The world’s largest resettlement programme on Tuesday hit a 50,000 mark when a Myanmar refugee left a camp in Thailand to begin a new life in the United States.
Plu Reh
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) says the refugee is an ethnic Karenni school teacher who has been in a camp in Mae Hong Son province in northern Thailand since 1996.
The man, his wife and a two-year-old daughter left Bangkok on Tuesday morning at the start of a 28-hour plane journey to their new home in Camden, New Jersey.
UNHCR spokesman William Spindler says for refugees around the world returning home is usually the preferred option.
"But these refugees, most of whom have been in Thailand for more than 20 years, see little realistic prospect of returning to Myanmar any time soon. They also are not able to settle permanently in Thailand. So for them, resettlement in a third country is the best option. For this reason, we are very grateful to countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden for offering refugees a chance to begin new lives."
The United Nations refugee agency says more than 100,000 registered Myanmar refugees remain in nine camps along the border between Thailand and Myanmar.
The agency expects to resettle a further six to seven thousand of them this year.
Diane Bailey, United Nations.
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