On the heels of the largest influx of Ethnic refugees from Burma to Thailand in a decade, assistance organisations are calling for a global response in ensuring a holistic system of aid is in place for those displaced.
Medics from Mae Tao Clinic on the outskirts of Mae Sot, Thailand provide aid to some of the 500-odd refugees at a temporary shelter near Mae Koe Kan village, western Thailand, on December 1, 2010. The people from eastern Karen State south of the border town of Myawaddy near Mae Sot, Thailand, fled continuing clashes that flared late last month between the Burmese Army and a Democratic Karen Buddhist Army splinter faction. The Forum of Burma’s Community-Based Organisations, a bloc of more than 20 aid groups based along the border, including the Mae Tao clinic, has written to supporters to pressure governments and aid organisations to work towards designing a concrete plan to deal with an expected rise in Burmese refugees fleeing to Thailand. Photo: Brennan O’Connor/Nomad Photos
“In order to ensure the safety of such civilians [those fleeing Burma], there needs to be a concrete plan in place for Thai authorities and non-governmental organisations to provide the necessary protection and assistance to civilians until they feel safe for them to return home,” stipulates the appeal missive.
In meeting with international government and non-governmental leaders, the FCOB urges advocates to push for an end to hostilities; commencement of a tripartite dialogue among Burmese authorities, ethnic and political opposition leaders; involvement of the UN refugee body, the UNHCR; and, acceptance of the Royal Thai government in facilitating both time-sensitive assistance and repatriation.
On November 8 alone, one day after Burma’s general election, around 30,000 Burmese were estimated to have fled to Thailand in the face of fresh hostilities between the Burmese Army and an armed ethnic opposition group. In the vicinity of the Burmese border town of Myawaddy, 25,000 were believed to have crossed into Thailand.
Though most of those who initially fled are judged to have since returned, FCOB estimates 3,600 continue to receive assistance along the Thai border, with a few thousand more stranded on the Burmese side and an unknown number of refugees in hiding on the Thai side of the frontier.
FCOB, buttressing its appeal, cautions that in the wake of the troubled November election along with the continued rejection of the central government’s Border Guard Force proposal by several armed ethnic groups, “further escalations in conflict and insecurity are likely in the ethnic areas bordering Thailand, India and China”.
The appeal was signed by FCOB co-ordinator Dr. Cynthia Maung, the highly respected founder of the Mao Tao Clinic on the outskirts of Mae Sot, a short distance from Myawaddy.
The FCOB also encouraged supporters to protest outside Burmese embassies around the world on December 10, UN International Human Rights Day.
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