This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

Current Issues in Refugee Education

4 Burmese Refugees in Thailand

This page has annotations:

This page is referenced by:

Burmese Refugee In Thailand 79 The refugees' stories were often identical: direct military attacks by the Myanmar army, forced labor, destruction of homes and food crops, and enslavement. image_header 195838 2015-12-02T07:11:52-08:00
Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights — Article 14
Introduction to Burmese Refugee Camps in Thailand
Thailand, in response to the need of these Burmese asylum seekers, 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, 2015).
- Ethnic Makeup of Refugee Camps
Majority of these refugees are Karen (also called kayin, 79.1%) and Karenni (also called kayah, 10.4%), while the minority are Burman (also called Barmar, 2.8%) and Mon (0.8%) (TBC, February 2015).
- Religious Makeup of Refugee Camps
Most refugees are either Cristian (51%) or Buddhist (36%) in the camps. However, in camps the Tak province (including Mae La, Umpiem Mai, and Nu Po camps), there are a significant number of Muslim communities from 12 to 24%, while from 40 to 56% of residents are Christian, from 32 to 41% are Buddhist (UNHCR 2006).
- The Largest Refugee Camps: Mae La Refugee Camp
First established in the 1980s, Mae La refugee camp has grown into the largest of the nine refugee camps along the Thailand-Myanmar border. The Royal Thai Government (RTG) administers the refugee camps and Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) also provide food, shelter and non food items to refugees and displaced people from Myanmar.
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.
Problems of Refugee Camps in Thailand
"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. "
— Human Rights Watch, 2012
- Strict Restrictions and Living Conditions in Refugee Camps
“Refugees are banned from leaving the camp to seek jobs. Refugees are banned from leaving their homes from 6 pm to 6 am,” he said. “Only those who have special conditions such as medical treatment or other emergency cases can travel, but need to seek official permission."
— Saw Honest, chairman of the Mae La refugee camp, July 2nd, 2014

1. Restrictions
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 stopped allowing UNHCR to conduct refugee status determination interviews for Burmese refugees and 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 because international organizations such as the UN, the UNHCR, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have also faced restrictions in Thailand, the vast majority of encamped refugees go without any direct protection from these international organizations (Human Rights Watch, 2007).

2. Living conditions
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. Three of the camps including Mar La, Tham Hin and Ban Don Yang are overcrowded and people there can hardly have privacy due to a lack of personal space when living with their family members (Human Rights Watch, 2012e).
With few sources of income, refugees become dependent on aid agencies. Since TBC remains the only agency responsible for providing food and shelters to refugees in the camps, its decrease of food ration that have fallen substantially below minimum daily nutritional levels due to the funding cuts leads to food shortage in the camps (see TBC, 2013).

3. Outcomes
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).

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 seen 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！
Hopes 12 "I think of Superman as the ultimate vanilla hero. He's this perfect refugee, this perfect immigrant from another planet who embodies the American dream. " image_header 2015-12-02T16:41:50-08:00
—“From the beginning I was moved by the faith and dignity of the refugees I met, their determination to get on with their lives as best as they could, and their apparent belief that somehow, someday, justice would be done.”
—Jack Dunford, Executive Director of TBC 1984-2012
Life in the Camps
Although Burmese refugees in Thailand often have traumatic background and challenging circumstances to overcome, they make significant effort to maintain dignity and hope in the camp communities. Despite severe restrictions and depressive realities, refugees strive to remain active and to maintain their cultural traditions through practices such as teaching ethnic nationality languages and dances. People marry and have children, play sports, and organize festivals and other celebrations. Despite the devastating reality, life goes on. Thousands of people of Burma have come to consider these enclosed areas as their homes, trying to lead their lives as the best they can.

Life Outside the Camps
- Repatriation
Since 2012, ceasefires were achieved between Burmese government and main non-state armed groups, which contributes to an increase in security.

Although the consensus is that conditions are not yet conducive for refugees to return, there are significant concerns that camps could be closed and refugees repatriated before they can do so with a sense of dignity and hope. In recent years, even TBC has changed their focus to preparedness for refugee and IDP return (TBC, 2013a, 2014a). Talks about repatriation coupled with reduced aid and increased restrictions have caused anxiety and uncertainty among the refugees who do not feel safe returning to their homeland. Despite the positive change that has emerged during the past years, much more needs to be done before refugees can safely return to Burma yet no one knows when the refugees will have to go back and whether they can do so voluntarily.
- Resettle to a third country
Resettlement is the transfer of refugees from an asylum country to another State that has agreed to admit them and ultimately grant them permanent settlement. Only a small number of States take part in UNHCR's resettlement program. The United States is the world's top resettlement country, while Australia, Canada and the Nordic countries also provide a sizable number of places annually.
I need to study more diligently because I will pursue my study in the USA.
— Paw Wah Shee, a school girl

I wish I can immigrant to another country and continue my study there.
—Keh De Ter, a school boy
Thai authorities allowed refugees to register with the UNHCR, and all registered refugees are eligible for resettlement to third countries. In June 2014, 96,206 had been resettled, vast majority (75%) of them to the US, followed by Australia, Canada, Finland, and Norway (TBC, 2014a). Departures for resettlement have declined each year since 2008, mainly because the majority of those who were able to register in 2004 and 2005 have already left. The group settlement program to the US has now closed, but a significant number remain in the pipeline and are expected to depart in 2015 (TBC, 2014).

Although there are many factors influencing their resettlement to a third country. But for many of them, it means freedom, education, health, dream and hopes.

There are many things remain to be done. But it is just the beginning of their dreams...