Thailand feeling the strain as humanitarian haven
source :asiatimes
By Mahesh Uniyal
BANGKOK - For long a friendly haven to people fleeing political troubles and economic hardship, Thailand is feeling the strain of its humanitarian hospitality.
Criticized by the visiting UN Commissioner for Refugees for not taking proper care of refugees, the Thai government has asked for international help in playing host to the tens of thousands of Myanmese refugees on its soil and in creating conditions for their return to their homeland.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, after visiting a Myanmese refugee camp near the Thai-Myanmese border Tuesday,described the conditions there as ''very bad'' and ''overcrowded''.
''I'm sorry to say that I was quite shocked,'' Ogata said. The UN official said she was surprised to see the conditions in which the ethnic Myanamese Karen refugees were living, because Thailand had enough experience in hosting refugees. ''In this case, they are not doing what they can do,'' she added.
Ogata later met Thailand's Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, who told her that his country needed international help to continue offering humanitarian assistance to those who fled the fighting between ethnic separatist rebels and Myanmar's authoritarian regime.
More than 120,000 Myanmese refugees are estimated to be living in shelters near the long border the two countries share. Thailand has long insisted on the creation of conditions for the voluntary return of these people.
Ogata, who arrived in Bangkok after meeting Myanmar's military rulers in Yangon, told Chuan that she had told the Myanmese government about the need for these refugees to return home. However, the military regime did not give any indication if and when this could begin, she said. The rulers of Myanmar insist that the Myanese living in refugee camps in Thailand are not innocent civilians who fled the conflict in that country,but are either members of the armed Myanmese rebel groups or their kin.
However, the Myanmar government was open to UNHCR's request to be allowed to operate in that country. According to Thailand's Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra, this would be the ''first step'' for the return of the refugees to their country.
The UNHCR chief also advised the Thai government to join the International Convention on Refugees. Thailand officially describes those taking political refuge on its territory as "displaced persons". According to Sukhumbhand, Thailand is concerned that it would not be able to treat refugees on par with citizens, once it joins the international treaty. ''Thai people have a lot of rights. We don't want refugees to protest in front of Government House,'' he was quoted as saying.
'If we accede to the convention, it would encourage more refugees to come to Thailand,'' a foreign ministry official added. Thailand is already playing host to hundreds of thousands of foreigners, the bulk of whom have fled economic hardship in neighboring nations, said the official, who did not want to be named.
However, rights groups and independent constitutional experts in this country say that Thailand's treatment of political refugees has been quite satisfactory. ''Despite the technicality in Thai law which views them as illegal immigrants subject to the possibility of deportation ... they [refugees] are not generally pushed back to their country of origin,'' says Thai constitutional expert Vitit Muntarbhorn of Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.
''It has been a long-time policy for Thailand to receive refugees on humanitarian grounds,'' said the foreign ministry official, pointing out that Thailand has been the ''most open'' to refugees among Southeast Asian nations. The country has played host to tens of thousands of refugees from Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos in the past three decades. Indeed, during her meeting with the Thai prime minister, Ogata thanked the Thai government for hosting refugees from these countries.
In a landmark decision in August, the Thai government announced the granting of citizenship to some 100,000 children of more than 30,000 Myanmese, Chinese and Nepalese refugees who entered the country between the 1940s and 1976. The refugees themselves are to be given residency rights, but not citizenship. Some years ago, the children of these refugees were allowed to study in government schools, but it was difficult for them to get access to other state-run basic services.
In the early 1950s, the Thai government recognized as citizens the children of Vietnamese who fled their country to escape the war between the French army and Vietnamese nationalists.
However, rights groups point to areas of worry, especially violations of human rights of those seeking shelter in Thailand. ''We should treat them in a humanitarian manner and not send them back,'' says Jarun Pichai of the Bangkok-based Union for Civil Liberties.
Last year, the civil liberties group collaborated with UNHCR to organize a training program on the human rights of refugees for local non-governmental organizations, border police officers and village leaders along the Thai-Myanmar border.
Pichai's group and the UNHCR are also worried about an incident involving ethnic Karen refugees from Myanmar who "disappeared" following an encounter with the Thai military after crossing the Thai-Myanmese border earlier this year. The 55 members of the Karen militia had fled Myanmese territory for Thailand. Their wives, who now live in refugee camps in Thailand, wrote to the Thai civil liberties in September to seek its help to trace the men.
The UNHCR also wrote to the Thai military to seek information on the matter, said Jarun. But the army told both his group and the UNHCR that the Thai military did not know where the missing men were, he added.(Inter Press Service)