Is this Malaysia or Burma ?

 By John Doe

It appears that Malaysia is fast becoming a Burma. And for the benefit of those who are unaware of what the Junta is doing, let me quickly give you a crash course. You will immediately notice the similarities. 

The Burmese Junta has waged a 53 year War against the Ethnic Minorities of Burma. And while I loosely term them as minorities, they are actually close to 40% of the population. They will include the Karen, Karenni, Chin, Shan, Hmong, Rohingya, and so on. 

Burma has Majority Rights. Same as Malaysia. The Burmese Junta will not hesitate to enslave the Minorities with forced labour. Any jade coming out of Burma is mined with Forced Labour. They are NOT paid workers. They are simply grabbed off the streets, and put into these slave camps. These areas are up in the northern regions. 

The Junta still actively lays out Landmines along the eastern Border of Thailand. Everyday, around 300-some refugees trickle out of Burma. In comparison, there have been 400,000 Malaysians who have left the past year. Do the math. That means 1,000 per day!! And that means it's TRIPLE the rate of that from Burma.

The Junta believes in Ketuanan. They see themselves as Lords over the rest of the Ethnicities. They believe that the Burman soil is rightfully theirs. And that the bloody “Pendatang” minorities have no right to be there at all. And when I say Ketuanan, I really mean Ketuanan. The Junta will not hesitate to kick, spit, slap, rape or even shoot a “Minority Mongrel” whom they meet on the streets. And what will you advice the Minorities to do? Make a Police Report? It's the Police and Military who are doing these things. 

On the same note, Malaysia has decided to start selling these Burmese refugees into slavery. They are “arrested at random” by our Mighty RELA people, and brought to the Thai Border to be “exported”. 

The men are typically sold as fishing boat hands, the women and teenage girls, into the sex trade, and the children into factories, or sometimes have their limbs broken and smashed, so that they can begin their new life of begging. After all, who can resist a poor child without arms and legs.... Awwwww..... Now imagine if it's YOUR CHILD!!! 

There is the Chin Refugee Committee based in KL. Go ask them how you can help. In the same breath, ask them what similarities they see between Malaysia and Burma. In a certain way, it will help give you a futuristic view of what Malaysia will be in just a few years. Oh, and by the way, most of the ethnic minorities in Burma are Christians. And are certainly no strangers to the habitual Church-Burning and Church-Demolitions carried out daily by the Junta. And I've just confirmed with my contacts in Burma. Petronas is everywhere in Burma. They are very respected in Burma.

Hmmmm I wonder why.......

Unwanted Burmese Refugess in Malaysia

 Unwanted and unwelcomed by their own government and often being subjected to constant harassment, the Burmese ethnic Karen minorities were forced to flee their village and braved the jungles to escape into neighbouring countries such as Thailand and Malaysia. 

 http://video.aol.co.uk/video-detail/life-and-times-of-burmese-refugee-families-in-malaysia/2319932440

The Multicultural Classroom: Teaching Refugee and Immigrant Children

Even if a teacher had a roomful of all “white”, English-speaking students born in the United States, that teacher would still have a multicultural class. Life experiences, prior educational opportunities, genders, learning styles and personalities of the students create “multiculturalism.” English as a Second Language teachers have all this usual mix of differences, plus a greater blend of cultural backgrounds, native languages and life experiences. Refugee and immigrant children have many of the same challenges as “mainstream” children, but they have some unique issues as well. This article will discuss some of the cultural adjustment issues that limited English speaking children often bring to the classroom, some of the choices teachers have to make when managing the classroom, and tips on how to promote effective and efficient learning.

Often service providers comment that the children of a refugee or immigrant family will adjust easily because children generally learn English more quickly than their parents, and they usually are immersed in a school setting where they encounter the “majority” culture daily. While there is some truth to this view, there are cautions that need to be considered. Except in very rare cases, children do not make the decision to move or leave their homeland. Generally they can bring with them very few items related to their past, and they leave behind budding relationships and familiar sights. Even if they understand the dynamics of the difficult situation their family is leaving, they may feel victimized by the move and by their parents.

Clarity is replaced with confusion. Refugee and immigrant families may have developed a reasonably clear idea of their roles and family expectations in the native culture. Parents are comfortable with parenting roles in the family and their responsibilities toward their children prior to coming to a new land. It can be very frightening for both parents and children when they come to a new culture and suddenly find the old rules don’t seem to work and the new ones aren’t obvious. 

In their new country, children don’t know the roles/expectations of children and they have no clear guides. Their parents have knowledge only about how their roles worked before. When they hear about or experience differences in the new culture, their struggle to understand and adapt may be very unsettling for the children. In addition, parents are often overwhelmed by the complexities of coping in the new environment and may not have the time or energy to spend on their children as they had before. To further complicate the role confusion, children who learn English more quickly than their parents are sometimes asked to be interpreters for them, often in medical or school settings. This role reversal can cause distress to both parents and children, indicative of how difficult cultural adjustment can be.

What, then, is the role of the teacher? The teacher is in the classroom to provide a learning environment for the students, not to play the role of therapist or psychologist. Further constraints on the teacher include little time and energy and few resources. However, both teachers and students benefit when teachers are provided an orientation to new learner populations, identification of community resources to help with specific ethnic groups, information about the situation in the home countries of the students, and descriptions of the potential mental health and cultural adjustment challenges. Finding ways to enrich the experiences of all students in the class by utilizing the opportunities that diversity and a multicultural environment bring, while meeting the needs of individual students, is indeed a challenge for the teacher.

Remembering the vast differences between people, even from the same country or ethnic group, the teacher needs to be cautious about attributing problems to just one cause. Information becomes crucial. Is there printed material available through a community agency, such as the agency that resettled this family? Is there a community member or parent who can shed some light on how education is structured in one of these various cultures, and the primary learning style of its students? (For example, is rote memorization or creativity encouraged?) What is the literacy level of the students in their native language? What were cultural norms and rules in the “home” country related to various age levels? Was there a disruption of education due to war? What are the stages of acculturation, what causes culture shock, and how can it be recognized? 

Appropriate conversations with parents, with the aid of an interpreter other than the child, can be a source of both general and specific information, at the same time building relationships with, and involvement of, the families. (In many cultures, education is left to the educators, and it is unthinkable that parents would interfere or even be involved in this area where teachers are thought to know best. ) This kind of background information prepares the teacher to utilize instructional methodology and design teaching techniques and activities to engage the multicultural nature of the class as an asset. It also alerts the teacher about how to assist individual students who may be having particular challenges adjusting to a new environment and life.

Teachers should also know where and how to refer students appropriately, should the teacher notice behavior that may represent a student’s need for mental health intervention. Having this information ahead of time can ease the teacher’s mind and identify allies for ambiguous situations that need professional evaluation. It is sometimes hard to distinguish an individual’s unique dysfunctional pattern of coping from a sign of traumatic after-affects, a cry for help, or all three.

What are some of the instructional strategies teachers might call upon specifically to address the challenges presented by the multicultural classroom? Many of these activities probably have been used in many different class settings. However, thinking about them with an eye to enhancing opportunities for learning based on multicultural experiences and needs may mean the teacher manages both the content and the details of presentation and participation differently. Pictures, maps and artifacts from the students’ home countries can be used as the basis for many different points of learning. A whole host of opportunities can be created in which the children can teach about the way things are done where they came from.

Children need to experience the classroom as a safe environment where they can tell their stories or be encouraged to draw or write. Journals often are a good way for this to happen because they provide privacy. However even in journals, students should never feel pressure to reveal more than they are willing or want to declare. Assignments should be broad enough so that every child can participate without feeling discomfort about the subject or the memories and experiences it brings up for them.

On the other hand, such assignments may give students opportunities to work through difficult facets of their life by simply being listened to. Teachers do not have to listen with a therapist’s hat on, but simply as a friend and or ally as the student comes to terms with the new culture. Although the multicultural classroom contains a cacophony of differences, there are likely more similarities present between the students than differences. These can be building blocks to help children from various cultures (even those in which severe animosity still exists between people) learn to relate to each other and to the world at large. Having students work in pairs and small groups also gives them opportunities to share and risk and to get to know each other more than some might in a large group setting. This also provides opportunities to handle both the usual multilevel and multicultural aspects of the classroom.

The multicultural classroom may at first be uncomfortable and challenging to both teachers and students. However, managed well, it can provide the richest of environments for learning, both to students and teachers. It can be a major factor in helping students adjust to a new culture, and be successful in school.

by Burna Dunn and Myrna Ann Adkins.

http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/multicultural/adkins_dunn.htm

The unspoken truths about Myanmar Refugees in Malaysia.

Posted by: engleberthumpadink

So many people here know about the refugess that seek solace and a new life in Malaysia. One time I walked past a house near Jalan Inai (a bit old bungalow) and saw it was bursting with refugees, I even spoke to one or two lovely chaps by the gatepost (what is it about the Burmese here in KL? They always seem to be smiling) who were very happy and had some very decent things to say about the government agency that allowed them to stay there. I asked how they escaped, and suddenly their smiles went, they looked scared and didn’t want to talk to me about that. This was a long while back, and I was a bit confused.

Since then I took an interest, and have discovered a few books and websites that explain a lot. Namely the SUARAM reports and human rights bloggers. Now I understand why people are calling for the disbanding of RELA, especially after the nasty events when they were paid a bounty for each refugee they dragged in. I know a lot of people here are aware of the conditions in the detention centres at Sungai Buloh etc, and a few have even told me about some sort of camp in the far north – where the refuges not only have to contend with scratching out a living in the jungle, but are constantly under threat from dysentery, malaria, jungle sores and cholera, but also get regular visits from the authorities and are dragged back over the border – where they have to start the long walk, or run the gauntlet of human traffickers all over again.

Then a few weeks ago I caught an article in the NST, which basically said “Thai governement denies mistreating Myanmar refuges – again!” in a very high handed and disparaging tone. I read on, and it was the story about the poor boat people being cut loose in the open sea. It nearly made me weep to think of such human suffering – but then I thought, Hey Malaysia denies mistreating these people too.

Ah, but the difference? These particular boat people were Muslims, weren’t they. So apparently that explains it.

But hey, Malaysia, the people of Myanmar are your brothers and sisters, they were also a colony of the British, they also got independence at the same time. You should thank your lucky stars that Malaysia avoided the allied invasion front, and thus a full blown civil war that resulted in widespread ethnic genocide. You should give praise to whatever God you worship that this fair nation was spared such disasters, as well as Tsunamis and Typhoons, and give thanks for being blessed in such a bountiful land. But wouldn’t it be nice to help the poor souls that are facing such hideous conditions in their homeland? Doesn’t God smile and heap rewards on those that are good at heart? Doesn’t this self same God also heap vengance upon those that would do harm and exploit his peoples?

Instead of punishing these helpless, and blameless people – wouldn’t Malaysia do better to raise its image (on a global scale) by properly addressing these problems? By finding proper solutions to a situation that isn’t going to go away any time soon? Do people really believe that God will reward you for punishing people simply because they are from a different faith?

It’s such a shame to see, when I know that the people here in Malaysia are good, kind and decent people, that they would close one eye to such sickening mistreatment of their fellow humans. Now isn’t the time to point fingers at other nations, or blame people for this and that, but perhaps now should be the time to say “we’re a grown up nation, and we can be compassionate”. Don’t you think?

Burmese Refugees are treated like Animals

 A TRUE STORY OF BURMESE REFUGEES IN MALAYSIA

By Myanmar Refugees

                   So far I have never been writing anything about refugees in Malaysia but it is time for Myanmar Refugees to speak out for our rights. On 25th Jan, 2010, It was last Monday Evening, there was an Motorcycle Accident to Chin Woman Leader from the Community. She was with her 3 year-old daughter. The accident was unexpected but I cannot forget in my life.

                      Every Monday of the week, there is Pasar Malam in the area of Bukit Cheras. It looks like cheaper than other shopping mall and markets like Econsave. Before I went out from the house, my wife reminded me to come back home early in the evening because she was willing to go out for Pasar Malam with the family altogether saying that we don't usually have such chance. Let's go out together as a family for fun and buying some meat and vegetables.

                   

                       Being a community leader, I have to go out for many time to arrange all kinds of work for the community. I couldn't give time for my own family. As my wife reminded me, I went back home early and met my wife and children waiting for me downstairs. And we started going down to Pasar Malam. It was about 7.10 pm around. Pasar Malam was not very far from us, it takes us about 5 minutes to get there.

                      My younger daughter was with my wife and my son was along with me. Pasar Malam is just at the other side of the main road. The road has 2 ways. As soon as the traffic light turned "Red" , a long way of the cars were stopped before the traffic junction. Most of the people crossed the road to the other side. And my wife and I were starting to cross the road, we reached the mid-line of the road, we checked the other side of the traffic. The traffic was still Red and there was no car running in the other road. So, we started crossing the other side of the road to get to Pasar Malam. At the mid of the other side of the road, I heard the sound like something knocked. At the moment of my turn to that side, I saw my daughter was falling down from her mother's hand  to the ground, at the same time, my wife was going up and falling back down because of the high speed of Motorcycle. When my wife falling down , her head was knocked down with the road, and she was unable to get up. The traffic light turned "Green"and I was so shocked and I thought we all died on the spot at the same time. I was in a rush to pick them up but my wife was unable to get up and she didn't know what happened to her saying that  I am feeling dazing. I tried to take them away to a safe place. With the help of one of the chinese guy, they were moved to the safe place in time. The motorcycle was trying to go over all the cars to reach the front of the traffic, and he ride with a high speed through the other side of the road. And knocked my wife and my daughter from the back because my wife was paying attention to the cars stopping under the Red Traffic and she was in a rush to cross in time.

                        I understand that my wife was very hurt the whole body and cannot move any more. My daughter was also hurt and shocked , they cannot say even a word. I noted down the Motorcycle Number named as BGR 361. The motorcyclist stopped his cycle and shouted us crossing the road instead of saying "Sorry" or "Helping us". What a human! What religion belong to him? What kind of parents belong to him? What kind of school belong to him?

                     I was thinking a lot with anger. Why? He was complaining us. The 1st thing in my thought, I checked the place the accident took place and I checked whether we are wrong. As soon as I know we are not wrong, I talked him back we are right. Why? He was just complaining us without thinking a reasonable sources.

                   This is the reason that they know we are foreigners as well as we are Refugees here. They understand very well we have no protection, we have no law for our protection. For this reason, they never tried to take any responsible for accidents. There have been lots of Motor Accidents to Burmese Refugees. Nobody takes any responsibility for them. Mostly, they run away every after the accidents. As the second  point of view, the motorcycle accident rarely happens to Local people or Malaysian when they are crossing the road because they know the responsibility for the accident. The road accidents caused by Motorcyclists usually happens to only Foreigners because they see , they know who is crossing the road, and they speed up the motorcycle and knock down.

Why can I say this? 

             I have been working with burmese refugees in Malaysia for over two years as a community leader as well as a community health coordinator. There have been many Motor accidents with refugees, some  are dead and some have become a disabled. I have been handing Burmese Refugees with Motor accidents in Malaysia. Malaysia is a heaven space for Motorcyclists. No rules to ride in the right way. They usually ride up and down, back and front.You can simply see anywhere. In my country, the motor accidents rarely happen to the woman, child and aged people because the drivers and the motorcyclists have a kind heart to the people, especially to women, children and aged people, and even to the animals. Road accident is strictly prohibited by law. We are taught well when we go to driving training. Burmese refugees fled the country with fear of arrest and dead but there are lots of refugees died in the motor accidents in Malaysia. 

How much does it cost for the patient with the accident? 

              In Malaysia, Foreigners are charged with high pay. For refugees, the lowest is about RM 1000. I have paid for my wife and daughter for RM 900 for two days at the hospital. The refugees with motor accidents are usually hospitalized for months. Very sad to say, some become disabled. Refugees are not allowed to work and earn money for our living but we are charged with a high pay at the hospital.

How and where do we get money for treatment? 

               We, Refugees, practise Refugees help Refugees Program. We usually collect donation for the patient from our friends and members. If not enough, we request Local Ngos and christian churches for financial assistance. In this way of life, we become the Baggers of  Malaysia again.

Who are we?

 We are refugees called Illegal Immigrants by Local people under the law of Malaysia. And we are one of the human beings of the world named as Refugees as well as we are the people who are looking for Justice, peace, freedom and even a little protection for us.

To protect Refugees, there is no law but there is law for refugee , those who committed crime.

May the people be safe from Motor Accidents in  life, especially to the poor family!

To be continued

Secret detention may amount to crime against humanity: UN experts

AFP - UN human rights experts warned on Wednesday that "widespread and systematic" secret detention of terror suspects could pave the way for charges of crimes against humanity.

In their first in-depth global study on the practice, the experts said the practice had spread to almost all regions of the world and was continuing.

The study, which is due to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in March, listed 66 states that have been involved in secret detentions, mainly over the past nine years.

In spite of international norms protecting individual rights, "secret detention continues to be used in the name of countering terrorism around the world," the report added.

"If resorted to in a widespread and systematic manner, secret detention might reach the threshold of a crime against humanity," the authors cautioned in their executive summary.

The "global war on terror", which was launched by President George W. Bush's administration after the September 11 attacks, had "reinvigorated" the use of secret detentions in an organised manner, the authors of the study said.

The campaign marked "the progressive and determined elaboration of a comprehensive and coordinated system of secret detention of persons suspected of terrorism, involving not only US authorities, but also other states in almost all regions of the world," it added.

The study was compiled by two independent UN experts on counter-terrorism and torture, as well as UN panels overseeing arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances.

While commitments by President Barack Obama to dismantle and investigate secret detentions were welcomed, the experts also called for clarification of grey areas including short term CIA holding facilities and those operated by the military Joint Special Operation Command.

Human rights campaigners believe suspects were detained in secret interrogation centres or prisons in recent years, and sometimes tortured or ill treated there, while other countries cracked down on political opponents or restive ethnic groups.

Extraordinary rendition involved abducting suspects without legal proceedings, and flying them to foreign countries or secret CIA prisons.

Drawing on its own interviews with former detainees, witnesses, officials and its own analysis of flight records, as well as published material, the UN study named dozens of secret detainees -- including some alleged to have died in custody.

Thailand denied in a submission to the UN experts that it had hosted a secret detention facility for the United States, according to the study.

Nonetheless, the experts maintained that it was "credible that a CIA black site" existed in Thailand, and called on Thai authorities to launch an independent investigation.

The study also welcomed a Lithuanian parliamentary inquiry into similar allegations, which had concluded that there was no evidence to back them up.

However, it stressed that "the findings can in no way constitute the final word on Lithuania's role in the programme."

The UN study also cited evidence of secret US-run facilities in Romania, Poland, and Kosovo as well as several in Afghanistan and Iraq, including "Dark Prison" and "Salt Pit."

Consistent allegations by detainees "adds weight to claims that Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Djibouti" were also used as "proxy states to hold detainees on the CIA's behalf," the report added.

The UN study called on countries to promptly investigate allegations, noting that there had been virtually no judicial proceedings or prosecutions on such cases.

Secret detention a crime?

GENEVA - UN HUMAN rights experts warned on Wednesday that 'widespread and systematic' secret detention of terror suspects could pave the way for charges of crimes against humanity.

In their first in-depth global study on the practice, the two independent UN experts on counter-terrorism and torture, and UN panels overseeing arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances, said it had spread to almost all regions of the world and was continuing.

The 222 page report listed 66 states that have been involved in secret detentions, mainly over the past nine years. Although it looked back several decades, most of those countries were tied to secret detention or extraordinary rendition of suspects since the Sept 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, the UN said.

In spite of international norms protecting individual rights, 'secret detention continues to be used in the name of countering terrorism around the world,' the report added.

'If resorted to in a widespread and systematic manner, secret detention might reach the threshold of a crime against humanity,' the authors cautioned in their executive summary. The 'global war on terror", which was launched by ex-president George W. Bush's administration after the September 11 attacks, had 'reinvigorated' the use of secret detentions in an organised manner, according to the study.

The experts said that campaign marked 'the progressive and determined elaboration of a comprehensive and coordinated system of secret detention of persons suspected of terrorism, involving not only the United States of America authorities, but also other states in almost all regions of the world.' -- AFP

Burma: Rohingya A Year Later

One year ago, the travails of Rohingya from Burma shocked people around the world. Boat after boat of refugees, fleeing abuse and oppression in Burma, were intercepted at sea by the Thai army, who then proceeded to detain them without trial. After days in outdoor detention, the Rohingya refugees were loaded back on to their boats, and the Thai army proceeded to tow them out to sea where they were abandoned with little food or water and no motors to power their boats. Over 500 people died in the few weeks that the Thais carried out the operation, and one year later, 500 more remain in detention in India, Indonesia and Thailand.
International outcry ended the Thai military’s operations against the Rohingya. It also led to pledges by governments throughout the region to develop long-term solutions to the plight of the Rohingya. The issue was raised at summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and at meetings of the Bali process. Fingers were pointed at Burma for its abuse of the population at home, at Bangladesh for allowing Rohingya to transit there on their way to sea, at Thailand for their abusive policies, and even at Malaysia, whose economy is a pull factor for Rohingya seeking safety. In the end, there were no decisions made about the Rohingya, and with the summer monsoons putting an end to sailing season, the issue soon faded away, back into the obscurity that the Rohingya have endured for decades.
One year later, the sailing season is again underway. While smugglers and the Rohingya alike have been hesitant to resume the voyage, indications are that once again boats have begun sailing with passengers destined for Malaysia. And as a safeguard, the Rohingya are now attempting to fly to Kuala Lumpur via Dhaka and then making the arduous overland journey by foot. For most though, boats remain the most affordable, if dangerous, option for a better life, and they will continue to sail.
A new twist on the Rohingya migration is a push to reach Australia by boat via Indonesia. While this may be an indication that slowing economies have created fewer opportunities for new refugees seeking work, it may also be a sign that the Rohingya are hoping to move further from the Southeast Asian countries that refuse to provide any real refuge. If anything, this shows the growing reach of the problem, rather than any real solution to the Rohingya’s plight.
The anniversary of the Rohingya boat crisis highlights the lack of action by the region’s governments, but it also draws attention to the problems that arise when there is no legal framework for refugees. Policies that target people solely as economic migrants and ignore the persecution, abuse and violation of human rights they face, whether in Burma or elsewhere, will never be able to address the causes of their displacement. The countries of South and Southeast Asia need to recognize the fact that the Rohingya will continue to leave Burma, and that their policies to deal with this reality are inadequate. On the anniversary of last year’s tragedy, policymakers in the region should look with a renewed eye towards finally creating humane policies to ensure that the Rohingya do not continue to face abuse after abuse in their search for safety.

Two Iowa refugee agencies to end resettlements

Two agencies that bring the bulk of international refugees to Iowa will cease resettling refugees this year, putting the brakes on a groundswell of Iowa humanitarianism that began when former Gov. Robert D. Ray first opened the state's doors to a group of 600 Southeast Asian refugees in 1975.

More limited finances are forcing the Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services and the nonprofit Lutheran Services in Iowa to stop resettling people who flee from war-torn countries, natural disasters, political oppression or religious persecution.

Catholic Charities - the only other agency that resettles refugees in Iowa - is also having financial difficulties.

"I look (back) at this as a great, great period in Iowa's humanitarian history," said Kenneth Quinn, the former U.S. ambassador to Cambodia who worked with Ray early in the state's resettlement push. "Our state really was a moral leader in the world on behalf of the boat people and the starving Cambodians. If this is the marking of the downturn of it, well, I think all of us involved would feel very sad."

The Bureau of Refugee Services is the only federally funded, state-run refugee resettlement program in the country. It has an annual budget of about $2 million but lost some key federal funds this year that kept refugee resettlement operations afloat. The bureau plans to stop taking new refugees June 30.

Lutheran Services in Iowa plans to stop taking new refugees this month. Agency officials say it now costs more than they can afford - an estimated $3,000 or more - to resettle just one refugee and move that person toward self-sufficiency. Until this month, the federal refugee resettlement program funded less than $1,000 per refugee.

Last week, the State Department raised the federal stipend to $1,800 per refugee. Even so, Lutheran Services officials estimated that the agency would have a funding gap of $300,000 or more if it continued to resettle several hundred refugees annually.

Catholic Charities, part of the Diocese of Des Moines, will continue to resettle refugees, although that agency, too, is worried about finances. It has resettled 129 refugees in the past month.

"We are at same risk right now," said Sol Varisco, who is in charge of the resettlement program. "I thought we were going to be the first ones to close. But we are not so surprised, because we've been talking about how the economy has affected us and how the lack funding from the federal level has affected us."

In the past 35 years, some 30,000 refugees have resettled in Iowa.

People who work at the two agencies expressed deep sadness that the number of refugees who resettle in the state will drop. These agencies resettled 86 percent of the refugees who came to Iowa in the last fiscal year.

"Refugee families are some of the most vulnerable people in the world," said Jill Stuecker, in charge of refugee resettlement at Lutheran Services in Iowa. "To be able to do our little part, in Des Moines, Iowa, of all places, and to help provide a safe and peaceful place for families to live - just experiencing that has been life-changing."

On Tuesday morning, Kemal Delilovic sat in a conference room at the Bureau of Refugee Services office off University Avenue in Des Moines, near a group of recently arrived refugees working on their English.

Delilovic spoke about Lutheran Services, which brought him from war-torn Bosnia to Des Moines in 1994, and the Bureau of Refugee Services, where he's worked as a career development specialist for 13 years.

The 51-year-old man began to cry.

"My life wasn't in my control," Delilovic said of being a refugee. "You come here with one bag with all your belongings, and you start all over again. I'd experienced the worst of the war in Bosnia, the concentration camps, the mass rapes, the ethnic cleansing. I didn't want my children to experience the same. I wanted to come to a safe place, where I could control my own life, where there was hope for me.

"I don't think that I would have been able to do it if I was resettled somewhere else," Delilovic said. "I never felt as a foreigner here, even when I wasn't able to speak English. People were always welcoming and understanding. It's sad that another refugee won't be given the opportunity I was given."

Lucy Hnemi, 35, a Burmese refugee, arrived in Des Moines in July after a year in Malaysia, where she feared being sold into slavery or prostitution. She now works as an interpreter; her husband works at a meatpacking plant.

"Lutheran Services might not be able to give us everything we want, but they do absolutely everything they can," Hnemi said. "They make changes in our life, and they give us hope. Before this, we had no future at all, no hope."

Hope was what Ray was trying to instill when he committed Iowa to resettling refugees 35 years ago. The state's diversity exploded. Some schools began to experience their first real challenges relating to language barriers.

Over the years, the ethnicity of refugees who arrived in Iowa mirrored those of the world's hot spots. The first came from Southeast Asia in the wake of the Vietnam War. Others arrived in the 1990s from Bosnia and Croatia. More recently, the strife in some African countries has brought many refugees here, especially from Sudan.

Between October 2008 and September 2009, Iowa's three resettlement agencies welcomed 909 refugees to Iowa; most were Burmese, Bhutanese, Iraqi or Somali.

When local resettlement affiliates receive notice that a family of refugees will arrive, they begin finding housing and furnishings. They pick up the family at the airport. Over the next three months, staffers walk families through the myriad processes of establishing a new home country: applying for Social Security cards, searching for jobs, getting physicals to address medical concerns, learning English, learning the bus system, learning American laws.

Ray said he's optimistic Iowans will continue the state's tradition of helping refugees. The federal funding to resettle refugees must go to nonprofits, and nonprofits say the future of refugee resettlement in Iowa is on shaky ground.

"Hopefully, there will be a swelling of people who want to be helpful," Ray said.

What does it like to be a refugee ?

Although I believe that our world has hit a low point.. I'm convinced that things can and will get better. I strongly believe that in order to do this everyone needs to do their part. People need to make a difference in the world, no matter how small. That's why I have decided that I need to dedicate a portion of my life to helping others. I could make many excuses why this isn't a good time to volunteer, 'I'm so busy starting a business and working.. I just don't have time.' In reality we make time for whatever we want, no matter how busy we are. When someone tells you that they can't find time to go on a date.. it's because they aren't interested. That's all there is to it. And since I'm spending no time on dating.. I have time to volunteer. :)

I'm mentoring a family from Somalia through the resettlement refugee program of Lutheran Social Services. The mother and 2 small children arrived last Thursday. I can't imagine what they were thinking when I picked them up from the airport. The woman was put at high priority, which means she was probably abused, tortured, or raped. Most people stay in refugee camps for at least 8 years and at most 18 years. Most children that get resettled only know the camp life. This family was lucky to get out when they did. They fled Somalia to United Arab Emerates, then got a refugee visa to Malaysia, then spent the rest of their time in Thailand before coming here.

They speak no English, the mom has never been to school. This will make learning English more difficult, but not impossible. I gave a English lesson to everyone in the house(They are sharing the house with 4 other Somalians) on Sunday and another class tonight. I'm teaching very basic stuff; colors, days of the week, alphabet, numbers. The mom is struggling. She has to wrap her brain around the idea of writing and reading.. on top of speaking. She is writing some letters backwards. I brought them a box of toys and learning material. I taught them 'Head and shoulders, knees and toes.' They think it's hilarious. I've spent more time laughing with them during that one hour, then I have all day. They are great people. I don't have to speak their language to see that. When I leave they say, "Thank you sister."

I have no idea what it's like to have to leave your home because of violence. I have no idea what these people have gone through to get here. I just want to do everything I can to help them now.

Chin Asylum Seekers Detained

Persecuted and tortured at home in Burma, Chin refugees in Malaysia are at constant risk of harassment, arrest, detention and deportation, writes Amy Alexander.

Early in the morning of 5 October 2006, Rela personnel raided the urban neighborhood of Jalan Imbi in Malaysia’s capital city, Kuala Lumpur, taking into their custody over two hundred individuals, including over 50 asylum seekers from Burma. Forty-five men and seven women from Burma’s Chin State have been taken to the Lenggeng detention camp in Selangor State, located two hours outside of Kuala Lumpur. Hundreds of thousands of Chins have fled from Chin State to escape severe ethnic and religious persecution committed by the military regime.

The raid began around 3.00 am and lasted over an hour. Over 100 Rela volunteers, Malaysia’s controversial untrained reserve force charged with frequent misuse of powers, ordered some 2,000 residents living in the Jalan Imbi area out of their urban flats and into a parking lot. They then systematically checked for immigration documents. Those holding official UNHCR cards were released while those whose cases are pending before the UNHCR were put on lorries and taken to the local Rela office. Most of the residents in the Jalan Imbi area are Chin asylum seekers and refugees.

Altogether about 93 Chin asylum seekers were taken to the Rela office; 41 UNHCR-registered Chin asylum seekers were later released after verification of their documents by UNHCR. But 52 Chin asylum seekers, including seven women, who are not registered with UNHCR were sent to the Lenggeng detention camp where they will await deportation. The UNHCR registration process has been closed since July 2005, leaving thousands of genuine refugees unable to obtain official refugee status or obtain any documents from the UNHCR.

Facing persecution, torture, and even death in Burma, thousands of Chin have been forced from their homes and seek refuge in nearby countries. The people of Burma have been living under brutal military control since 1962. As a primarily Christian community in a predominantly Buddhist country, the Chin people are particularly targeted by the military rulers because of their minority status. Reports of violations of basic human rights are widespread throughout Chin State.

As of 4 October 2006, over 16,863 Chins are living in Malaysia. The Chin people in Malaysia live without any security. The Malaysian government refuses to recognise or provide any protection to the Chin population. As a result, the Chin people are at constant risk of harassment by the authorities and face arrest, detention, and deportation. In addition, they are unable to work, receive an education, obtain access to health care services or find acceptable accommodation.

Included in those facing potential deportation are five members of the Chin Refugee Centre (CRC), a community-based organisation dedicated to helping the Chin people living in Malaysia. The CRC staff includes two teachers who conduct courses for more than 120 Chin children that are barred from attending schools in Malaysia, two female office workers, and a member of the Chin Student Organisation who is also a Chin interpreter for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders or MSF).

The latest sweep has been preceded by warnings that the government intends to crackdown on undocumented immigrants living throughout Malaysia. Rela has come under attack for their frequent abuse of power and use of violence, particularly against refugees and asylum seekers who have been assaulted and humiliated during Rela operations. Numerous complaints have been lodged in 2006 against Rela for corruption and human rights violations. Rela’s tactics have also been heavily criticised in the past by many human rights organisations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and human rights group Suaram.

---

RELA Operation updates (as at 18 October 2006):

On 14 October 2006, hundreds of Rela personnel conducted mass arrests of suspected illegal immigrants in the vicinity of Cheras Alam Jaya, located outside of Kuala Lumpur where 500 Chin asylum seekers are staying in low-rental apartments. They detained 172 Chin refugees and took them directly to the Lenggeng and Semenyih immigration detention camps. Rela deliberately targeted the areas where Chin asylum seekers are staying. Within 14 days of 1 October 2006, Rela conducted raids at three different places where mostly Chin asylum seekers are staying. All the three raids were conducted at 3 or 4 a.m while most of them were asleep.

The first RELA operation against illegal immigrants was conducted on 5 October and targeted the Jalan Imbi area, where 52 Chin refugees including seven Chin refugee women were arrested and later detained at the Lenggeng detention camp.

The second RELA operation was conducted in the Limau Manis jungles, where about 200 Chin refugees are sheltering in makeshift huts. Seven Chin refugees were arrested and the rest luckily evaded arrest. The seven were sent to the Semenyih detention camp.

The third Rela operation was conducted in Cheras Alam Jaya, where over 500 Chin refugees are staying and some 172 asylum seekers were detained. About 40 women including their children were detained. Most of the women were carrying UNHCR documents as they are registered with the UNHCR and were awaiting their refugee status determination interview. They were all sent to two different immigration detention camps.

There are already 144 Chin refugee detainees at the Lenggeng Immigration Camp as the previous arrestees are still in this camp. According information available to the Chin Refugee Centre, there are about 500 Chin refugees at various immigration detention camps nationwide. The sweeping raids, just days apart and targeting mostly Chin asylum seekers in Malaysia, are haunting the rest of the Chin refugees

These Chin refugees are facing a hopeless and unbearable situation as they cannot even submit their asylum applications at the UNHCR office, which is closed to new asylum seekers. After escaping from the prison-nation of Burma, the fear of arrest and deportation in Malaysia among the helpless Chin asylum seekers is growing by the day.

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Amy Alexander, a legal consultant with the Chin Human Rights Organisation, witnessed the entire raid.

Request pray for Mara refugees ( Burma, Myanmar )

To

Rev.Ro choung Hai
Korean Missionary
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Date: January 20, 2010

Subject: Kindly request pray for Mara-Chin refugees

Dear Respected Sir,

I send you a very happy blessing New Year in the name of Triune God!
May the year 2010 bring more peace and blessing from God than 2009 to
you and all co-believer in your ministry.


Mara-Chin Refugee situation in Myanmar

Mara is an ethnic group in Chin State of Myanmar. All Maras are
Christians and Maraland is located at Western part of Myanmar and
Eastern part of India. Maraland Straddles Chin State of Myanmar and
Mizoram State of India. It is a land where no government road,
electricity, telecommunication are available. With traditional tool
Mara people construct road without machinery help and out of 72 Mara
villages, only 7 villages have road accessible which local people
construct with their own hand. 98% of Mara people are annually
shifting farmers and there is no outside food supply from government
due to lack of transportation facility. Every mara has to carry his or
her load by own head or shoulder. There is no college, no doctor and
no hospital. There 5000 families inhabiting in Maraland populating
40000 but no government officer neither state level or national level
due to lack of education facility.

Maraland used to undergo bamboo dying famine once in every fifty years
due the natural recycling of bamboo and this famine used to last long
3- to 5 years. From 2007 this bamboo dying famine happen again and now
is the third year struggle for food in Maraland. Due to national crisis and
local food in security many mara youth have beed dispersed around the world.

We the Mara are the tribal Chin people from Burma. we live in about
72 village in three different twonship Thantlag, Matupi, paletwa our
population in Chin state is estimated to be about 40000.

Many Mara refugees come to Malaysia because the continuing Burmese
military regime human rights violations such as forced porter, forced
labour and also many are accused of being supporters of the CNA/CNF,
CNF headquarters and most of their camps are located in our Mara area
throughout India -Burma border and the Burmese military activities,
more forced labour and forced porter have been taking place in our
Mara people among Chin tribal most suffered from the Burmese military
human rights abuses because of such situations.

Mara-Chin refugee situation in Malaysia

We Mara community in Malaysia estimate about 2000 Mara refugee
are seeking the protection of UNHCR in Malaysia. This includes women
and children that are about 15 % of our total populations in Malaysia.
Many of as live in Kepong baru and also live in Johor Baru, Penang,
Malacca, Cameron hight land ,Cheras, Selayang, kaland ,padan jaya,
Bukit bintang, Sapang, Pudu, and lokyu in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia police,
immigration, RELA operation arrested put in to Prison ( jail ) and
deported to Thailand and Myanmar. Mara -Chin refugees are very
difficultiese to living in Malaysia. Therefore, I humbly request you to
pray for Mara -Chin refugees in Malaysia.

Sincerely,

Rev.John Byhna
Myanmar Community Church of America
Charlotte, North Carolina

Burmese people continue to leave country despite looming elections

The exodus of Burmese people searching for jobs and new lives in neighboring countries continues, despite the ruling junta’s is plans to hold elections this year, said the exile opposition party.

Zaw Myint, of the exiled Burmese opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) said in Malaysia, Burmese citizens are still flowing into Malaysia.

“2010 is very important for the future of our country, so we really want people to think about that before they apply and try to go abroad for their livelihood. If possible we don’t want anyone from Burma to come here because the situation is very difficult,” he said.

The Malaysian authorities announced December 15, 2009 their intention to arrest illegal migrants in the country within three months, according to Burmese migrants.

Authorities are arresting illegal migrants and Burmese citizens who came with visa and passport, added Burmese workers in Kuala Lumpur.

“Those who came here with passport and visa, have to give those documents to their job owner. They have only copy of that, so police arrest them too,” added Zaw Myint.

He said there is an estimated 700,000 legal and illegal Burmese citizens in Malaysia, up from around 500,000 in 2008. More people are arriving even though the Burmese junta is planning to hold countrywide elections this year.

“I would like to suggest everyone patient and stay in the country at least one more year, if they want to go out, because it is very important time now,” he said.

However, with the fear of oppression and persecution from the Burmese military junta, a lot of people, especially from ethnic minorities are continuing flee to neighboring countries such as India, Thailand and Malaysia.

According to the November 2009 report of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), based in Kuala Lumpur, there are now 75,600 refugees, compared with 45,400 in 2008.  Of those, 69,700 asylum seekers are from Burma.

The report said, 17,400 are Rohingyas from the Northern Arakan (or also called Rakhine) State of Burma, 32,100 ethnic Chins from Burma’s western China State, 4,100 were the Muslims and the rest are other ethnics from Burma.

In India, 2,952 refugees have registered with the UNHCR office and thousands of refugees are waiting for registration. Tens of thousands of Chin refugees live in Mizoram State, northern India.

A staff member of the Kuala Lumpur-based, Kachin Refugee Committee (KRC), said ethnic Kachin refugees from Burma’s northern Kachin State are living in fear day and night, because their movements are closely watched by the authorities.

“We have to be alert all the time, even when we are sleeping. I have seen policemen at every corner of the road, everyday” he said.

There are more than 4,000 Kachin refugees from Northern Burma in Malaysia on their official list. Over 2,000 have been recognized by the UNHCR.

But, there are more Kachins who have yet to register with the KRC.

Most Kachin refugees want to relocate to third countries as refugees, including the United States, Norway, Romania, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and Denmark.

Asylum Dialogues

 

An iceandfire production "I honestly used to say – send 'em all home. They shouldn't be here. It's an English country. They take all our money. Then this woman turned up to clean my office and turned the world upside down." What happens when you meet someone who has fled their country to seek refuge in the UK? What happens when that person becomes your friend and needs your help? Drawn from real life conversations, Asylum Dialogues explores the everyday encounters between asylum seekers and British people, encouraging us to challenge our own preconceptions. "We regularly hear about the terrible hostility that asylum seekers and refugees face. But we rarely hear the stories of British people who are standing shoulder to shoulder with those seeking sanctuary in the UK. Asylum Dialogues tells these inspirational stories and shows how small gestures of welcome can make a big difference. " -Juliet Stevenson iceandfire creates compelling theatre making real and relevant the impact of human rights issues on our everyday lives. Asylum Dialogues was launched in June 2008 and is performed by members of their national outreach network, Actors for Human Rights, whose first production Asylum Monologues has been seen by more than 9,000 people all over the UK. For more information about Actors for Human Rights, see www.iceandfire.co.uk/afhr

Human Rights 'Deteriorating' in Burma

Burma's human rights record continued to deteriorate in 2009 ahead of a scheduled elections in 2010, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

In its 612-page World Report 2010, the New York-based NGO said, "The Burmese military junta systematically denies citizens basic freedoms, including freedom of expression, association and assembly.” 

Dozens of prominent political activists, Buddhist monks, labor activists, journalists and artists were arrested in Burma in 2009 and sentenced to draconian prison terms after unfair trials, the organization said, noting that the military government's human rights record continued to deteriorate last year ahead of an election announced for 2010.

In its 20th annual review of human rights practices around the globe, HRW summarized major human rights trends in more than 90 nations and territories worldwide.

It said attacks on rights monitors were not limited to authoritarian countries such as Burma and China.

"Attacks on rights defenders might be seen as a perverse tribute to the human rights movement, but that doesn't mitigate the danger," Executive Director Kenneth Roth wrote in the introduction to the World Report 2010. "Under various pretexts, abusive governments are attacking the very foundations of the human rights movement."

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Aung Myo Min, the director of Thailand-based Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, said, “The Burmese military junta commits systematic human rights abuses and crimes against humanity every year.”

Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma, pointed the finger at Russia and China, saying the two countries "supported Burma and other regimes that are committing human rights abuses.”

He added: "The United Nations has many weaknesses because it cannot take action against abusers of human rights. It should revise and amend its policies and mechanisms on human rights.”

Of detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial last year, the report said, "The trial dragged on for three months, with frequent delays and with international fair trial standards lacking.”

It said that “an estimated 2,100 political prisoners remain incarcerated for their peaceful activities in Burma. More than 230 Buddhist monks involved in the 2007 protests remain in prison.”

In 2009, international calls increased for an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma, and for a UN arms embargo to be imposed,” the report said. "But China, Russia and North Korea still sell arms to the Burmese military junta.”

The report also criticized the Burmese armed forces. “The Burmese military continues to perpetrate violations against civilians in ethnic conflict areas, including extrajudicial killings, forced labor and sexual violence,” it said, expressing concern about internally displaced people, refugees and child soldiers.

HRW said that despite the growth in the human rights movement, human rights defenders remain vulnerable and greatly in need of support by rights-respecting governments.

"Governments that consider themselves human rights supporters often keep silent in the face of these abuses by allies, citing diplomatic or economic priorities," Roth said. "But that silence makes them complicit in the abuse. The only proper response to serious human rights violations is to turn up the heat on the abusers."

“There is no country in the world which fully respects human rights," said Aung Myo Min. "Most world powers, including the US, China and Russia, have cooperated with human rights abusers in their national interests or as an act of economic or foreign policy.”

The report said human rights monitors had been killed in Russia, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Burundi and Afghanistan, while Sudan and China routinely shut down human rights groups.

Refugees Protest at Nu Po Camp

MAE SOT — Almost 80 refugees in Nu Po camp held a sit-down demonstration on Tuesday afternoon to protest against their delayed resettlement cases.

The Burmese and Karen protesters said they were calling on the United Nations' refugee agency, the UNHCR, to bring an end to the long delays which the refugees say they have endured while waiting to leave the camp and resettle in a third country.

"We are fed up with waiting to leave this camp and wasting our lives," a shopkeeper who participated in the protest told The Irrawaddy.

"There is no future for our children here. We want to give them a proper education and a life. We want UNHCR to put an end to our cases being put on hold by America. If the US don't want us, they should make a decision so we can go to another country," he said.

The sit-down protest, which was held in front of the UNHCR office in the camp, went on for one hour and was held without chanting.

Among the demonstrators were forced labor victims, former political prisoners, Buddhist monks and children who held banners asking the UNHCR to consider their welfare and put an end to the cases on hold.

"When we inquire to the UNHCR about our cases they just tell us there is no news and not to come back," Hla Aye, a leader of the protest, told The Irrawaddy.

"In the beginning, we were told we would get an answer within a month as to whether we would be resettled, but we were told we had to wait without any indication. But we cannot wait any more. Our pain and suffering is too much in these bad living conditions," he said.

After an hour protesting, the UNHCR officers invited four camp leaders into their office to discuss their issues and told them that they would discuss the situation with their head office in Bangkok. The leaders said they told the UNHCR officers that if no action is taken they will continue the protest until the problem is resolved.

Nu Po camp has more than 10,000 refugees, the majority of whom are Karen who have fled conflict in eastern Burma. 

Refugees with no place to flee

Tue 12 Jan 2010, Chan Mon

Early in the morning of January 14, 2009, most residents of Ban Don Yang Camp at Three Pagoda’s Pass border took shelter from the cold winter air inside their huts. I woke up at 5:00 am to wait for the truck that would take me from the camp to Sangkhlaburi Town, in Thailand’s Kanchanaburi Province, where I would catch a bus to Bangkok and begin my journey towards resettlement in the United States of America. My friend Zi Thu and I sat in my home and listened to the noise of the truck arriving. I was very exited, even though I’d already been abroad, because this time I was leaving behind the challenges and frustrations of the refugee camp community, a place that was only a holding pen for Burmese refugees in the process of being resettled in parts of the European Union, the United States, New Zealand, Canada, and Australia.

I was among the first group of refugees that had registered in Ban Don Yang Camp as refugees under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2004; I’d been living in the camp, waiting to be resettled, since September of 2006. Ban Don Yang Camp is the same camp that currently shelters Luther Htoo, who lead the Karen rebel group “God’s Army” along with his twin brother Johnny Htoo until their surrender in 2001. We were registered in the camp as political asylum seekers, and the majority of us were members and supporters of various armed rebel groups throughout Burma. I was registered as a journalist, but some of our number were only pretending to be rebel group members, as a means of being resettled abroad and finding well-paying jobs.

Ban Don Yang camp was founded by the Thai government in 1997, when it moved two small Karen camps, known as Thu Ka and Hti Ta Ba respectively, away from violence in Tenasserim Division and Dooplaya district. The two camps were combined and relocated to the Three Pagoda Pass borderline, near the New Mon State Party-run (NMSP) refugee camp known call as Hlockhani. Over 4,000 refugees from different areas of Burma currently live under the protection of the UNHCR and the Thai government in Ban Don Yang camp. The Mon National Relief Committee (MNRC) provided rations for Ban Don Yang between 1997-2002; the Thai-Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) has handled the job for the last 7 years. The UNHCR started recognizing the camp’s residents as refugees in 2004.

Ban Dong Yang, due to its location in Thailand, is officially known as a “refugee camp”.  Just across the border in Burma are the three main Mon resettlement sites called Hlockhani, Bee Ree, and Tavoy; over 10,000 people live at the sites. The largest of these, Halockhani was founded in 1994, when the strongest Mon armed political party, the New Mon State Party (NMSP), was still at arms with Burmese military government; the camp was created to shelter the thousands of Mon refugees who had fled from civil war and suffering inside Burma. The lives of Mon refugees in Halockhani changed for the worse following the cease-fire agreement reached by the NMSP and the Burmese government in 1995. NMSP leader Nai Shwe Kyin made a public statement that Mon refugees could return home; he claimed that there were no civil wars and human rights violations in Mon territories, and that no help would be needed from the UN and International NGOs.

Nai Shwe Kyin’s statement backfired.  NGOs began decreasing the aid they sent to Mon resettlement sites within Burma, but human rights violations and civil wars persisted within Mon territory. Mon refugees living on the Thailand-Burma border found themselves unable to return home, due to infighting between various Mon splinter groups; many were unable to return home when their land was seized by the Burmese government a few years later in 1998, as part of the Burmese military operation known as the “ self-reliance” program. More than 20,000 acres of fruit and rubber plantations were confiscated, and the newly destitute Mon farmers fled to refugee camps. Meanwhile, forced labor, portering, rapes, killings, and other human rights violations continued to be inflicted by the government’s troops in southern Mon State, where Mon splinter groups were active. When the NMSP demanded that the military regime order an end to the oppression, the group was ignored. The cease-fire achieved the opposite of what the NMSP had hoped for.

Victims of the violence tried to flee to Mon resettlement sites, but NGOs had already reduced their support of Mon refugees after the ceasefire. Mon refugees already in the sites found it increasingly difficult to survive, and new arrivals struggled even more. At the same time, the Thai government also set up a policy discouraging NGOs from giving aid across the Thai-Burma border. Instead, donors encouraged Mon refugees to be more self-sufficient.

In the name of “self-sufficiency”, the MNRC, which changed its name to the Mon Relief and Development Committee (MRDC) lent a small amount of its funds to Mon refugee families to produce traditional handicraft products, and to grow rice paddies and plantations; such efforts failed due to the small amount of land and poor security at the sites. Despite the fact that the project failed, NGOs continued reducing their support of Mon refugees. Survival has become a major challenge, and many refugees have snuck inside Thailand to find jobs, to be able to send back money to family members in their resettlement site. At the same time, many refugees have moved out from the sites to some villages close to Three Pagodas Pass to get jobs, as they are afraid of having trouble with Burmese authorities.

“Many children left the school to help their parents with their daily survival. Many of the refugees secretly left the camps and move to some small villages near Three Pagoda Pass Town so that they could find jobs and get income. Many wanted to move into Son Yon camp but the Thai authorities would not allow it,” said Nai Kao Chan, former Headmaster of the Mon National Middle School in Halockhani. Nai Kao Chan claimed that in the last 10 years, more than 30 percent of students have dropped out of school early, in order to help their parents earn money. The main jobs available to Hlockhani residents are bamboo shoot harvesting and working in sweatshops, both jobs earn a salary of 50-100 baht per day. The jobs are considered to be seasonal, and refugees have trouble making enough money to survive.

“I sent my son and daughter to central Thailand as migrant workers to seek jobs. This is the only one way for us to have enough income. If they get good jobs, they can send us money. If they can’t, it is our bad luck,” Mi Shwe [not her real name] told me. Many teenagers from Halockhani camp have moved to Thailand, with the idea of sending home their earning to their families in the camp; such arrangements are the main source of income for Mon refugees in the three sites along the Thai-Burma border.

“The refugees are crying, because donors have only given 25% of the rations for their daily needs in 2009. We can do nothing,” Hlockhani camp Chairman Nai Chit Thaw told me. The donors have also restricted their distribution of other supplies to Mon refugees, and they also stopped giving extra rations to NMSP troops and NMSP officers who have taken on the responsibility of acting as security guards, a responsibility they have taken on for over 13 years.  This development not only endangers the survival of Mon refugees living in the sites on the Thai-Burma border, it also prevents new Mon refugees fleeing from civil strife in Burma from seeking shelter at the sites.

Currently most Mon refugees in the three sites of Hlochkani, Bee Ree, and Tavoy in Burma are from Ye Township, Yebyu Township, and Tavoy Division. Many have left the sites and are taking shelter inside Thailand, in order to find ways to support their families. Many of these people have opted to move in with relatives already in Thailand, in order to get sufficient aid to start a new life.

There also is no space for the new Mon refugees to access shelter in the Thai camps across the border that do have sufficient NGO funding for Mon refugees; Ban Dong Yang is one such camp, and it has the added benefit of being recognized by the UNHCR. Unfortunately, Mon refugees from Hlockhani camp, who want cross the border to move to Ban Dong Yang Camp to be recognized as refugees under the UNHCR, are being barred from the camp by Thai authorities. This is happening while hundreds of Karen Refugees access shelter at Mae Lae camp, despite the fact that Mae Lae also has been under-funded by donors.

However, a chance remains for Mon refugees to seek refugee status under the UNHCR if they register as political asylum seekers, or if they have relatives already living camps. These people have to request that the UNHCR recognize them as refugees, and they have to enroll into a camp. This option is open to only a small number of refugees.

During my final months in Ban Dong Yang, I met a Mon refugee family who was seeking shelter in the camp. Their 10 year-old and 14 year-old sons had been tortured in mid-2008 by local Burmese battalion IB No.31 in their home of Khawzar town, in Ye township, Mon State. The children were stabbed with knives and slapped several time by the battalion’s troops, after the troops accused the children of knowing the location of Mon splinter groups near the town. Luckily, the family was not kicked out of the camp by Thai authorities, as the father of the family has a brother-in-law already recognized by UNHCR.

Since taking shelter in Ban Don Yang camp, the family is now free from life-threatening danger, even though they have had to sacrifice their freedom, and are facing the same difficulties faced by myself, my friends and my fellow refugees. The family is not allowed to leave the camp, it has no income to cover daily life, no electricity, and a small water supply; living in a hut in the middle surrounded by the jungle restricts contact with the outside world. The whole experience is, from my experience, similar to living in prison.

One day, the father of the family took his two sons fishing at nearby Blaed Hnoat dam. “I caught about three kilos of small fish and frogs for our meal,” the father told me. “But now I can’t catch as much as before. Less fish, frog and prawns.”  This man, who only receives rice, salt, oil, fish paste, beans, chili and some fish for rations, claimed that lowered water levels due to the summer season was endangering his family’s survival. The family future remains uncertain; they do not know whether when they can return home or be resettled in a third country because they are not yet recognized as refugees by UNHCR and Thai government.

To be recognized as a refugee by the UNHCR and Thai government, the family must go through the five-step interviewing process about the reasons that they cannot return to Burma. Currently, the family is registered with the UNHCR, the first step in the resettlement process that I’ve recently completed. Unfortunately, the family has to be patient with slow rate of the resettlement process. They must have another interview with the authorities for the second step of the process, and they must be registered as a family in Ban Dong Yang camp for the third step. They must apply yet again to the UNHCR to gain resettlement abroad as for the fourth step, and finally they must have an interview with embassy officers to gain resettlement from a specific third country. All the steps must be passed before the family can be resettled, and the process takes many years to complete; this means the family must survive for many years. The father of the family told me what he hoped future resettlement in the US might bring:

“I want to live a peaceful life. I don’t want to meet Burmese troops anymore, we are scared enough.”

UNHCR's Mobile Registration Welcomed In Malaysia

A new wave of refugee registration to be conducted in the jungle camps by UNHCR in Malaysia has been hailed by Chin communities amid a series of continued arrests and raids by Malaysian RELA Corps and Police.

The programme, known as Mobile Registration, is set to provide documentation to hundreds of asylum seekers who have been living in makeshift huts in the jungle, afraid to venture out to seek UNHCR assistance for fear of being arrested and detained.

According to a UNHCR's announcement released last month, the UN refugee agency has been stepping up efforts to protect 28,000 refugees and asylum seekers in the country ahead of an expected crackdown on illegal migrants early this year.

In its recent newsletters, Alliance of Chin Refugees (ACR) said of having been informed by the UNHCR's official after the meeting held on 13 January 2011 that UNHCR will be carrying out the Mobile Registration between 3 February and 5 March 2010.

Initiated in 2009, the Mobile Registration focuses on registering refugees in collaboration with the community leaders.

More than 8,000 Chin refugees belonging to various Chin tribes from Burma's Chin State are scheduled to be registered between 3 February and 24 March 2010, according to the newsletter released today by ACR, a body comprising a total of 17 Chin community-based organisations.

ACR has also made an announcement today in its newsletter, saying the registration will take place only in a church, and urging each of its members to contact their respective community leader for detailed information as well as telling of the need for Christian conduct and morality during the registration processes.

It is estimated that about 40,000 Chin refugees and asylum seekers have stranded in Malaysia in search of safety and security after fleeing their country, Burma where they have for decades suffered from the brutalities inflicted by the military regime.

Rights group concerned over Thai policy on refugees, migrants

By Usa Pichai

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Deteriorating human rights records is in evidence in Thailand given the country’s policy on migrant workers and refugees, the Human Rights Watch said in its World Report 2010.

The HRW released a 612-page report on Wednesday, the organization's 20th annual review of human rights practices around the globe. It evaluated the situation in Thailand, and said that the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had largely failed to fulfill its pledges to make human rights a priority.

Brad Adams, Asia Director of Human Rights Watch said while Prime Minister Abhisit sometimes said the right things about human rights in 2009, his actions didn't match his words. "The government continually undermined respect for human rights and the due process of law in Thailand."

Abhisit's government blatantly flouted Thailand's obligations under international law to protect refugees and asylum seekers, the group said.

The expression of the hostile policy towards refugees and asylum seekers, was in evidence in January 2009, when in his capacity as chairman of the National Security Council, Abhisit approved a directive authorizing the military to intercept boats carrying ethnic Rohingya from Burma and Bangladesh.

The Thai Navy subsequently intercepted several boats transporting Rohingya and towed the rickety vessels back to the ocean with inadequate supplies of food and water. While Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, the Thai government has an obligation under international law of nonrefoulement (non-return) of persons to places where their life or freedom is at risk.

"Prime Minister Abhisit did not honour his pledge to uphold human rights principles and international law in 2009," Adams said. "Getting Thailand back on track as a rights-respecting nation in 2010 is crucial both for the country and the region."

The Thai government gave the green signal to the army to deport more than 4,600 Lao Hmong refugees and asylum seekers on December 28, despite international concerns including that of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the UN Secretary-General.

HRW also noted the failure to act against official abuses by the police. Despite the government's strong opposition to the violent approach to drug eradication by the exiled former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, it remained unwilling to bring to justice officials allegedly responsible for more than 2,500 unresolved extrajudicial killings and serious abuses committed during Thaksin's 2003 "war on drugs" and the ongoing drug suppression operations by the police.

“At the local level, the government continued to ignore systemic police violence and extortion targeting the over two million migrant workers from Burma, Cambodia, and Laos,” HRW noted.

In addition, the other human rights backslide in Thailand are the growing crackdowns on protesters and other political critics, including intensive surveillance of the internet and a failure to curb abuses by security forces in response to the longtime insurgency in the south.

"Please Don’t Say My Name"

To be a refugee is tough; to live under military Junta is even tougher...

To escape from a military ruled Junta country is not easy; to face human right violation in the country you think is milk and honey is tough to swallow, after struggling all the way to the heaven or Utopia....

I remember the boat people in the seventies; and I now hear the voices of these boat people again here. There are bad people, bad government officials..... and the people are silence....

The following is the story of a Burmese refugee's family. They tell the story of life in Burma—why they had to flee—and why their lives are still at risk in Malaysia.

The issue may have been raised for some time; but in view of the Thailand's new work permit policy, the open policy on the Burmese refugee become important, otherwise the Burmese have not much alternatives available, especially to countries close to them.

A Burmese family’s story of multiple arrests, weekly bribes

In June, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Report blacklisted Malaysia for trafficking refugees into Thailand.

Karen Zusman, an independent journalist, was one of few Westerners inside Myanmar in the immediate aftermath of the monk-led protests in 2007. She interviewed Burmese refugees and produced the audio documentary "Please Don’t Say My Name": Burmese refugees at risk in Malaysia over the course of five months in Kuala Lumpur. Please visit website, http://pleasedontsaymyname.org/index.html, which I cannot upload due to copy right reason. But here is trailer....

Please Don't Say My Name - Trailer - Refugees from Burma fleeing for their lives from Brian Larson on Vimeo.

Here is the story,

I met Jack in Kuala Lumpur after the protests in 2007. Jack was imprisoned and tortured for teaching human rights in his country. When he was released from jail, he fled to Malaysia.

I learned that he and nearly 100,000 Burmese who had fled persecution were now held hostage in a country that offered no protection from vigilante groups, police and immigration officials. It was routine to hear refugee stories of mistreatment and physical and sexual abuse.

In January of this year, I returned to Kuala Lumpur, but things did not go as planned. I intended to document Jack’s story — his English was good, he was articulate, passionate and street smart. He was working in a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur with several other Burmese refugees.

Shortly after beginning to record, Jack’s Burmese girlfriend was arrested at the Thai-Malaysian border. She had fled Myanmar to be with Jack in Malaysia because her parents had engaged her to a Burmese soldier knowing the family would benefit greatly from the marriage. The girl was caught at the Thai-Malaysian border and imprisoned in Malaysia. Jack arranged for a friend, John, another Burmese refugee, to meet with the immigration officials at the border who were known to accept payment in exchange for releasing refugees. Malaysian officials took the money. And then arrested John.

Jack lost his girlfriend and his best friend in the same night.

Back in Myanmar, a Burmese soldier arrested Jack’s father, an elderly man with a heart condition, who now faced charges for “trafficking” the girl. Jack’s brother was arrested trying to leave Malaysia (also a refugee, he had a work permit but no travel documents).

I tried to console Jack the best I could. I tried — in vain — to get John released from prison by repeatedly reporting his arrest to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). John had been registered with the U.N. and so it was part of their task to release him from prison. But after he completed his sentence, he was subsequently transferred to detention camp.

While all this was happening, there were rumors that a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Report would soon be published bringing the Malaysian “deportation” (a.k.a. trafficking practices) under extreme scrutiny.

Jack and his friends were afraid that this would mean the trafficking would stop, and they would no longer have the option to purchase back their “freedom” should they be arrested. This was particularly distressing for Jack, who felt purchasing his girlfriend from traffickers once she was sold to them by Malaysian immigration was his only hope of saving her from a life as a Burmese junta-wife.

The report, which confirmed the allegations that the Malaysian government had been complicit in the sale of refugees to human traffickers at the Thai-Malaysian border, was made public in early April. Since then, as the refugees predicted, the incidents of trafficking have significantly decreased.

But because the raids by Rela (Malaysia’s citizen volunteer corps) and arrests have not decreased, the detention camps are severely over-crowded. Two Burmese refugees have died as a result of water contaminated with rat urine in a camp in Penang. John called while I was still in Malaysia and told me there were 47 people in one tiny cell with no water supply.

Jack’s brother called from a camp in another part of the country and told us that though the monsoon rains had begun, they were kept outside with no shelter and were given food to eat off of the mud floor.

Every week for five months, Jack wired money to each camp to pay for provisions such as toothpaste. Jack said the money was also for them to give money to their jailors so they would not be beaten. When Jack took time off from the restaurant to try and visit them, he was fired.

Now it’s July and Jack’s girlfriend has been deported to Myanmar. His friend was released last week and his brother is being hospitalized for a heart condition exacerbated by his time in the camp — he is still in the custody of his Malaysian jailors.

- Karen Zusman
July 14, 2009
(Source: http://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/07/14/a-burmese-familys-story-of-multiple-arrests-weekly-bribes/6299/)

Please don't say my name........ Malaysia have never sign the Geneva Convention.....??? Malaysia is not a signatory of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Burmese refugees do not have rights in this country.

We are able to allow illegal immigrant workers; we are able to allow migrant workers yet we cannot allow a refugee status workers? Can we formalized the refugee status, and allow them to work as legal migrant workers?