A top US official said Thursday he was "particularly concerned" about the plight of 140,000 refugees from Myanmar in camps along the Thai border ahead of the junta's upcoming polls.
Eric P. Schwartz, US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, raised his worries in Bangkok after meeting Thai officials and activists ahead of a trip to the border camps on Friday.
The refugees have mostly fled a six-decade conflict between mainly-Buddhist Myanmar's junta and Christian Karen rebels, one of the few ethnic insurgent groups yet to sign a peace deal with the ruling generals.
"I'm particularly concerned about the continued situation of vulnerable Burmese in Thailand, about 140,000 of whom are in camps in the border area," Schwartz said at a press briefing, using Myanmar's former name.
Schwartz said that "continued repression and restrictions" in Myanmar's electoral process as it had unfolded so far suggested the polls later this year would "offer little change of conditions within Burma".
"If that does happen, elections will not alter the need of Burmese who fear persecution to have access to a protection outside of Burma."
He said it would be critical for Thai authorities "to continue to permit such refuge".
The United States, which has taken in more than 60,000 Myanmar refugees since 2005, has criticised the regime for effectively forcing the dissolution of the main opposition party of democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi.
Her National League for Democracy won the country's last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power by the junta.
Schwartz said the Thai officials he had met "seemed to recognise that it will be conditions on the ground and not the conducting of elections in and of themselves... that will be the key factor in determining whether it's safe for people to return".
In December Thailand defied the United States, European Union and United Nations by forcibly repatriating about 4,500 Hmong people from camps in the country's north back to Laos, despite concerns of persecution on their return.
Schwartz was due to visit Laos after Thailand and discuss the conditions of the returned Hmong.
He said he would also discuss the rights of these returnees to leave, especially a group of 158 recognised refugees who were sent back despite firm offers of resettlement in third countries, including the United States.
No comments:
Post a Comment