
Ein ausführlicher Bericht über das Schicksal von Waisenkinder an der thailändischen Grenze, sowie die Organisation und der Tagesablauf des Waisenhauses in Loi Kaw Wan; organisation and daily life in an orphanage in Loi Kaw Wan;
Source/publisher:
Freunde der Shan
Date of publication:
2006-05-31
Date of entry/update:
2008-04-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
German, Deutsch
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Frontier Mosaic: Voices from the Lands in Between", by Richard Humphries. Orchid Press, Bangkok, 2007. P181...
"The border frontier is a sanctuary for homeless refugees, Burmese spies, traders and people who dream of a better life...
In recent weeks, the world?s attention has focused on events in Burma. The interest in the for now failed saffron revolution was so great it pushed the news from Iraq off the front pages of America?s newspapers for the first time since the 2003 invasion.
But for decades, people living along the border areas have been brutally beaten down by the regime—mostly out of the glare of media attention..."
Bertil Lintner
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol 15, No. 11
Date of publication:
2007-10-31
Date of entry/update:
2008-04-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
Die Armee der SPDC Militärdiktatur ist mittlerweile auf eine Truppenstärke von 500.000 Soldaten angewachsen und jetzt selbst nur noch durch ein System der Angst zu kontrollieren. Fast jeder hat einen Vorgesetzten und die Exekution ist nur einen Schuß entfernt. Der militärische Geheimdienst ist überall und selbst die höheren Ränge werden oft Reinigungen? nach sowietischem Vorbild unterzogen. Karen; Flüchtlinge; Burma Army; Refugees
Source/publisher:
Burma Riders
Date of publication:
2007-07-15
Date of entry/update:
2007-08-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Army, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Discrimination against the Karen, Forced relocation of Karen
Language:
German, Deutsch
Local URL:
more
Description:
A Cambodian MP looks at Burma?s growing refugee population...
"Recently, I had the opportunity to visit a refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese border with my fellow Asean parliamentarians who, like me, went because they were concerned about the situation in Burma. It was a journey that evoked overpowering emotions that I had perhaps not anticipated. Having supported the movement for democracy in Burma, I was humbled and moved to tears to witness at first hand the plight of these innocent and brave people..."
Son Chhay
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 14, No. 4
Date of publication:
2006-03-31
Date of entry/update:
2006-12-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
Australian journalist looks closely at life in a Thai border town...
"Restless Souls. Refugees, Mercenaries, Medics and Misfits on the Thai Burma Border, by Phil Thornton, Asia Books, Bangkok; 2005. P240
Borders everywhere attract their fair share of humanitarians, traders, mercenaries, messiahs, opportunists and loons. The beautiful, rugged and long-suffering Burma-Thailand frontier region seems to have exceeded its quota of all of them some time ago, and the Thai border town of Mae Sot is now clogged with foreigners existing as a sort of parallel species to Thai, Burmese, Karen and Muslim inhabitants. Such is its fascination as the entrep?t for trade, refugees, drugs and conflict over the border that Mae Sot and its surroundings represent a microcosm of the deep malaise of Burma.
Phil Thornton is an Australian journalist who has lived in Mae Sot for more than five years, working with a range of Karen groups and collecting stories of everyday survival. Restless Souls is a painfully authentic tour through the lives of ordinary people living in a zone of low-intensity conflict in the world?s longest and most ignored civil war, the 58-year struggle of the Karen people against the Burmese military..."
David Scott Mathieson
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 14, No.2
Date of publication:
2006-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2006-05-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Book Reviews and Announcements, Non-Ceasefire Groups, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
Young women trapped by dogma and the generation gap...
"It?s only a couple of years ago that young people living in and around the Karenni refugee camp at Ban Tractor in Thailand?s Mae Hong Son Province were able to help themselves to free condoms from boxes attached to trees and wayside posts. It was the idea of the camp health department director, Say Reh, who had been growing increasingly concerned about the rising numbers of young unmarried women becoming pregnant and also about the risk of HIV/AIDS in the community.
But it was a short-lived idea. Say Reh had to abandon his solo birth-control effort after three months because of strong opposition from many of the camp residents and Catholic and Protestant church ministers. ?Older people here believe that distributing condoms and organizing sex education encourages young people to indulge in sex,? says Say Reh.
Although he?s abandoned his free condoms initiative, Say Reh and some of his co-workers still hold occasional sex education classes for the young people of Ban Tractor, under the watchful eye of disapproving elder members of the community. ?The problem is that parents are sensitive on sex issues and many are illiterate, so they don?t know how to educate their children and guard them from unwanted pregnancies,? he says..."
Louis Reh
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 13, No. 11
Date of publication:
2005-10-31
Date of entry/update:
2006-05-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Reproductive Health/Gynaecology, Obstetrics, Refugee Health Care, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
Karen Internally Displaced Persons wonder when they will be able to go home...
"Sitting in his new bamboo hut in Ler Per Her camp for Internally Displaced Persons, located on the bank of Thailand?s Moei River near the border with Burma, Phar The Tai—a skinny, tough-looking man of 60 who used to hide in the jungles and mountains of Burma?s eastern Karen State—waits for the time when he can return home.
?We are living in fear all the time,? he says about the lives of IDPs. His words reflect the general feeling among IDPs from Karen State, which has produced the largest number of displaced people in Burma..."
Yeni
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 13, No. 7
Date of publication:
2005-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2006-04-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Migration from Burma: mixed and general articles and reports, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
Thailand?s new refugee rules leave thousands in fear and suspense...
"When Sandar Win, a former activist in Burma?s opposition National League for Democracy, fled to neighboring Thailand in January she hoped to continue her political struggle there. But she hadn?t kept up with events in Thailand and had certainly not read Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra?s refugee policy statement, made in June 2003: ?Thailand will not allow any groups to use our territory for political activities against neighboring countries.?
Instead of finding asylum as a political refugee under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sandar Win stepped into limbo. Thaksin had followed up his foreboding message by introducing new regulations curtailing the UNHCR?s power to grant refugee status to new arrivals from Burma. Sandar Win is one of about 9,000 who now have no UNHCR protection and are technically illegal immigrants..."
Aung Lwin Oo
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 13, No. 7
Date of publication:
2005-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2006-04-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
Refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border keep many safe from persecution at home, but Thailand?s restrictive administrative policies offer little hope for the future...
"When Karen refugees first began trickling across the Burmese border into Thailand, they were put into ?temporary? refugee camps administered by the Bangkok government. Now, 20 years on, they have been joined by thousands more, and while the string of border camps are still called temporary, with fighting still raging across the border there seems no end in sight..."
Edward Blair
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 13, No. 7
Date of publication:
2005-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2006-04-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Englilsh
Local URL:
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Description:
Democracy activists take the safe option...
"?It?s as if brains have been infected by malaria.? Kyaw Thura invoked a common Burmese expression to vent his frustration over the increasing numbers of dissident exiles who are turning their backs on comrades in the so-called ?Liberated Area? and seeking new lives elsewhere..."
Kyaw Zwa Moe
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 13, No. 2
Date of publication:
2005-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2005-08-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Village and urban resistance
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"...Since 1996, the people of Shan State have been particularly targeted for persecution by the military
regime in order to stop the resistance efforts of the Shan State Army and to secure control over the
state?s rich natural resources. Over 300,000 Shan and other ethnic people have been forced from their
homes in central Shan State by the Burmese military, including from lands needed to build a largescale
hydropower dam on the Salween river. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has worked in Thailand, with the
consent and cooperation of the government for over 28 years, during which time assistance has been
provided to more than 1.3 million refugees. In recognition of the fact that many people from Burma
have been forced to flee from armed conflicts they face in their country, Thailand has been providing
refugee camps for people from Burma since 1984 and has allowed international NGOs to provide
support to the refugees. Thailand has allowed the UNHCR to have a limited protection role in these
camps since 1998.
The people of Shan State, unlike the Karen and Karenni from Burma, are not recognised as asylum
seekers in Thailand and are not provided safe refuge and humanitarian assistance. As they are unable
to seek refuge, the Shan people are forced to either live in hiding as illegal persons on the Thai-Burma
border or seek work as migrant workers, in low-paid, low-skilled jobs such as construction workers,
factory workers or domestic workers. The absence of refuge and services particularly impacts on the
more vulnerable Shan asylum seekers such as pregnant women, children, elderly and disabled persons
who are unable to fend for themselves in the jungle or on work sites. The Shan asylum seekers in
Thailand live in precarious situations as they live in constant fear of being arrested and deported to
Burma, where they face ongoing persecution in the forms of torture, rape and death on their return to
Burma. This fear has increased after the implementation of an agreement between Thailand and
Burma on the repatriation of migrant workers since August 2003.
Why is it that while asylum seekers from other Burmese ethnic groups have been recognised as
refugees and been provided refuge in camps in Thailand, the Shan asylum seekers continue to not be
accepted or supported in Thailand?..."
Source/publisher:
The Shan Women
Date of publication:
2003-08-31
Date of entry/update:
2005-03-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
This article appeared in Burma - Women?s Voices for Change, Thanakha Team, Bangkok, published by ALTSEAN in 2002... "...Unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases are problems that many Burmese women face with little support and a poverty of health resources. Of course it is difficult to quantify such statements in light of the limited sharing of information that occurs between the Burman military government and the rest of the world. One informed source, Dr Ba Thike (1997), a doctor working in Burma, reported that in the 1980s abortion complications accounted for twenty percent of total hospital admissions and that for every three women admitted to give birth, one was admitted for abortion complications...The records at the Mae Tao Clinic in Thailand, a health service that offers reproductive health services to women coming from Burma as day visitors or as longer-term migrant workers, reflects a crisis in womenâ�â¢s health. In 2001, the Mae Tao Clinic documented 185 abortion complication cases (Out Patients Department) and 231 cases that needed to be admitted into the In-patients Department with complications such as sepsis, dehydration, haemorrhage and shock from abortions and miscarriage..."
Suzanne Belton (Ma Suu San)
Source/publisher:
Burma - Women
Date of publication:
2002-05-31
Date of entry/update:
2004-06-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Reproductive Health/Gynaecology, Obstetrics, Refugee Health Care, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Right to Health: reports of violations in Burma, Migrants' rights: reports of violations, Health of migrants from Burma
Language:
English
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htm
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24.33 KB
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Description:
"This article is intended to give health workers an introduction into the individual implications of pregnancy loss as well as local issues on the Thai-Burma border and broader South-east Asian regional issues. I want to focus on the gender and social features rather than pure biomedical information, although this is of course highly important but is covered in other parts of this magazine. I will talk about some womenâ�â¢s stories that were collected in 2002 to outline typical cases, the reasons why the woman chose to end the pregnancy and impact on womenâ�â¢s lives. I will also present some findings from a medical records review conducted with the Mae Tao Clinic and discuss some findings from research in the international arena. So should we care about post abortion care? I hope to show that we should, as not only can it be a life threatening event for the woman but it reflects certain aspects about the communities we live in, social conditions, legal and religious norms, how we value human rights and the status of women..."
Suzanne Belton
Source/publisher:
Health Messenger
Date of publication:
2002-08-31
Date of entry/update:
2004-06-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Reproductive Health/Gynaecology, Obstetrics, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Right to Health: reports of violations in Burma, Migrants' rights: reports of violations, Health of migrants from Burma
Language:
English
Format :
htm
Size:
60.24 KB
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Description:
"Fifty-five years of civil war have decimated Burma?s Karen State, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Most would like to return—by their own will when the fighting stops.
By Emma Larkin/Mae Sot, Thailand
When Eh Mo Thaw was 16 years old, a Burmese battalion marched into his village in Karen State and burned down all the houses. Eh Mo Thaw and his family were herded into a relocation camp where they had to work for the Burma Army, digging ponds and growing rice to feed the Burmese troops. They had no time to grow food for themselves and many were not able to survive. Villagers caught foraging for vegetables outside the camp perimeter were shot on sight. "Many people died," says Eh Mo Thaw. "I also thought I would die."
Eh Mo Thaw managed to escape from the camp with his family. For 20 years, he hid in the jungle, moving from place to place whenever Burmese troops drew near. Eventually he found himself on the Thai border and, when Burmese forces stormed the area, he had no choice but to cross the border into Thailand and enter a refugee camp..."
Emma Larkin
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol 12, No. 2
Date of publication:
2004-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2004-06-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"In Thailand's Tak province there
are 60,520 registered migrant
workers and an estimated 150,000
unregistered migrant workers from
Burma. Fleeing the social and political
problems engulfing Burma, they are
mostly employed in farming, garment
making, domestic service, sex and
construction industries. There is also
a significant number of Burmese
living in camps. Despite Thailandâ�â¢s
developed public health system and
infrastructure, Burmese women face
language and cultural barriers and
marginal legal status as refugees in
Thailand, as well as a lack of access to
culturally appropriate and qualified
reproductive health information and
services..."
Suzanne Belton, Cynthia Maung
Source/publisher:
Forced Migration Review No. 19
Date of publication:
2003-12-31
Date of entry/update:
2004-06-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Reproductive Health/Gynaecology, Obstetrics, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Right to Health: reports of violations in Burma, Migrants' rights: reports of violations, Refugee Health Care, Health of migrants from Burma
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
to the UNHCR Standing Committee, 9-11 March 2004. The statement contains references to Burmese refugees in Thailand and Bangladesh and to the recent agreement that UNHCR should have a presence in eastern Burma. Also references to the Rohingyas.
Source/publisher:
ICVA
Date of publication:
2004-03-11
Date of entry/update:
2004-03-31
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"The report, Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Thai Policy toward Burmese Refugees, documents Thailand?s repression of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrant workers from Burma. "The Thai government is arresting and intimidating Burmese political activists living in Bangkok and along the Thai-Burmese border, harassing Burmese human rights and humanitarian groups, and deporting Burmese refugees, asylum seekers and others with a genuine fear of persecution in Burma..."
1. Introduction...
2. New Thai Policies toward Burmese Refugees and Migrants:
Broadening of Resettlement Opportunities;
Suspension of New Refugee Admissions;
The ?Urban” Refugees;
Crackdown on Burmese Migrants;
Forging Friendship with Rangoon;
History of Burmese Refugees in Thailand...
3. Expulsion to Burma:
Informal Deportees Dropped at the Border;
The Holding Center at Myawaddy;
Into the Hands of the SPDC;
Profile: One of the Unlucky Ones—Former Child Soldier Deported to Burma;
Increasing Pressure on Migrants...
4. Protection Issues for Urban Refugees:-
Impacts of the Move to the Camps;
Profile: Karen Former Combatant;
Suspension of Refugee Status Determination;
Security Issues for Refugees in Bangkok...
5. Attempts to Silence Activist Refugees...
6. New Visa Rules: Screening Out the ?Troublemakers”...
7. Conclusion...
8. Recommendations:
To the Royal Thai Government;
To the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR);
To Donor Governments;
To the Burmese Authorities...
9. Appendix A: Timeline of Arrests and Intimidation of Burmese Activists in 2003 (3 page pdf file)...
10. Appendix B: Timeline of Harrassments of NGOs in 2003 (2 page pdf file)...
11. Appendix C: Timeline of Arrests and Harrassment of Burmese Migrant Workers in 2003 (2 page pdf file)...
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
2004-02-25
Date of entry/update:
2004-02-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Refoulement, push-backs and rejection at borders, Policies towards Burmese migrants and refugees
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The Thai-Burma border has become a breeding ground for poorly conceived aid projects, leaving
the real needs of refugees and exiles unattended...
Relief agencies first began working on the Thai-Burma border in 1984 to support nearly ten thousand ethnic
Karens who had fled from persecution by the Burmese army. Four years later, as Burmese activists,
politicians and intellectuals began fleeing to Burma?s borders with Thailand and India to escape a brutal
crackdown on the nationwide democracy uprising of 1988, the need for emergency assistance increased
dramatically. Now, with an ethnic refugee population in Thailand that numbers over 135,000, and another
100 Burmese dissidents also believed to be sheltering in the country, Burma?s displaced persons have
become one of the region?s major targets of relief efforts...
Aung Zaw, John S. Moncrief
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy", Vol. 9, No. 9
Date of publication:
2001-11-30
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"This report covers 4 of the main attacks on Karen refugee camps in Thailand which occurred in January 1997: the burning and destruction of Huay Kaloke and Huay Bone refugee camps on the night of 28 January, the armed attack on Beh Klaw refugee camp on the morning of 29 January, and the shelling of Sho Kloh refugee camp on 4 January. These attacks left several people dead and about 10,000 refugees homeless and completely destitute. Even now, Huay Kaloke and Huay Bone remain nothing but open plains of dust and ash under the hot sun. No one feels safe to remain in these places, but the Thai authorities are forcing them to.Huay Bone?s over 3,000 refugees have either fled to Beh Klaw or have been forced to move to Huay Kaloke, and the Thai authorities still have a plan to move Sho Kloh?s over 6,000 refugees to Beh Klaw, which is unsafe and already overcrowded with over 25,000 people. Refugees in other camps are also living in fear; Maw Ker refugee camp 50 km. south of Mae Sot has been constantly threatened with destruction, as has Mae Khong Kha refugee camp much further north in Mae Sariang district. People in these camps often end up spending their nights in the forests or countryside surrounding their camps, not daring to sleep in their homes at night..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #97-05)
Date of publication:
1997-03-18
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education, Discrimination against the Karen, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"In March 1998, three Karen refugee camps in Thailand were attacked by heavily armed forces that crossed the border from Burma. Huay Kaloke camp was burned and almost completely destroyed, killing four refugees and wounding many more; 50 houses and a monastery were burned in Maw Ker camp, and 14 were wounded; and Beh Klaw camp was shelled, though the attackers were repelled. The attacks were carried out by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), backed by troops and support of the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) military junta currently ruling Burma ..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #98-04)
Date of publication:
1998-05-29
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
538.54 KB
Local URL:
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Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
1997-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
more
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
1998-09-30
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"In 1996, approximately 1500 people lived in Camp 5, a refugee camp located in the jungle on the Thai-Burmese border. The camp was open and self-administered, with refugee-run schools, two churches, and one Buddhist monastery. Though unavoidably and significantly influenced by displacement, cultural life in Camp 5 was vibrant. Refugees were able to celebrate annual festivals in the camps; for many internally displaced persons inside Burma, such celebrations have been impossible for some years. One such festival is diy-kuw.
The people living in Camp 5 call themselves Karenni and have fled from Kayah State (referred to by the Karenni as "Karenni State"). Kayah is Burma's smallest state, bordering Thailand's northwestern province of Mae Hong Son..."
Sandra Dudley
Source/publisher:
"Cultural Survival Quarterly" Issue 24.3
Date of publication:
2000-10-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karenni (Kayah) - cultural, political, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Anthropological literature on refugees and migrants
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
Karen refugees in the thai-burmese border area. Halockani refugee camp run by the Mon National Committee. Mit dem Beginn der großen Militäroffensive burmesischer Truppen gegen die bewaffneten Guerillabewegungen der nationalen Minderheiten haben seit Anfang dieses Jahres nun auch immer mehr Angehörige der Karen Volksgruppe im thailändischen Grenzgebiet Zuflucht gesucht. Das vom Mon National Committee unterhaltene Halockani-Flüchtlingslager der Mon-Volksgruppe hat daher seine Tore im Sommer auch für Karen-Flüchtlinge geöffnet und Versorgungsgüter zur Verfügung gestellt.
Hans-Günther Wagner
Source/publisher:
Netzwerk engagierter Buddhisten
Date of publication:
2001-11-30
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Karen (cultural, historical, political)
Language:
Deutsch, German
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The Karen, Mon and Karenni refugee camps along Thailand's border with Burma(1) have traditionally been small,
open settlements where the refugee communities have been able to maintain a village atmosphere, administering
the camps and many aspects of assistance programmes themselves. Much of this, however, is changing. Since 1995, the 110,000 ethnic minority refugees from Burma have faced new security threats and greater regulation by the
Royal Thai Government (RTG). An increasing number of the refugees now live in larger, more crowded camps and are more
dependent on assistance than ever before. At the beginning of 1994, 72,000 refugees lived in 30 camps, of which the largest
housed 8,000 people; by mid 1998, 110,000 refugees lived in 19 camps, with the largest housing over 30,000 people..."
Edith Bowles
Source/publisher:
"Forced Migration Review" No. 2
Date of publication:
1998-07-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
This extract offers a brief overview of gender-based violence in Burma and among Burmese refugees in Thailand.
"...Women have been victims of the well-documented and pervasive human rights abuses also suffered by men, including forced
labor on government construction projects, forced portering for the army, summary arrest, torture and extra-judicial execution.
These and other human rights violations are committed sometimes in the course of military operations, but more often as part of
the army?s policy of repression of ethnic minority civilians. Women and girls are specifically targeted for rape and sexual
harassment by soldiers. Many of the areas in Burma where soldiers rape women are not areas of active conflict, though
they may have large numbers of standing troops. There has been little action on the part of the state to reduce the
prevalence of sexual abuse by its military personnel or ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice..." For the full report, covering most parts of the world, follow the link below.
Source/publisher:
International Rescue Committee, Women?s Commission on Refugee Women and Children
Date of publication:
2002-05-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination/violence against women: reports of violations in Burma, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Format :
htm
Size:
37.49 KB
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Description:
Burma/Thailand Mon girl (14 yrs old). rape; extortion; inhuman treatment(beating).
Thailand?s Immigration Detention Centres (IDC?s) have become internationally notorious for squalid conditions and robbery, rape, and beatings by Thai police guards. They are built like high-security prisons: concrete cells, heavy bars, and armed guards. But the people in these cells are not dangerous criminals - they are mostly economic and political refugees from neighbouring countries and as, the following account shows, young children. This is the true underbelly of Thailand?s "constructive engagement" policy with SLORC. Any refugee at any age who is caught outside of a refugee camp can end up here, whether a Karen farmer who fled being taken as a SLORC porter, a pro-democracy Burmese student who fled to Thailand after the 1988 massacres, a Shan girl was lured into Thailand by a brothel procurer?s promise of a good job only to end up a brothel slave, or a labourer who fled Burma?s ruined economy seeking a better chance in Thailand?s "economic miracle". Thai police put all such people in IDC cells until they can be deported back into the hands of SLORC. If SLORC gets them, they are usually put in another cell until they either pay a heavy bribe or are sent to be frontline porters and human minesweepers for the military.
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1994-09-27
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
Mon - the forgotten refugees in Thailand
Das Volk der Mon ist die Urbev?lkerung im heutigen Kernland von Thailand, im Gebiet von Bangkok in Richtung burmesische Grenze (Kanchanaburi Provinz) sowie im benachbarten burmesischen Bergland und im Kerngebiet des heutigen Burma mit seiner Hauptstadt Rangoon. Einst Tr?ger einer fr?hen und hochentwickelten buddhistischen Kultur, wurden sie in den vergangenen Jahrhunderten von anderen, aus Norden eindringenen V?lkern immer mehr verdr?ngt. Sie stellen heute sowohl in Thailand wie in Burma eine stark benachteiligte ethnische Minderheit dar. Die Mon in Burma f?hren seit Jahrzehnten zusammen mit zahlreichen anderen ethnischen Minderheiten einen Kampf um ihre Unabh?ngigkeit und eigenst?ndige Entwicklung. Diese Bestrebungen werden von der Milit?rjunta mit einem systematischen Vernichtungsfeldzug beantwortet.
Hans-G?nther Wagner
Source/publisher:
Netzwerk engagierter Buddhisten
Date of publication:
1994-11-30
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
HURFOM and other human rights material about the Mon, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Mon (cultural, political)
Language:
Deutsch, German
Local URL:
more
Description:
"...[R]eport on the Women?s Commission Reproductive Health Project site visit in February 2000 to the Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot, Thailand [Dr Cynthia?s clinic].
One key finding in this report is that reproductive health data collection has steadily improved at the Mae Tao Clinic. This is a
good sign of progress as data collection is essential to establish a baseline of information about the community that a provider is
assisting. The data allows the Clinic staff to objectively identify and prioritize community health problems and thereby design
their health services to address these problems.
In addition, the Clinic family planning program contraceptive user-rate has increased annually due to family planning education
conducted by the staff. The significant unmet need for family planning services, however, is evident in the numbers of women
and girls presenting to the Clinic with complications of unsafe abortion. An alarming 23% of the 277 women presenting to the
Clinic with abortion complications in 1999 were under 20 years old and almost the same percentage had already had one
abortion."
Source/publisher:
Women?s Commission for Refugee Women and Children
Date of publication:
2000-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma, Health of Burmese refugees and migrants, Refugee Health Care
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
" The closure of the Maneeloy holding center for Burmese dissidents has chilled hopes of a rapid
resettlement for those left behind..."
Neil Lawrence
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 10, No. 1
Date of publication:
2001-12-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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Description:
Important, authoritative and timely report.
I. THAI GOVERNMENT CLASSIFICATION FOR PEOPLE FROM BURMA:
Temporarily Displaced; Students and Political Dissidents ; Migrants .
II. BRIEF PROFILE OF THE MIGRANTS FROM BURMA .
III REASONS FOR LEAVING BURMA :
Forced Relocations and Land Confiscation ;
Forced Labor and Portering;
War and Political Oppression;
Taxation and Loss of Livelihood;
Economic Conditions .
IV. FEAR OF RETURN.
V. RECEPTION CENTERS.
VI. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS....
"Recent estimates indicate that up to two million people from Burma currently reside in Thailand, reflecting one of the largest migration flows in Southeast Asia. Many factors contribute to this mass exodus, but the vast majority of people leaving Burma are clearly fleeing persecution, fear and human rights abuses. While the initial reasons for leaving may be expressed in economic terms, underlying causes surface that explain the realities of their lives in Burma and their vulnerabilities upon return. Accounts given in Thailand, whether it be in the border camps, towns, cities, factories or farms, describe instances of forced relocation and confiscation of land; forced labor and portering; taxation and loss of livelihood; war and political oppression in Burma. Many of those who have fled had lived as internally displaced persons in Burma before crossing the border into Thailand. For most, it is the inability to survive or find safety in their home country that causes them to leave.
Once in Thailand, both the Royal Thai Government (RTG) and the international community have taken to classifying the people from Burma under specific categories that are at best misleading, and in the worst instances, dangerous. These categories distort the grave circumstances surrounding this migration by failing to take into account the realities that have brought people across the border. They also dictate people?s legal status within the country, the level of support and assistance that might be available to them and the degree of protection afforded them under international mechanisms. Consequently, most live in fear of deportation back into the hands of their persecutors or to the abusive environments from which they fled..." Additional keywords: IDPs, Internal displacement, displaced, refoulement.
Therese M. Caouette, Mary E. Pack
Source/publisher:
Refugees International and Open Society Institute
Date of publication:
2002-12-19
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Refoulement, push-backs and rejection at borders, Migrants' rights: reports of violations, Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of several ethnic groups., Migration from Burma: mixed and general articles and reports, Policies towards Burmese migrants and refugees, Migrant workers from Burma : general and mixed articles and reports
Language:
English
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Description:
A Karen man from Huay Kalok, refugee camp whose house was the first set ablaze by rebel troops from Burma recalled, "When I looked out there [to the rice field], I saw some people coming toward my house. I suddenly realize they were enemies so I screamed and ran. Then they started shooting." Around 1 am on March 11 the Rangoon-backed Karen guerrillas known as the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army DKBA began pounding the camp with mortar shells before they moved in. Approximately 200 troops attacked the refugees, armed with M-79 machine guns.
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy", Vol. 6. No. 2
Date of publication:
1998-03-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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Nearing the end of her decade-long tenure as the UN?s High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata recently made what may have been her last stand on behalf of refugees fleeing from conflict in Burma. Saying that she was "shocked" by conditions at the Tham Hin camp on the Thai-Burma border, Ogata irked Bangkok but won a measure of respect from those who have long decried the treatment ofrefugees sheltering on Thai soil.
Editorial
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy", Vol. 8. No. 10
Date of publication:
2000-09-30
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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"...The problem of Burmese refugees in Thailand will persist while the underlying
factors conducing displacement continue in the sending state. So long as fear and
insecurity exists in Burma, Thailand is bound to receive forced migrants across its
western border. Meanwhile, it is necessary to approach an understanding of
appropriate forms of protection responsive to the specific realities of displacement.
Thailand also should be persuaded to continue its adherence to the broad principles of
refugee protection. And the difficult question of ?under what conditions should the
refugees return in the future?? remains open to discussion and hinges on developments
conducing a durable solution within Burma..."
Hazel Lang (Australian National University)
Source/publisher:
UNHCR ("New Issues in Refugee Research" Working Paper No. 46)
Date of publication:
2001-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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Description:
"The violent flood hit Mae Khong Kha Refugee Camp in September 2002 which left 26 victims and caused great damage. Soon after the news came, Burmese Relief Center - Japan (BRC-J) began to raise fund for rehabilitation of camp facilities and emergency aid through Japanese media and via Internet. In this report the organization thanked the individuals and groups that donated money and clothing, and cited letters from local Karen Women's Organization that explained that their money arrived there and that it was used to help the affected people."
Note:
Burmese Relief Center - Japan (BRC-J) is a non-governmental organization based in Osaka, Japan. The organization has been working for refugees and affected people along the Thai-Burma border area since 1988. Contact address is at [email protected]
Source/publisher:
Burmese Relief Center - Japan (BRC-J)
Date of publication:
2002-10-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Japanese
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Description:
Detailed report with photos on the damage caused by the flood at Mae Khong Kha refugee camp on 2 September, 2002, as well as the distribution of emergency aid goods by SVA. SVA works for the library project in Karen refugee camps along the border. One of their libraries at Mae Khong Kha was also destroyed.
Note:
Shanti Volunteer Association (SVA): A non-governmental organization (NGO) with the purpose of international cooperation, supporting the educational and cultural activities in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. With the authorization as an incorporated organization from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, name was changed from Sotoshu Volunteer Association to the current name.
Sotoshu, or Soto Zen School is the largest Buddhist Zen school in Japan.
Mae Sot office of Shanti Volunteer Association (SVA)
Source/publisher:
Shanti Volunteer Association (SVA)
Date of publication:
2002-08-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Japanese
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Description:
Transcript of part of a recorded conversation, southern Burma, mid-94. Insight into attitudes regarding villagers, NGOs, forced labour etc.
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1994-09-25
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Non-ILO Reports on forced labour, including forced portering, in Burma and the region, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
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Description:
Karen State. Aug-Nov 94. Karen Men, women, children. List of people killed, wounded, arrested, disappeared, by SLORC. Killings; wounding; EO; ransoming; looting, pillaging; forced portering; torture; arbitrary detention; extortion; inhuman treatment (beating); forced labour.
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #95-02)
Date of publication:
1995-01-14
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, HURFOM and other human rights material about the Mon
Language:
English
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Description:
"Statement by Karenni refugees fleeing a SLORC ultimatum to all villagers in a large part of the State where the Karenni opposition is strong to leave their villages or die. Their statements describe some of the SLORC army?s activities in civilian villages of western Karenni..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1992-06-12
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karenni (Kayah), Forced relocation of Karenni (Kayah), Internal displacement/forced migration of Karenni villagers, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
The "Safe Area" for Burmese student activists has long been regarded by exilesand Thais alike as one of most dangerous places in Thailand. But for many who still reside in the camp, recent calls for its closure have raised fears about their future in a country where they are clearly not wanted. Neil Lawrence reports from Ban Maneeloy.
Neil Lawrence
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy", Vol 9. No. 5
Date of publication:
2001-05-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
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