Global Peace Centre

The clash at Myawaddy town opposite Mae Sot district in Tak on Monday, between Burmese troops and a splinter group of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, forced at least 20,000 Burmese to flee their homes and cross the border into Thailand. Further down along the frontier, in Sangkhla Buri district of Kanchanaburi, about 3,000 Burmese civilians escaped a clash between soldiers and a loose alliance of Mon and Karen fighters near the famous Three Pagodas Pass.

The plight of these Burmese refugees comes as Thais themselves are reeling from one of the severest floods in the kingdom's history. In fact, some areas are still inundated. The government, non-governmental organisations, private firms and flood-affected victims have joined hands to get things back to normal as quickly as possible in the provinces devastated by flooding.

Despite the country's preoccupation with rebuilding efforts at home, it is commendable that the government has allowed in the Burmese, many of them children and the elderly, who desperately need shelter from the armed clashes within Burma.

What has just happened on the western front reminds us of the fighting between Burmese troops and armed ethnic minority groups in the 1980s, as the military regime tried to crack down on them down or at least force them to give up their campaign for independence or self-rule.

The armed clashes at that time forced people, most of them ethnic Karen, to leave their homeland for safe haven in Thailand.

At present, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Thailand shelters some 112,000 registered refugees confined to border camps, and about 50,000 more who are unregistered. That excludes many more who have illegally entered the country and have never reported to the UN agency or border relief workers for any assistance.

The country once sheltered up to 1.3 million refugees in decades past, despite the Thai position, which shows no intention to be a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention. Neither the present nor past governments have changed this stance. Yet they are flexible about opening the country for temporary shelter for people from neighbouring countries trying to escape war and fighting.

Like in the past, this time the government, security agencies and army have sent out a clear message that the Burmese civilians must return home after the armed conflict is over. "We will provide them with temporary shelter and will arrange to send them back when the situation is back to normal," army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha said.

Many Burmese people who fled the fighting have, since Tuesday, been returning to their country, as part of the Thai policy; still many others have chosen to remain in temporary shelters as they are uncertain about the situation inside Burma.

One thing that the government has to seriously bear in mind is that no refugee can be forcibly ordered to leave the kingdom. A plan to send them back must come with the assurance that Burma is safe enough for their return. Anything short of this would damage Thailand's proud reputation as a safe haven for those fleeing terror and tyranny in their homelands.