Refugees

The Karen National Union met with refugees and representatives of civil society organizations in Mae La refugee camp on the Thai Burma border to discuss and explain its ongoing peace building process with the Burma government. The meeting took place on Thursday, August 29 and came on the back of rumors circulating throughout the refugee population that there were plans…

Three tragic incidents involving women sent shock waves through the Tham Tin refugee camp in Thailand this week. The three separate incidents happened on August 13, when two Karen refugee women are alleged to have killed themselves, while a third woman survived an attempted suicide. The incidents happened at the Tham Hin refugee camp in Southern Thailand. The first tragedy…

Shan community based organizations claim that Burmese authorities are preparing to repatriate Shan refugees from Thailand, warning that the safety of refugees are at risk and repatriation is “premature.” The community groups, the Shan Human Rights Foundation and the Shan Women’s Action Network, said that Burmese authorities had visited Koung Jor camp of about 500 people last month. The camp…

Thousands of Karen refugees on the Thai Burma border have been resettled in the United States. Nickel City Smiler follows the ups and downs of Smiler Greely, a refugee, as he battles to carve out a new life for his family in Buffalo, New York State. Victoria Jack and Saw Blacktown review the documentary for Karen News. After escaping horrific…

A survey conducted by the Karen Refugees Committee at the Tham Hin camp Southern Thailand found that 46 percent of those Karen refugees who were surveyed want to resettle to a third country, another 27% would prefer to remain in Thailand and 27% would only go back to Burma is peace is guaranteed. The KRC surveyed 6,195 refugees in the…

The Australia Karen Organization commemorated World Refugee Day by calling for the international community to give more support to Karen people living in refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border. Under its banner, ‘Restoring Hope’, the Australia Karen Organization (AKO) and as many as 250 people gathered in Villawood, Sydney on June 22. The celebration was attended by over 250 participants…

The Border Consortium plans to cut its food rations to the 128,000 refugees living in the nine refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border. TBC is a group of nine international NGOs that delivers food, shelter and non-food items to the refugees on the Thai Burma border. The TBC in a letter to refugee committees, camp committees and community-based-organizations, stated that…

Naw Day Wah Htoo lives in Mae Ra Ma Luang refugee camp on the Thai Burma border and talks to Karen News about her life living on the margins. Karen News reports. “Living in a refugee camp we are not allowed to go outside to find work. When I hear talk about refugee repatriation, I have doubts about it as…

As the world commemorates refugee week, in Thailand’s largest refugee camp ethnic Karen refugees who fled conflict in Burma struggle with homesickness, discrimination and apprehension of what they’ll find when they return over the border. Ma Tway considers the uncertainty of her future, takes a long stare into nothing, before answering, “living in a Mae La refugee camp has been…

Mr. Yuki Nishimori, a consultant with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) that is working on assessing the potential for development projects for the Japanese government in Mon and Karen State, met with officials from the Karen National Unions’s liaison office in Myawaddy to discuss opening an information center on issues related to refugee and internally displaced people. The meeting…