Karen Forced Repatriation

02/22/10

In May and June of 2009, around 3,000-4,000 Karen people were forced to flee their villages and aim for the refugee camps in Thailand because of the increased warfare between the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and the Burmese Military (SPDC). When they reached Thailand, for various reasons such as lack of space, they were not admitted officially into any of the 7 Karen formal refugee camps and instead were forced to establish a temporary camp closer to the border. It is now around 8 months later and the Thai government has decided they no longer want these people in their unofficial camps and have told them it is now time to go back. Problem being, not only is the warfare continuing but the land they once lived on is now covered in landmines that have been planted by those fighting in the civil war. The Thai government has assured those that the land is safe, but many do not believe this and are reluctant to return, especially after cases occurring only weeks prior where there are victims of the landmines. Karen human rights organizations, such as the Karen Women Organization, worked together to write appeal letters to the Thai gov’t pleading that they do not force these people back to a land that is unsafe. Below is the appeal letter KWO submitted to the Thai government:

Emergency appeal to the Royal Thai Government not to forcibly repatriate Karen refugees back to heavily land-mined zone

February 2nd, 2010

The Karen Women Organization is urgently appealing to the Royal Thai Government not to forcibly repatriate over 3,000 Karen refugees staying in Tha Song Yang, Tak Province, back to a heavily land-mined war-zone in Burma. The majority of the refugees are women and children.

This group of refugees have been told by the Thai Army that they must all be returned to Burma by February 15. The refugees were told that actions to remove them will begin on February 5th, this week. They are now living in fear of imminent forced repatriation into an area which is heavily land-mined, and where active conflict can re-ignite at any moment.

On January 28, the local Authority Thai Army and his men forced 50 refugees from this group back across the border between 9 to 11 am to start cleaning up their homes in the village of Ler Per Her in preparation for their return. This included 20 women and girls, some under 16 years of age.

However, KWO would like to state clearly that this area is not safe at all and refugees groups are not willing to return at this point in time. In recent months, five refugees from the area have been either injured or killed by landmines when slipping back into Burma to look after livestock they left behind. This included a 13-year-old boy whose leg was blown off in August last year, and a woman who was 8 months pregnant had her foot blown apart on January 18, 2010.

Blooming Night Zan, Joint Secretary 1 of KWO said, "This evidence of people stepping on the landmines is a sure sign that the situation is still very dangerous. Sending refugees back against their will into such a dangerous situation violates the international law of non-refoulement. Although the Thai government is not a signatory of the Refugee Convention, the KWO is very grateful to His Majesty the Thai King, and the Thai government, for a long history of kindness to refugees. We appeal to the Thai authorities now to show your humanitarian kindness again."

The Karen refugees fled from fighting in the Ler Per Her area in Karen State, Burma, in June 2009. The refugees were granted temporary refuge in three locations, Mae U Su, Mae Salit and Nong Bua, but have not yet been allowed to move to Mae La refugee camp in Tak Province. Since their arrival, local Thai authorities have repeatedly pressured the refugees to return home despite evidence that the area is still very dangerous.

The Karen Women Organization is gravely concerned at the planned forced repatriation of these refugees into such a dangerous area and we urgently appeal to the Royal Thai Government to halt the repatriation and continue to provide these refugees with protection on Thai soil.

END

Soon after these appeal letters were written and submitted to the government, the press got a hold of them and several press releases went out. The international community, especially Burmese campaigners, acted in lightening speed to put pressure on the Thai government to not continue with the forced repatriation. The international pressure worked and they soon stopped, yet according to the staff here the Thai soldiers on the ground continue to try and verbally manipulate the Karen people to return “willingly” by telling them that the International NGOs no longer want to feed them and they should leave. Although a lot of the Karens do not believe this, they still feel like they do not belong here anymore and are considering leaving anyways.

In terms of the organization I work with, KWO, since the Joint Secretary, Blooming Night, has been a very verbal and visible advocate for these Karen refugees, the organization is fearful of a Thai police raid at the office and since Feburary 5th have had days where they lock the door from the outside to give the image there is no one here, or close the office. Other similar organizations, like the Karen Human Rights Organization, have shut down operations all together at their offices and are working out of homes instead for the last month. Most of the Karens don’t believe that this is over and instead are worried it is just a matter of time before the Thai government tries this again. I am learning that statistically Thailand is actually one of the worst places for refugees because Thailand is not a signatory of the refugee convention, which basically means they are not formally obligated to assist in offering the basic rights to refugees, which gives them full leniency to do what they want with refugees in their own country.

The whole situation is incredibly sad to watch, but even worse is learning that this is often the way it works here, I just happen to be a witness to this round. Recently I was also reading about the Rohingya refugees from southern Burma who have tried to find safety and security in Bangladesh and by boating to Malaysia and was astounded by the human rights abuses of these people. I guess being Muslim in Burma makes you subhuman and these people aren’t even allowed any form of citizenship..in their own native country..Hard to even imagine there are much worse situations happening for the Burmese refugees than with the Karen people, but there are. I won’t go into it here, but worth learning more about.