2,000 refuges pour into Thailand from Myanmar, citing conflict and abuses – UN

Some 2,000 refugees from Myanmar have flooded into Thailand over the last three months, citing renewed conflict and human rights abuses in Kayin state, with 400 crossing the border last week alone and more expected, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

“The predominantly ethnic Karen refugees say their houses and villages have been burned and civilians killed,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told a news briefing in Geneva of the newcomers, who join 140,000 Myanmar refugees already living in nine border camps in Thailand, many of them for up to 20 years.

“Many are very weak and suffering from illnesses such as malaria after a long, dangerous journey to the camps through heavily land-mined areas. Some also report that they had difficulties crossing the Thai border due to strengthened border controls,” she said.

UNHCR is expecting more refugees to seek safety in Thailand in the coming weeks. Many in the current influx passed through the Eh Htu Hta camp for internally displaced people (IDPs), just on the other side of the border in Myanmar.

There, they say, hundreds more displaced Karen villagers are living in desperate conditions. The IDPs are reportedly waiting to see whether conditions in their home areas improve so that they can return. Otherwise, they may try to cross over, too.

UNHCR is working with the Thai Government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to ensure that the new arrivals are admitted to the camps and are provided with adequate shelter and protection.

Shelter has been a major concern as the capacity in some camps has been overwhelmed and refugees have been forced to live in makeshift shelters made of plastic sheeting which can’t withstand the heavy rains that affect the area. In a breakthrough last week, Thai authorities agreed that proper houses will be built to accommodate the new arrivals.

Last week, UN human rights experts called on the Government of Myanmar to urgently halt counter-insurgency military operations targeting civilians which have led to the forcible eviction and displacement of thousands of ethnic minority villagers in Karen state.