Repatriation

Earlier this month Thai authorities in Tak province instructed Nu Po refugee camp officials to list all residents and sort them into three categories. Saw Thoo Lei Doh Soe, secretary of Nu Po camp committee said the instruction from the provincial Tak officials to the Thai administrators in the camp was to list refugees into the following three categories –…

The ethnic people of Burma are having a hard time. Burma Army soldiers are targeting women in the Kachin and Shan State for rape. Villagers are used as forced labour for the Burma Army. Development projects mean forced relocation and slave labour. Half a million ethnic people are displaced in eastern Burma. Village schools have been burnt, health care is…

As talk persists about repatriation of Burmese refugees living along Thailand’s western border, a refugee leader said he sees no possibilty for the safe return of tens of thousands of refugees and displaced persons in the immediate future. Saw Tun, leader of the Mae La refugee camp outside Mae Sot in Thailand’s Tak province, said the current fighting in eastern…

Recent moves by the Thai government to send back refugees from Burma have spurred fears among the 140,000 estimated refugees living in camps along the Thai-Burma border. Thailand’s National Security Council secretary, General Tawin Pleansri, told local media recently that the government was considering a plan to repatriate the refugees. Tak provincial Governor Samart Loifah further fuelled refugee fears when…