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Thailand orders urban Burmese refugees to leave cities for rural camps or face arrest
Burmese children in the Tham Hin refugee camp, near the Thailand-Burma border.
Photo: Erol Kekic
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Of the many refugee camps along the Thailand-Burma border, Tham Hin is the closest to Bangkok. Opened in 1997, it also is the least livable.
More than 9,000 Burmese refugees live in a patchwork of houses crammed along narrow alleys. Pit latrines were dug under the houses, used, closed, and new ones dug, but now all room has been exhausted. Wells have run dry, and drought has all but dried up the stream that feeds the camp's water tanks. The remaining trickle of water, along with whatever water is trucked in, is strictly rationed.
Tham Hin camp got even more crowded in March after the Thai government ordered 1,800 urban Burmese refugees to relocate to border camps by March 31, 450 of them to Tham Hin. The camp scrambled to construct barracks for the new arrivals, most of whom had been living in Bangkok apartments. Their new housing allots a mere three-by-three yard space for each family, whether a single person or a family of eight.
This story illustrates how refugees get caught "between a rock and a hard place," as the saying goes.
City dwellers fleeing oppression in Burma began finding their way to Thai cities a decade ago. They got jobs, albeit "under the table" for exploitative wages, often in the construction industry. Almost all speak some English. Many have married Thai citizens, but that does not give legal status in Thailand.
In July 2003, the Thai government announced that urban Burmese refugees had to be registered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Many were granted "person of concern" status and recommended for third-country resettlement.
They were allowed to stay in the city while awaiting interviews and security checks needed for approval for resettlement to the United States or elsewhere. But as more Burmese refugees began approaching the UNHCR for registration, the Thai government became alarmed at their numbers and announced its intention to move all urban Burmese into the camps. Despite pleas from refugees, many non-governmental organizations, and the UNHCR for more time for relocation, the Thai government stuck to its March 31 deadline.
Those "persons of concern" who missed the deadline forfeited any possibility of third-country resettlement. Worse, they were declared illegal immigrants subject to arrest, detention, and deportation. But those who relocated were not allowed to bring Thai spouses to the camps, and parents had to decide which should keep their children.
While in principle these urban refugees' stay in rural border camps will be "temporary," in reality it could take months, even years, before they are approved for resettlement. Those rejected for third-country resettlement will be stuck in camp.
 Boy in the Tham Hin refugee camp. Photo: Erol Kekic
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Not that camp conditions are acceptable for their rural residents, either. Some resettlement agencies are suggesting that the solution to this protracted refugee situation is for all 150,000 refugees living along the Thailand-Burma border to be resettled to third countries.
The Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program (CWS/IRP) is urging careful consideration before large numbers of Burmese refugees are split up and sent all over the world.
Resettlement should be used carefully and strategically to benefit people who want it and have no other durable option. Some but by no means all Burmese refugees want to be resettled. Many prefer to wait out the situation in Burma.
Meanwhile, as a member and major funder of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, a non-profit, non-governmental humanitarian relief and development agency, CWS will continue its work with displaced Burmese to meet their survival needs, strengthen self-reliance, and promote appropriate and lasting solutions in pursuit of their dignity, justice, and peace.
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