Burmese Refugee In Thailand
Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Article 14
Thailand, in response to the need of these Burmese asylum seeker, have protected Burmese refugees for both humanitarian and political reasons by providing temporary asylum in refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border. Among these refugees, there are roughly 120,000 Burmese refugees in nine official camps on the Thai-Burma border (TBC, February 2015).
- Ethnic Makeup of Refugee Camps
- Religious Makeup of Refugee Camps
- The Largest Refugee Camps: Mae La Refugee Camp
The RTG refers to them as ‘temporary shelters’ and the refugees as ‘displaced persons fleeing fighting’. The terms emphasize the fact that the camps were intended to be impermanent structures whose inhabitants would return home when the conditions allow.
As documented by the United Nations, most residents in Mae La refugee camp arrived here after being forced to flee Myanmar due to violence against them.
- Strict Restrictions and Living Conditions in Refugee Camps
— Saw Honest, chairman of the Mae La refugee camp, July 2nd, 2014
Refugees were allowed to travel outside the camps for food before 1995 when Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) attacked Karen refugee camps in attempts to threaten them into returning to Burma, which became a regular factor impacting the border security (Caouette & Pack, 2002). Since then, the village-type settlement transferred to large and closed camps and resident were more restricted. In 2003, the Thai government claimed that all refugees should be sheltered together, which led to plans to move refugees in urban area to refugee camps. And Burmese refugees are not allowed to leave refugee camps without a pass nor to obtain employment in Thailand outside camps.
Meanwhile, their access to refugees’ political activities is limited and their rights to criticize the Burmese government is curtailed (UNHCR, 2004). The forced relocation had brought about many problems and refugees are exposed to human rights violations, including protection and security issues due to inter-ethnic tensions, restricted access to information as well as lack of educational opportunities (Colm, 2004), which applies to refugees in general. In addition, in July, 2008, Thai security forces in the Mae Hong Son, one of the northern provinces of Thailand, forced repatriation of 35 Karen refugees to Myanmar.
And, international organizations such as the UNHCR, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have also faced restrictions in Thailand, which makes it difficult to provide protection for refugees (see Human Rights Watch, 2007).
In terms of living conditions, limitations of space and food shortage are big problems in the camps, which is partly resulted from overpopulation of refugees.
Strict restrictions and poor living conditions have created many problems in Burmese refugees. By evaluating 495 Karenni refugees in the camps in Mae Hong con province, researchers found that mental health issues including anxiety symptoms, depression and post-traumatic disorder (PTSD) were prevalent among them due to insufficient food, restrictions of movement and trauma events (Cardozo, Talley, Burton, & Crawford, 2004).
Three of the camps (Mae La, Tham Hin, and Ban Don Yang) are overcrowded (Human Rights Watch, 2012e). In all camps, the challenge of space is a significant concern. When living in one of the camps one will notice the almost complete lack of personal space or privacy. In some areas of the camps, houses are built right next to each other, people are everywhere, and it seems to never be quiet as there is always someone in the earshot singing, playing music, listening to the radio, or simply talking. Refugees who still have memories of life in Burma struggle to adapt to having no space around their houses; “Here, it is like fifty villages are crammed into one,” one refugee told TBC (2004, p. 53).
Due to space restrictions and limited housing supplies provided in the camps, many households comprise more than one family and young married couples typically continue to live with their parents. Space restrictions coupled with bamboo building materials also make camps into ‘fire traps’ and despite refugees being aware of the danger, fires regularly sweep through the communities. In February 2012, a huge fire in Umpiem camp destroyed as many as 1,000 houses (Karen News, February, 2012). In April 2013, 36 refugees died in a tragic fire that destroyed Ban Mae Surin refugee camp in Mae Hong Son Province. In December 2013, around 750 refugees were left homeless in Mae La camp when more than a hundred houses were destroyed by a fire. The next day one refugee woman died in a fire in Ban Mai Nai Soi camp.
The Life Stories of Burmese Refugees in Thailand"We don't know what our future will bring." — Mr. Yee, hairdresser
A story of a Burmese refugee woman
Jolie visited one of the world’s longest-running refugee situations on the Thai-Burma border, where an estimated 120,000 Burmese refugees have been living in camps, some for more than 30 years.
During her trip to the Karenni camp, Jolie visited one such family, whose elderly matriarch Baw Meh said the family had lived in the refugee camp for 18 years, having arrived to Ban Mae Nai Soi in 1996.
A story of a hairdresser family
In 1998 , NGOs were given permission to start vocational training programs in the camps. Aimed at providing refugees with hard skills and increasing their self-reliance, subjects have included cooking, baking, sewing, hairdressing, electronics and mechanics.
A story of Teh Teh Tong, a Burmese boy in refugee camp
Living with parents and six siblings in the Burmese refugee camp for years, Teh Teh Tong talked about space limitation in the camp and his condition of not being able to work outside. And in general, children in refugee camps face many challenges, including drug and achohol abuse, lack of activities, and adolescent pregnancy.
- Education
Although refugee camps are hardly natural places to live, thousands of people have been born in the camps and never left. For many refugee children, refugee camps are where they were born and where they grew up. For them, the only reality they have see exists within the fences of refugee camps. So what kinds of education they receive and what kinds of values conveyed to them not only decide how they can use their skills learned in camps to adapt to their life from short-term survival to long-term development after returning to their home country or going to a third country, but also create a sense of security and hope that is often lacking in refugee settings as well as their knowledge and attitudes towards their home country, host country and the whole world.
Read more about Education in Burmese Refugee Camps in Thailand!
