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BURMA RELATED NEWS - August 12,
2001.
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HEADLINES
------------------------------------------------------------------ AFP - Thailand a hub for global trafficking in women,
children
The Star - Storm forces Asean
friendship mission to divert from plan
Bkk Post - Talks on new site to replace overcrowded
Tham Hin
Bkk Post - UN agency to step up work in response to
plea from Rangoon
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Thailand a hub for global trafficking in
women, children
BANGKOK, Aug 12 (AFP) - For
16-year-old Kampaeng, it was a chance to escape her family's rice farm in Laos
and see the bright lights of Bangkok, a place her friends described as a sort of
never-ending carnival.
There was also the promise of money, far more than she could ever earn
working the dusty fields on the outskirts of Vientiane, the Lao capital where
she lived with her family.
"Some of my friends said if I came to Bangkok to work it would be a lot of
fun, and I listened," she said staring vacantly at the floor.
But there was no fun awaiting Kampaeng in the Thai capital when she arrived
early last year after a clandestine journey through darkness across the Mekong
River and along bumpy roads in the back of a pick-up truck.
Having been spirited into Thailand by a succession of "brokers," she was
put to work as a maid for a shop-keeping family, only to be denied her pay,
beaten and repeatedly raped over seven months before police rescued her.
"If I did not clean well, she slapped my face," Kampaeng said, referring to
her employer. "She checked my work. She would also use her shoes to hit me.
After one month, her husband raped me.
"I was never paid. I was afraid to ask for money."
Kampaeng, who asked that her real name not be used, is one of an untold
number of young girls shuttled into Thailand from neighboring countries -- lured
by brokers offering jobs or driven by their own economic desperation.
Many have similar stories of unkept promises from traffickers who tricked
them into an industry that ranks as one of the fastest growing areas of
international crime, generating billions of dollars in profits annually.
Thailand is not only a destination for girls trafficked from poorer
Indochinese countries, but it has also become a major international transit
point leading to Europe, the Middle East, North America and elswhere in
Asia.
The US State Department estimates that some 225,000 people, mostly women
and children, are trafficked out of Southeast Asia each year, making the region
the biggest source point for the illicit trade.
The number of people brought into Thailand from poor neighboring countries
-- in an exodus that feeds the international demand for prostitutes, labourers
and domestic workers -- is unknown.
"Most victims of trafficking (in Thailand) come from Cambodia, Laos and
Myanmar," said Rainthip Sirorat, director of Thailand's National Secretariat on
Trafficking in Women and Children.
"It's very difficult to identify trafficking cases as some are (illegal)
migrants," she said. "They come because they would like to work in Thailand, but
they're not in the trafficking definition."
The Kredtrakarn Protection and Development Center, the largest of 90
government shelters in Thailand, last year launched a program to help
trafficking victims.
Currently it is home to 211 young women and girls who were transported from
Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and provincial Thailand.
"Most of the girls here were found (by police or humanitarian workers) in
big cities like Bangkok, and most worked in houses or factories or in sex
services," said Monthip Kityingsopon, a social worker at the center.
"Some girls think they are going to serve food but when they arrive (the
traffickers) change the work -- they force the girls into sex services."
"Some of the girls who come here have been hurt, some have not been given
the money they earned," Monthip said. "They may have been promised 2,000 baht
(45 dollars) but given only 500 baht."
With the assistance of Thai authorities and non-governmental agencies,
Kredtrakarn's social workers attempt to trace the girls' families and prepare
for their return home.
The program is a major departure from the past, when the Thai government
immediately deported illegal migrants by dumping them at the border, she
said.
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) representative Lance Bonneau
said greater awareness about trafficking among regional governments has boosted
efforts to ease victims back into life in their home countries.
"In the face of untold numbers coming into Thailand, it's important to
build the capacity of governments to take them back," he said. "Thailand is a
target country ... a destination and transit country."
Bonneau said Thailand and the IOM had set up a system to interview would-be
migrants to determine if they are trafficking victims who are entering the
country as a result of coercion or deception.
"In Thailand they have legislation protecting victims of trafficking,
people who many countries would view as illegal migrants," he said.
But the penalties for trafficking in women and children remain hopelessly
inadequate, particularly given the financial rewards of the brutal trade.
"For drug smugglers in many countries you get death," he said. "For trading
in a commodity you can get the death penalty, but for trafficking in human life
the punishment is much less."
------------------------------------------------------------------ The Star - August 12,
2001.
Storm forces Asean friendship mission to
divert from plan
By Simon Khoo
VIENTIANE (Laos): The Asean Voyage of Friendship 2001 (northern route) had
to divert from its original plan to fly to Hanoi as a result of tropical storm
Usagi, which is expected to hit Vietnam within the next 48 hours.
The two Zodiac light experimental aircraft assembled by Rakan Muda
volunteers--the 9M-ERA and 9M-ERM--would now instead fly straight to Phnom Penh
on Tuesday.
The project's special envoy, Abdul Latif Endot, who was supposed to pilot
the aircraft from Wattay International Airport here to Vietnam, said they would
have to change and divert the flight schedule.
"We were told by the authorities that it would be practically impossible to
take off in this kind of weather.
"Our main priority is safety and as such we will not take risks," he said
yesterday, adding that despite the setback, they would still proceed in their
attempt to deliver by hand the official invitation scroll for the 21st SEA Games
in Kuala Lumpur next month, to Cambodia and Thailand.
The voyage had earlier been also affected by bad weather, when attempting
to enter Yangon in Myanmar (the first stop on Wednesday) via Phuket and Mergui,
leaving them stranded in Kawthoung before finally reaching their destination
after numerous tries.
But during the flight from Yangon to this capital (the second stop) on
Thursday, favourable weather coupled with good piloting skills saw them land
ahead of schedule.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad launched the expedition on
July 14, as part of the Rakan Muda aviation development programme and in
conjunction with the coming Merdeka Day celebrations.
------------------------------------------------------------------ Bangkok Post - August 12,
2001.
Talks on new site to replace
overcrowded Tham Hin
Burmese residing in Unhealthy conditions Saritdet Marukatat and Bhanravee Tansubhapol
The National Security Council will hold talks on finding a new home for
Burmese refugees at the overcrowded and health-threatened Tham Hin camp in
Ratchaburi.
A high-level official said a meeting would take views on whether there was
a need for the relocation.
Thailand has been asked to find a new place for refugees who live in
crowded conditions and amid disease.
Malaria, diarrhoea and other sanitary problems are common.
The camp, which sits in the valley about 20km from the district town of
Suan Phung and the same distance from the Thai-Burmese border, handles almost
8,250 refugees, says the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Most are
Karen fleeing suppression and fighting inside Burma.
UnHCR chief Sadako Ogata criticised conditions on a visit last year. She
urged expansion but the government ruled out the option because the compound was
surrounded by reserved areas. The 15-member European Union backed relocation.
Its officials met NSC secretary-general Kachadpai Burusapatana last month about
deteriorating situations at the camp.
Thai agencies remain divided. Some say a new, better home could attract
more Burmese incomers and trigger confrontations with local villagers.
"We should not use Western standards such as those from the EU as a
yardstick", the NSC official said, pointing to Thais living nearby whose lives
were not better off. Moving the camp could cause trouble, he said.
But another official overseeing the camp acknowledged the connection
between overcrowding and health problems. "When the camp is jammed, the
environment is vulnerable to health deterioration," he said.
A new home would give refugees more breathing space and a better chance of
improved health. Officials had found a possible site, a deserted rice field in
the same district.
Officials would have an easier time at that site controlling movements of
refugees than at Ban Tham Hin, where they had trouble keeping the Burmese in
check, he said.
------------------------------------------------------------------ Bangkok Post - August 12,
2001.
UN agency to step up work in
response to plea from Rangoon
1.99 million people suffering from Aids Post Reporters
The World Health Organisation will take "immediate action" to step up its
work in Burma in response to calls from UN representatives in Rangoon.
Matilda Kentridge, communications officer for the WHO in Geneva, said the
organisation would "intensify" its focus on the HIV/Aids epidemic, maternal
health, tuberculosis and malaria.
In response to queries from the Bangkok Post, Ms Kentridge dismissed
earlier reports the WHO received an appeal from its representative in Burma to
lift sanctions against the country on humanitarian grounds.
She said Gro Harlem Brundtland, the WHO director-general, and the heads of
other UN agencies with offices in Burma, received letters from representatives
in Burma encouraging the agencies to "consider ways in which approaches to UN
mandates and activities in Burma could be made more consistent and
cohesive.
"The letter also drew attention to the level of Official Development
Assistance for Burma and called for support for increased advocacy to expand
assistance," Ms Kentridge said.
"The letter cited HIV/Aids, illicit drugs and food security as three
important areas for consultation and common action.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Unicef, and the UN
Development Programme also have offices in Burma.
"WHO has studied the letter carefully," she said. "WHO's director-general
recognises that complex humanitarian issues are faced by the people of Burma and
takes this situation extremely seriously.
"In consultation with other UN organisations in Burma, we will take
immediate action to step up our work with the people of this country. We are
already intensifying our co-operation on HIV/Aids work in conjunction with other
UNAIDS co-sponsors," she said, citing Unicef, the UN Population Fund, and the UN
Drug Control Programme.
"WHO's country office in Burma and regional office in New Delhi, together
with the different technical departments in Geneva, were involved in a
co-ordinated response to this complex humanitarian situation.
"Among other health-related issues, we will intensify our focus on the
HIV/Aids epidemic, maternal health, tuberculosis and malaria in Burma, as well
as in other countries in the region that are similarly affected."Burma was
ranked 118 among 162 countries surveyed in the UNDP's latest Human Development
Index.
At the end of 1999, 1.99 million adults aged 15-49, including 180,000
women, and 14,000 children aged up to 14 were said to be living with
HIV/Aids.
Another 256 people per 100,000 were afflicted with malaria.
The infant mortality rate per 1,000 births was 79 and the maternal
mortality rate was 230.
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