Hospitality has its limits
source : The Bangkokpost (12-11-01)
Thailand has a long experience of dealing with refugees who have fled here from neighbouring countries. But the offer of refuge cannot be indefinite. There comes a time when these people must return home.
SARITDET MARUKATAT
The forced return last week of Karen villagers to Burma and the concern this has triggered among human rights advocates highlight the problems facing government attempts to clear the refugee camps along our borders.Sixty-three Karens were involved in the movement from Kanchanaburi to an area just across the border inside Burma on Nov 6.
Officials are turning their attention to refugee problems along the Burmese border now that there are only a very few remaining Lao refugees in the Northeast. The warmer ties with Burma cultivated by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his cabinet make the climate more conducive to dealing with the refugee issue. But the situation on the ground makes it clear that closer relations between the two capitals do not amount to a solution to the refugee problem.
Refugees from Burma will remain in Thai camps as long as there continues to be firefights between Rangoon's armed forces and Karen insurgents. Without a peaceful settlement between the ruling State Peace and Development Council and the Karen National Union, Rangoon's last major armed opponent, talk of repatriation is always going to be difficult to convert into action.
``A cease-fire between Burma and the KNU would be a turning point,'' said Songsit Charuparn, a legal officer with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, ``because most refugees from Burma in Thailand are Karen.''
There are currently nearly 110,000 refugees from Burma living in nine makeshift compounds along the border and in holding centres in Bangkok and Ratchaburi. When Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, the SPDC's first secretary, came to Bangkok in September,the government took the opportunity to tell him that Thailand would like to see all these people return home. Security officers in border provinces have been trying since then to stop any new refugees entering the country.
Thailand has learned from the Lao refugee influx. It took the country 15 years to reduce the number of Lao refugees from a peak of 40,000 to just the 34 still here. Officers are trying to convince this last group, living in Ban Napho camp in Nakhon Phanom, that spending the rest of their days there with limited freedom of movement is not a good idea. It also is impossible as the Interior Ministry is pushing for the permanent closure of the last camp for Indochinese refugees.
Laotians flocked to Thailand en masse, some swimming or rafting across the Mekong river, in the 10 years after the Lao People's Revolutionary Party took sole political power from the royal government in December 1975. Many had worked with the losing side or had fought anti-communist forces during the country's long civil war, and feared the retribution of the victors.
In preparation for the move to return home the Burmese refugees, the Interior Ministry has announced plans to close the Maneeloy camp in Ratchaburi at the end of this year. Residents who do not want to go to a third country or who cannot find one willing to take them will be moved to a camp closer to the border. About 70 of the 260 residents of the camp, mostly students fleeing the violence and the threats of the Burmese military regime, are expected to be moved to the other camp.
UNHCR staff register the inmates at all camps to make sure they have crossed the border from Burma as Rangoon insists it will only take back those with proof of Burmese origin. That is only one instance of the indifference shown by the Burmese regime to its people. Rangoon refuses to accept that these people have escaped from their homeland to Thailand because of the armed violence inside their country, fears of forced labour and ethnic killings. In the eyes of Rangoon, these people are part of the anti-government forces, or job seekers looking for better lives in another country.
Even though the Burmese government has signed a cease-fire with the KNU, this will not lead to the instant return of the refugees. These people have made it clear that they will never feel safe inside Burma without the protection of a third, neutral party. Any forced repatriation by Thailand also would meet with strong protests from other countries and human rights groups. The prime minister has promised there will be no forced returns.
Allowing the UN refugee agency to position itself on Burmese soil just across the border from Thailand is one way of allaying the refugees' fears, but Rangoon has not yet given the green light. Without a presence in the area, the UNHCR would have no direct access or first-hand information of the situation inside Burma, legal officer Mr Songsit said.
Although the problem with the Burmese refugees is a huge one, the Thai success with the Lao refugees offers room for encouragement of a similar outcome along our western border.