Thailand: malnutrition reaches epidemic levels in Burmese refugee camps

While there has been much celebration in the media recently about the release of Aung Sang Suu Kyi and her return to politics in Burma, the plight of up to three million Burmese refugees in Thailand has received little attention. In recent months aid agencies report that one third of these are children, and many of them are now suffering malnutrition at epidemic levels.

In the Mae Sot area, community organisations are in touch with more than 100 schools. Many of these are informal, although an increasing number of schools are registered with the Thai Ministry of Education as ‘Learning Centres’. They range in size from 30 or so pupils up to nearly 800. There are probably between 10,000 to 15,000 children in total. About 3,500 live in boarding houses since their parents are absent, either still in Burma, working elsewhere in Thailand, or dead.

For some years the boarding house population has been sustained by food distributed by the Mae Tao Clinic, under its ‘Dry Food Program’. The program aimed to provide six items (rice, oil, beans, tinned fish, salt and ‘sweet powder’, a flavour enhancer) to each of the 3,500 boarding house children every month. The total budget required was 12 million baht per annum (£240,000) provided in the past by one major donor supported by a few smaller contributors, including Thai Children’s Trust under the patronage of Archbishop Vincent Nichols.

Although hardly a healthy or an adequate diet, the basic rations provided by the Dry Food Program are the only food some children see. For others, it has been a foundation on which NGOs have been able to build lunch programmes, mushroom huts, school farms as a supplement. Now the whole fragile structure of food delivery to the children on the border is in near collapse because the Dry Food Programme is in danger of closing.

Income to the Mae Tao Clinic in this calendar year is a staggering 11 million baht (£220,000) down against income in the same period last year as donors reduce commitments to projects on the border and support new projects inside Burma. As a result the Dry Food Program is seven million baht (£140,000) short of its required budget. As a short term expedient rations have been cut to four items; beans and sugar are no longer included. Another donor has taken over supplying some schools, so the program has been reduced to 2,900 children. This reduces the cost from 1 million to 750,000 baht each month. But there is only enough cash to pay for July.

Andrew Scadding, director of the Thai Children's Trust, said: "Our great fear is that without the scanty supplies they receive through the Dry Food Program, some of these vulnerable, hungry children will be pushed over the very thin line which separates malnutrition from starvation.

"Thai Children’s Trust will redouble our efforts through our HungerBusters campaign and through events to ensure this vital supply of food continues to reach migrant children."

Source :http://www.indcatholicnews.com

Living in Exile – the Karen Refugee Camps in Thailand

Out of sight, out of mind, these forgotten people fight for survival deep in the rain forests and up remote mountains near the Thai/Burma border.

Karen refugee camp

The longest running civil war in the World, but it is a forgotten story, and perhaps a forgotten people involved.   That’s the conflict between the native Karen people and the government of Myanmar.  While there is a cease fire signed by the government in effect since January 2012, the army is not trusted by the Karen people in the North, and there are still skirmishes.  The Karen fear persecution, much as other minorities, like the Hmong, felt in Laos a couple of decades ago.  But the conflict with Karen and the government of Burma (changed to Myanmar in 1962) has been going on since 1949, when Burma became independent from Britain.  Since the conflict began, at least 124,000 people have been killed.

The Karen seek autonomy within Burma.  They are a distinct minority with their own language and customs.  Within Myanmar, there are between 6 and 7 million ethnic Karen, and about 200,000 Burmese Karen have escaped the brutal attacks by coming into Thailand.  Most of the camps are pretty close to Chiang Mai.  Many Karen are in these large refugee camps in the Myanmar/Thailand border areas, where day to day living is an amazing challenge.

Karen refugee kid

Initially, the Karen rebels were considered “communists” and did receive a little support from some Communist governments.  That was certainly a word that evoked fear in much of the West in 1949 and later, and the Karen were scorned by the US and Western Europe.  The truth, which became visible over time, is that they are not communists, and only seek treatment comparable to other Burmese citizens, with limited autonomy for their ethnic group.  But they did receive support from other countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand and India.  In 1962, a tyrannical military group  took control of Burma, and have been in charge ever since that time.  In 2011 the government began to open up a little bit with parliamentary elections, and there is optimism about more liberal policies in Myanmar in the future.

One of the biggest camps with about 50,000 Karen refugees is at the town of Mae Sot on the Thai/Burma border in the province of Tak southwest of Chiang Mai in the mountains.  Almost all the residents of this camp, called “Mae La” have the same story, escaping from military action in Burma where people are killed and have forced labor, with crops and livestock destroyed, and even enslavement of younger people.  The military is brutal and Karen are not generally regarded well by Burmese people, and are easily abused. These refugees are sometimes referred to as the one kilometer people, because it is a simple task to cross the border in the tropical forests, but not being legal in Thailand, they cannot get any kind legitimate job, so they gravitate into the camps where they can get some assistance for survival. The camp is surrounded by barbed wire, and the perimeter is guarded by armed Thai troops.  Refugees are allowed to leave the camp once a year.

Life in the camps is sad.  There is no employment, education for kids is minimal, there is no recreation, with great boredom.  Medical care is provided by volunteers, and medical facilities are almost non- existent.   People still get sick — this region is rife with Dengue’s Fever — and people get old and ill, have babies, get snake bites and go through life just like anyone in Ohio, or Colorado, or Texas.  They have serious needs. There are many kids without parents.  There are also many handicapped young people as a result of the conflict in Burma.  Thailand does give the refugees food and minimal services, but it is a very hard life for these people.

Shelter means a makeshift bamboo hut.   Drinking water is neither sanitary nor easy to come by.  Lives are lived at a subsistence level, made even more difficult by neglect by the host country and compounded by fear of cross border raids from their country of origin, Burma, by Myanmar military.

Please watch this video of typical life in a Karen camp in Thailand.  And the next time you are getting on to the freeway with music blasting away as you head off to your cubicle somewhere earning money that the US and State governments will confiscate about half of anyway, or when you are headed to the mall to go to that big Macy’s sale, think about the life of these people that have nothing and need so much help.  Maybe you might refocus what is important in life, and devote part of your life for others like these people..

Next month, I will be traveling to the remote city of Mae Hong Song, due west of Chiang Mai on the Burma border, courtesy of the senior Thai military commander for that area.  They have a Karen refugee camp near town with about 20,000 residents called Ban Mai Nai Soi and I will be able to make a personal visit to the camp.  I am looking forward to it, and will coming back to Chiang Mai with many plans to try to make life easier for these people.

A pregnant woman who is in labor receives oxygen while her mother tends to her at the hospital maternity ward (on the floor) inside the Mae La refugee camp

What can someone do living in America?  You can organize special drives for educational materials and essentials for living — like band-aids and nail clippers.  Anything that people need.  Someone told me about a middle school in New Jersey that sends a small shipment each month to a camp, and that’s the best diplomacy America can do.  I can help anyone willing to organize something like this.

There are actually companies and wealthy people looking for a good cause to give back something to the world, and these people would be some of the most deserving and grateful on Earth.  Money goes much further here than in America, so a substantial donation would be very welcome.  I can also help arrange a direct communication with the camps to anyone wanting to do this.

Visitors must get permission from the Thai government to personally visit the camps, but this is not so difficult to obtain, and visitors would feel welcome by the warm Karen people.

 

Organic farm restores way of life for Myanmar’s refugees

By Graham Lanktree Metro Ottawa

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Metro/Graham Lanktree Dai Htoo stands beside Kloy Htoo and her husband Hla Htoo at the Karen Community Garden in Blackburn Hamlet.

A refugee from volatile Myanmar (Burma), Kloy Htoo said he felt like a kid again when he began farming a half-acre of land in Blackburn Hamlet this June with the help of local community groups.

“He’s so happy, it reminds him of when he was a child, before the war came,” said his son Shar, speaking as a translator for his father. “He feels better now and has hope for the future.”

When Htoo came to Canada with his wife in 2009, he left behind a Thai refugee camp where the family had been living for 11 years with some 140,000 other refugees after fleeing Myanmar when neighbouring farms were looted and burned to the ground.

A member of Myanmar’s largest ethnic minority the Karen, or K’nyaw, Htoo’s family couldn’t prevent their farm from being caught up in the 65-year civil war that has ravaged the country.

Now, with the help of a $1,000 grant for farming supplied from Ottawa chapter of The Awesome Foundation, Htoo and Ottawa’s 200 other Karen refugees are getting back to what they know best.

Finding a plot of National Capital Commission land with the help of Just Food, the Karen have planted pumpkins – the plant’s flowers are a delicacy in traditional Karen cooking- tomatoes, basil, eggplant, coriander, carrots and they even took a shot at growing sugar cane.

“They love to eat a lot of pumpkin leaves and flowers,” said Coleen Scott, who has been helping Karen immigrants get on their feet in the city, “but when they tried to buy them at the store it’s much too expensive, costing more than $2 for a few leaves and flowers.”

Practicing organic farming as their traditional way of life, the farm has a few things to teach Canadians, Scott said, including using hot peppers, garlic and onion skins to deal with pests.

“They really want to keep this farm. It’s very important to them,” Scott said. “Farming is who the Karen are and that was taken away from them when they came to Canada. Farming makes them feel that they have a purpose.”

Source : http://metronews.ca

UN Builds 2,500 Shelters for Kachin Refugees

Kachin refugees flee fighting between the KIA and government troops. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Amid war the escalating conflict in northern Burma’s Kachin State, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it is building 2,500 shelters for civilians displaced by fighting between government troops and ethnic rebels.

“We estimate that more than 48,000 displaced people in Kachin State have received our assistance in the form of mosquito nets, blankets, tarpaulins and plastic floor mats,” Vivian Tan, the spokesperson for the UNHCR in Asia told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

“We have given them warm clothes to protect their children against the harsh climate, as well as soap, detergent, buckets, pots, plates, cups, cooking and eating utensils,” she added.

Due to hostilities between the government army and Kachin Independence Army (KIA), there are an estimated 70,000 people sheltering in temporary camps in by the Sino-Burmese border. According to KIA sources, 1,640 battles have been recorded since the conflict erupted on June 19, 2011, ending a 17-year ceasefire.

Although official causality figures are not available, rebel sources say that every encounter entails some injuries. Despite repeated attempts at peace negotiations over 13 months of hostilities, no end is in sight.

The KIA reports that government reinforcements including artillery and mortars have been called into the areas around Bhamo Township, in southern Kachin State and in Muse, northern Shan State, both close to rebel strongholds.

The KIA’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), last signed ceasefire agreement with the government in 1994 but the truce stood ended on June 19 last year. KIA is thought to have around 15,000 fighting troops and it is Burma’s second biggest ethnic armed group after United Wa State Army (UWSA).

All other major ethnic armed groups—including the Karen National Union, Shan State Army-South, New Mon State Party and Karenni National Progressive Party—have reached ceasefire agreements with Naypyidaw over recent months.

As a result of recent ceasefire agreements, there are reports of more than 150,000 Burmese refugees living in nine camps along Thai-Burma border being repatriated. UNHCR officials have been visiting the area often to discuss the resettlement the displaced.

In May, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies held a repatriation workshop for community-based organizations to be ready to get involved in repatriation program when it comes sometime in the future.

Asked about the return of Burmese refugees on the Thai-Burmese border, Tan told said that the UNHCR is not yet ready to promote their return.

“Like the refugees, we are closely watching developments inside Myanmar and we are supporting efforts to prepare for possible returns if and when the refugees themselves want to go home,” she said.

“There are still many things that need to be done to show the kind of progress that would help refugees decide for themselves whether conditions are right for them to go home.”

Volunteer to help Burmese Refugees and Migrants in Thailand

Along the border between Burma and Thailand in the area around Mae Sot over 200,000 refugees and over 200,000 migrant workers from Burma have settled in poor living conditions.  Most have been forced by the fighting between the Burmese government and the army of the Karen National Liberation Army (representing Karen ethnic groups) to abandon their houses, fields and schools. The Karen villagers in Burma faced a choice between forced resettlement by the Burmese government (usually resulting in forced labor), moving into the jungle where they faced disease and hunger or fleeing across the border into Thailand.

In Thailand they face uncertain conditions. Some refugee camps in Thailand have been attacked by Burmese government troops or their allies.  Many Karen are "stateless" having no citizenship in Thailand or Burma. The 200,000 Karen in refugee camps are forbidden to work outside the camps.  Another 200,000 Burmese people live as migrant workers working under poor conditions on Thai farms and in Thai factories.

Many schools in Burma have been forced to move across the border to Thailand to avoid the fighting. Because many Karen hope to return to their homes in Burma some day some schools use the Burmese curriculum rather than the official Thai curriculum. This makes it difficult to get government support if they don't integrate into the Thai education system.

Openmind Projects helps these schools in several ways. We attract volunteers from all over the world to train and to volunteer teach in the schools. We receive donations of computers from volunteers and other organizations which we then donate to the schools.  Local motivated Burmese young people from the border areas are invited to our Training Center in Nong Khai to improve their English and learn to work in IT programs and maintenance, and then to learn to train others in both of these areas when they return to their homes.

Here are some of the projects we support.

Paya Daung Primary and Middle School is near a small village outside Mae Sot town. It is one of the migrant learning centers originally established in Burma and later moved to Thailand because of the fighting.

Heavenly Home Orphange in Mae Sot has 43 infants and children who are cared for by only 2 full time staff members. Children over age 6 attend schools while the younger children stay at the home during the day.

Umphang Witthayakam Secondary School is located in Umphang town, 5 hours south of Mae Sot.  The majority of the students are from ethnic minorities, mostly Karen refugees from Burma. Students number 1200 including 400 who stay in dormitories at the school because their villages are too far away to return to each day.

Ray Kaw Htoo Primary School provides kindergarten through grade 4 classes for children of families of migrants from the Karen ethnic group in Burma. It has around 90 students many of whom stay in very simple dormitories at the school since their families live too far away to commute daily. The school has only 2 classrooms.

Volunteer to help Burmese Refugees and Migrants in Thailand

Refugee groups slam Japan's struggling resettlement plan

By GIANNI SIMONE

Much fanfare greeted the arrival at Narita in September 2010 of the first Burmese refugees to take advantage of Japan's decision to join the U.N.'s third-country resettlement program. Japan was the first Asian country to join the program, it was emphasized, under which the country would take in "less than 100" refugees from camps along the Thai-Myanmar border each year. Some refugee advocates even dared to believe that the move might mark the start of a trend toward a more humanitarian approach to applications for refugee status by those fleeing conflict or poverty.

Yokoso Japan: Ethnic Karen refugees from the Mae La camp rest at a facility run by the International Organization for Migration in Mae Sot, northwestern Thailand, in September 2010 ahead of their departure for Japan. KYODO

Since then, however, the resettlement program has been widely criticized as ill-thought-out, half-hearted and even exploitative. After accepting an initial 30 ethnic Karen refugees from the Mae La camp in 2010 and another 17 in 2011, reports suggest the program is struggling to find families eager to relocate to Japan in the wake of all the bad press. Despite these teething troubles, the government announced in March it was extending the program for another three years.

At the beginning of the three-year pilot program, five families were brought over to Japan. After a six-month language and survival course, they were distributed between Chiba and Mie prefectures. Though living conditions were slightly better in Mie, all the families faced a number of problems.

The Japan Times recently talked to Myo Myint Swe, a Burmese refugee who has been closely following this issue. A 20-year resident of Japan, Myo is a graduate student at Tokyo University, where he is writing a thesis on the democratization movement in Myanmar and the relationship between the refugee community in Japan and their home country.

According to Myo, many of the problems the refugees have faced in Japan have their roots in a lack of communication and restrictions on the refugees' access to information.

"The two families living in Chiba, for instance, were assigned to work on a farm," he said. "At first they worked eight hours a day, five days a week, but after a while working hours became longer and longer, and they were forced to work on Saturdays as well, without anyone explaining the reason for this. Obviously they were upset by the situation, especially considering that their ¥120,000 monthly salary wasn't raised accordingly."

Apparently nobody explained how to do things properly, and they were scolded for doing things wrong.

"These people have lived for 10 to 20 years in refugee camps where they were never engaged in hard work," Myo said. "Suddenly they were relocated to a completely alien environment, and were asked to work long hours on a demanding, sometimes dangerous job. No wonder they did not react well to the situation."

Hiroka Shoji, Amnesty International Japan's refugee officer, pointed out some of the practical problems these people had to deal with on a daily basis. "These families settled in a very isolated area, quite far from many public services," she said. "The nearest kindergarten, for example, was one hour away. This was a considerable problem as the children's mothers were working in the fields too.

"The older child (of one family) began attending a night junior high school, but the round trip took about 2½ hours. So eventually he stopped going. In the end, the whole thing caused a lot of physical and mental stress. The refugee families keep living in a state of uncertainty and anxiety, and don't have a clear vision of their future life in Japan. Nobody even tells them what happens after the six-month training program is over."

For some reason, the semigovernmental Refugee Assistance Headquarters (RHQ), which has been managing the program, tried from the start to keep these people isolated from both the larger Burmese community in Japan and local people. When asked to comment on allegations leveled in this article at the resettlement program, RHQ said they were not allowed to discuss such matters before first consulting the Foreign Ministry, which is in charge of the program.

The Japan Times also tried to speak to some of the refugees but was told by the NGOs working on their behalf that they wanted to avoid further problems with the Japanese bureaucracy.

According to Myo, the first newcomers were urged not to get a telephone, a fax machine or an Internet connection. "RHQ failed to understand what the real needs of the refugees were."

In other countries that run the same program, refugees who have already settled down are involved in actively supporting the new arrivals. This contributes to a higher success rate.

"Currently the Burmese community in Japan numbers around 20,000 people, about half of them refugees. So it wouldn't be a problem to find volunteers," explained Myo. "And yet, the authorities don't understand how important it is to get help and advice from a support group. As things are now, I believe they should reconsider the whole support system."

However, the Foreign Ministry said that it had found some contradictions in the refugees' claims of wrongdoing. In particular, a spokesperson said that an investigation had revealed that RHQ had actually encouraged the families to set up Internet accounts in order to cut down on phone bills.

The resettlement plan debacle is even more puzzling considering the work the authorities apparently put into the project before the first arrivals.

"The government actually sent a study group to Europe in order to learn from their experience," said Shogo Watanabe, secretary general of the Japan Lawyers Network for Refugees, who also represents one of the families in Chiba. "Apparently they failed to follow their example."

Watanabe believes the government should be doing more to spread the word about the refugee issue.

"What is the ultimate purpose of this program? Why has this country joined the resettlement program? The authorities owe these answers to the Japanese people. Yet these questions remain largely unanswered.

"Without a clear explanation to the very people who are supposed to welcome the refugees, this project is bound to run into very big problems. You must convince everybody — both the refugees and the Japanese — that this is a win-win situation in which both sides are going to gain something," Watanabe said.

Another big problem has been the top-down system through which the refugee policy has been implemented.

"There are no concerted efforts to work in collaboration with the local governments, the NGOs, citizen's groups, scholars — and the refugees themselves," Watanabe added. "As long as RHQ keeps saying that the main problem is the refugees' negative attitude, I don't see a bright future for the program."

Myo believes that the single most important issue is communication. "The authorities should make sure that the refugees really learn Japanese, as this problem has negative effects on everyday life. Every piece of information they get is in Japanese. They can't understand the gas or electricity bills they get in the mail, or how the national health system works. In this respect, a single six-month language course is absolutely insufficient.

"For people who are relocated to an English-speaking country, that could be enough, because many people have at least a basic knowledge of the English language, but for someone who has to learn Japanese from scratch, I believe that two years are necessary if you want these people to become self-sufficient."

At the same time, Myo is opposed to complete assimilation. "Especially when you consider the children, they are going to forget their mother tongue and drift away from their roots. On the contrary, I think that one of the goals of the resettlement program should be to turn the youngsters into the seeds of a future intercultural society who are able to bridge the gap between Japan and other countries and cultures. In order to do this, the newcomers must be allowed to keep strong ties with the older refugee community."

Lessons have been learned from the problems in the program's first year. The two families who had originally been posted to Chiba were moved to Tokyo because of the myriad logistical and practical obstacles they had faced. Now they are employed in cleaning jobs. The families who came the second year were based in Tokyo from the start. All the children are attending school, despite the fact that education is not compulsory for the children of foreigners under Japanese law.

Activists in both countries and Japanese NGOs who have joined to form the Forum for Refugees Japan are carefully studying the new political situation in Myanmar to see how it may affect the refugees' attitude towards resettlement. The April 1 by-elections, which resulted in a landslide victory for Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy, have created high expectations among many refugees, who are also excited by the economic reforms the government has been recently enacting and are now keen to return to their country.

"The big problem are the ethnic minorities who have lost everything — their land, their house," explained Myo. "The younger generations in particular don't want to go back to Myanmar. Some of them weren't even born there, and the rest have too many bad memories."

Myo, however, whose mother is ethnic Karen and father belongs to Myanmar's Indian community, is looking forward to returning to Myanmar (or Burma, as he still calls it). "I want to help my country's economic progress as a consultant. I'm particularly thinking about using my knowledge of Japan and the language to help Japanese enterprises to develop mutually fruitful relations with local companies. It's a great opportunity."

This newfound hope for the future of their homeland, coupled with disillusionment with the resettlement program, may be behind the recently reported drop in interest among refugees for resettlement in Japan. By February, only two families — a total of 10 people — had agreed to take part in the resettlement program this year, according to Amnesty's Shoji. The government recently extended the program to two more refugee camps on the Thai-Myanmar border.

"I heard from people who are working at the refugee camps in Thailand that the Japanese government is showing 'promotion videos' which depict Japan as a safe country where people can easily resettle with few problems," Shoji said. "This makes me wonder how bad Japan's image is among the refugee community."

Even if RHQ can fill the quota of 30 refugees this year, this figure pales into insignificance when compared with other countries' commitments under the U.N. program. In 2007 alone, 14 countries accepted a total of 75,000 refugees under the same program, with even Iceland — with a population of 300,000, hundreds of times smaller than Japan's 127 million — accepting 30 Palestinian refugees a year.

Although refugee advocates have welcomed Japan's commitment to continue with the resettlement program, there are no signs yet that it has affected Japan's infamously low intake of asylum-seekers. In fact, of a record-high 1,867 applications for refugee status in Japan in 2011, only 21 were approved — down from a paltry 39 a year earlier.

A Japanese-language online talk show on "Local Integration of Refugees into Japanese Society" was aired on April 26. You can watch it at www.ustream.tv/channel/nanmin-now. Amnesty International's refugee group is hosting a seminar (in Japanese only) on this subject on Saturday, July 21, in Tokyo. Details can be found at www.amnesty.or.jp/get-involved/event/2012/0721_255.html. Send comments on this issue and story ideas to community@japantimes.co.jp

UN refugee chief sees a silver lining on clouds over Myanmar

Jim Pollard
The Nation July 16

Guterres, UNHCR chief

A storm of criticism has flared again over Myanmar's treatment of ethnic Rohingya - and its request to the United Nations refugee agency last week to resettle more than half a million of them to countries overseas.

But Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) - who told Myanmar's President Thein Sein it was not possible to deport the Rohingya - tried to play down the affair in an exclusive interview in Bangkok on Friday.

Guterres agreed that the Rohingya - Muslims of Bangladeshi ethnic origin at the centre of repeated crises in western Rakhine State - have endured "dramatic discrimination" and that their plight "deserves a message of humanity from the international community".

But he had only words of encouragement for Thein Sein's reformist regime.

"We have witnessed recently an eruption of some dramatic forms of violence - inter-community violence [in Rakhine State] - and this has led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people; and to a dramatic humanitarian situation for many of them.

"There is still high tension on the ground. And I believe it's important to help calm things down - to urgently deliver humanitarian aid without discrimination to the two communities, and at the same time to seriously promote a true reconciliation process.

"I had the opportunity in my visit to also suggest that, independently of the improvements that the Nationality Law might deserve, it would be important to effectively grant Myanmarese nationality to all those members of the Muslim community that have the right to it according to the law. And to find for the other members of the community a legal status allowing them to enjoy fully the rights that are necessary to lead a normal life."

The Rohingya have been denied citizenship amid claims they are "Bengalis" from Bangladesh. The request was rejected, with the UNHCR chief and staff at pains to explain it was impossible to do this, because the Rohingya were not refugees - they had not fled conflict or persecution across borders.

Treatment of the Rohingya has been condemned by some as ethnic cleansing and a state-sanctioned pogrom. Denied citizenship by Ne Win's government in 1982, tens of thousands have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh and taken to boats in recent years in search of a new life in Malaysia and other lands because of despair at their lack of rights - an inability to travel for work, or simply to marry - and a suffocating cycle of extortion and abuse by officials in Rakhine State.

Last month, at least 80 people were killed in riots between Buddhist and Muslim communities, which caused a state of emergency to be declared. Thousands saw their homes burnt and have been forced to shift to temporary shelters.

Guterres said: "It's important to realise that Myanmar is now leading a very important and positive period of transition that many people would not have thought possible just a few years ago. In this visit, to both Myanmar and Thailand, I had the opportunity to discuss perspectives of closing the chapter in a dignified way … of the Myanmarese refugees in Thailand. And this is possible today thanks to the determined way in which the Myanmar government is conducting a peace process.

"Ten ceasefires have been established. One ceasefire is being negotiated for Kachin State and there is a very clear commitment to not only peace building, which deserves the support of the international community."

Speaking after a meeting with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the UNHCR chief called on Western governments not to cut support for refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border, saying it is of "vital importance" funding be maintained till the 140,000 people in nine border camps can return.

Guterres was "very grateful" to the Thai government for hosting the refugees for nearly three decades and the fact it "recognises that no push should be made - that the voluntary character of the return should be respected, and that the safety and dignity of the refugees in that return should be a paramount concern".

He gave no indication of when the refugees may be able to return - that depended on establishing conditions on the other side "to allow all people to feel that it's safe to go back, and that they can rebuild their lives in a sustainable way".

But he was encouraged by the Thai government's "very open attitude in relation to a number of proposals to improve the conditions of the refugees" and "constructive attitude in preparation for what we hope will be a solution for one of the most protracted refugee situations in the world".

The Thailand Burma Border Consortium, which raises more than $30 million a year to supply food and materials to the camps, has been forced to cut rations for the refugees as European nations scale back donations amid a push to support projects inside Myanmar.

Guterres said: "I'd like to make a very strong appeal to the international community to maintain the support to humanitarian action in the camps … until the process is concluded.

"I want people to go back when conditions are met for them to return, to be reunifying. I don't want people to go back fleeing any aggravation if their conditions are intolerable. So the support of the international community to members of the consortium that has been operating in the area should be maintained at the present moment. That is of vital importance to the success of this whole operation."

With acute crises in Syria, South Sudan, Mali and the Congo, the world badly needed good news. The peaceful "evolution" in Myanmar, thus, "very encouraging".

"That evolution should be cherished and supported by the international community, not only in a humanitarian dimension but all things that relate to the empowerment of the country and the welfare of the people, allowing for democracy to emerge and to consolidate.

"What I hope is that these excellent signals - signs - that I have described will also, with time, allow for a positive development of the situation in Rakhine state."

Source : http://www.nationmultimedia.com

URBAN REFUGEES IN MALAYSIA

Managing Urban Refugees in Malaysia

Displaced- the numbers
•10.5 million refugees
•14.7 million internally displaced
•Stateless – lack of definitive statistics- est. 3.5 million
•Only one third of refugees in camps
•More than half are in urban areas

URBAN REFUGEES IN MALAYSIA

As of end May 2012, there are 98,644 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia.

 92%, 90,326 are from Myanmar. 

The remaining numbers are refugees and asylum-seekers from other countries, including refugees from:
- Sri Lanka (4,529)
- Somalia (1,093)
- Iraq (782)
- Afghanistan (437)

WHERE DO REFUGEES LIVE IN MALAYSIA?

Refugees live in cities and small towns in low-cost flats or housing areas.

Due to high cost, and for security, refugees often share living spaces in groups of sometimes up to 20 people or more.

Many also live near the construction sites or plantations where they seek employment.

LIVING AS REFUGEES IN MALAYSIA

Malaysia has not ratified the 1951 Refugee convention
No legal framework
Malaysian laws, in particular the Immigration Act 1959/1063, do not make a formal distinction between a refugee and an economic migrant.

The situation of refugees is complex as a result of their unofficial status in Malaysia.

They have no access to formal, legal employment.

Their children have no access to formal education.

REFUGEES AND HEALTHCARE

Refugees face challenges in accessing healthcare due to factors such as:

Costs of medical care

Language barriers

Difficulties in physically accessing hospitals and clinics. In Malaysia, refugees access public healthcare services at a discounted foreigner’s rate and clinics run by NGOs.

Public health facilities
•Access to emergency services
•Second line care and deliveries
•MCH clinics- antenatal care and vaccinations
•Primary care services

Urban refugees health programming

Advocacy for integration into the national health system Advocacy for inclusion into country national programmes (e.g. TB, HIV, )

Urban refugees health programming
Support access to services and health information

• primary care services
• security issues
• financial assistance
• interpreter
• health education
• mental health services
• referral care support

Monitoring 

• monitoring access public health services- hospitals, MCH clinics
• monitoring communicable diseases

Summary of Approaches

•Where possible – entry into existing health systems
•Access to emergency services
•Provision for vulnerable groups
•Provision of services
•Community based approach – Help refugees help themselves

Second line treatment
•Requests for assistance for hospital admissions are mainly due to trauma related cases- Road accidents and industrial accidents

Tuberculosis
•Malaysia- Intermediate burden
•Incidence of 82/100,000
•MDR TB - % of new TB – 0.1 %
•Myanmar – 4 %
•IOM screening- 8.7%. ( 0.59 % active)

MOH and UNHCR Collaboration

• MOH and UNHCR collaborates
in resource sharing for refugees
with TB as shown in the flow
chart .
• UNHCR provides TB awareness,
screening, care, and support
directly through UNHCR staff
and refugee community
workers, and through
implementing partners.
• MOH provides TB diagnostic
and treatment, including
hospitalization.

HIV

•422 refugees living with HIV . 258 on HAART.
•Adherence support program
•Cross sectional survey 2010 -Adherence is comparable to host population
•Risk groups

Vaccination

•Survey – 2010- 271 children
•75 % vaccinated in Malaysia , 12 % had vaccination in Myanmar
•Main barriers- knowledge, cost (for transport) , no documentation

Family Planning Baseline Study

•FP – Baseline study- household survey 2011- 422 respondents
•Contraceptive prevalence rate – 34.2 % for modern methods and 42.2 % for any methods
•Commonly used – OCPs and injectables

Pregnancy and Childbirth

•93.5% respondents had more than four antenatal care visits with the mean 9.97 ± 3.64 visits
•But most are still accessing care only in 2nd trimester- usually around 4 – 5 months.
•New refugees – sought care later, and less visits. – non familiarity, language and financial barriers

Nutrition

•IOM screening- 2011 (under 5s)
•12% wasting,8% stunting
•Assessment 54 homes - In-depth interviews during house visits
−socio economic (housing, employment, schooling)
−health ( birth, diseases, vaccines, growth monitoring)
−Feeding practices past and present (24 hours recall, food frequency)
−Family eating habits

Main problem areas

•Traditional eating habits are two soup based low energy dense meals
•Families are very traditional in the choice of food
•Food budget is kept to a minimum
•Almost half of parents are young and inexperienced without support
•No access to nutrition education messages because of language barrier

Main direct causes of nutritional status of child

•Energy density and feeding frequency
•Child with acceptance problems of food
•Breast feeding problems: inefficient suckling, breast problems
•Health problems : LBW, long sickness, teeth, allergies

Underlying causes of nutritional status

•Young and inexperienced parents: isolated mothers, no family support, little outings, language barriers
•Economic problems: no room for extras
•Caring problems: siblings, no interest in trying to adapt to specific needs

Substance Abuse

•Survey 2011 – 138 Chins
•Semi structured interviews
•Alcohol and tobacco
•‘Social norm’ ‘cultural habit (46)
•‘to suffer less from stress’ (42)
•45.9% of the substance users did have sexual intercourse while they had been using substances
92.3% had unprotected sex

Mental Health

•Survey by Health Equity Initiatives- 1,074 persons
•DASS -21 >60% had symptoms of Depression, Anxiety and Stress
•About half had moderate to severe levels of Depression & Anxiety
•Asylum Seekers – Higher anxiety levels than refugees
•Depression and Stress no difference.
•Unemployed- higher levels.
•Coping strategies – restraint, emotion focused, problem focused, mental disengagement.

Disabled

•WHO estimates 2.3-3.3 million displaced persons are disabled and one third are children
•Improving identification and referral mechanisms
•Engaging more service providers

Source : UNHCR Malaysia

 

Indonesia asks Australia to increase refugee intake

The Indonesian government has today issued a plea to their Australian counterparts to increase the number of refugees the country is willing to take. This comes at a time when relations between the two countries are becoming strained because of Australia’s difficulty in putting together a long-term and acceptable refugee intake policy. The situation is likely to get very much worse before it gets better and the Indonesian government is demanding further help from overseas counterparts.

What is the problem in Indonesia?

The problem within Indonesia is that many of the refugees who have been forced to remain in the country were initially looking to move to Australia. There are in excess of 5,000 refugees who have officially signed up within Indonesia but the authorities believe there could be an additional 10,000 living there without the relevant paperwork. This is a problem which has been getting very much worse over the years and official estimates suggest there may be around 100,000 people in Malaysia waiting for the green light to go to Australia – via Indonesia.

Religion

While the Indonesian government is unwilling to admit there are religious issues at stake there is no doubt that Shi’ite Muslims from Afghanistan and Iran are causing friction within the predominantly Sunni country of Indonesia. There is well documented friction between these factions back in Iran, Iraq, etc and this is now transferring into other countries around the world.

Cultural differences

The Indonesian authorities have also highlighted issues regarding culture and the friction which this is causing between the local community and the refugee community. Indeed there have been suggestions of drugs and various other crimes being committed by the refugees and this is not going down well with the local population. There is also growing concern that the sovereignty of Indonesia may well be at risk in the medium to longer term unless the issue is resolved as soon as possible.

What can Australia do?

Australia recognises refugee status as much as any other nation around the world although it is the way in which these refugee applications are to be processed which seems to be causing most problems. The government tried to push through various pieces of legislation but these were either blocked in the High Court of the Australian Senate. There seems to be in a cross-party agreement to rectify the issue as soon as possible but so far nothing has been placed upon the statute books.

Is it Australia’s problem?

There are many in Australia questioning exactly why they should need to increase their refugee intake purely and simply to relieve pressures in other countries such as Indonesia. While this would seem to be a fair argument from any point of view, the fact is that the vast majority of refugees making their way to Indonesia are doing so with the intention of going to Australia. The Indonesian government is being swamped by the ever-growing intake and finances are being stretched not to mention cultural and religious friction.

Alternatively the Indonesian authorities, and indeed other authorities in the region, are concerned that Australia was giving the impression it was looking to take on more refugees only for the proposed changes and laws to be held up. When you consider that Indonesian government also estimates that around 100,000 people are waiting to leave Malaysia for Australia, via Indonesia, this situation is now becoming critical.

Increased cost of immigration

Even though the Australian authorities have admitted it is not acceptable to see refugees attempting to land in Australia using boats which are not seaworthy there is an underlying cost to an increase in immigration numbers. However, what price do you put on the life of a refugee as we see more and more boats capsizing and literally hundreds of refugees dying on route to the country?

This is starting to become a major problem for the Australian authorities and they are very much stuck in the middle. On one hand we have Australian taxpayers who are wondering when the ongoing investment in the immigration system will halt, after billions of dollars have already been invested, while on the other side we have close overseas partners placing more pressure on the government. Each refugee boat which sinks places more and more pressure upon the authorities and it is now getting to a situation where it cannot go on for much longer.

Future meeting

The Indonesian government has requested a meeting between Australia, Indonesia and Malaysian officials in October or November this year. The idea is that they can map out the future of the immigration and refugee system in the region and no doubt more pressure will be placed upon Australia to play a more active role in the situation. If the authorities are unable to agree a deal going forward then quite literally where do we go from here?

On one hand the Australian government is looking to control the refugee situation while on the other the merest chance of entry into Australia has seen tens of thousands of people flocking from all areas of the world. Is there a solution?

Immigration

The immigration system in Australia is starting to creak and despite the investment of billions upon billions of dollars there are real problems under the surface. The Australian government seems determined to do the “right thing” although every attempt to control the situation seems to lead to further controversy, friction and various laws and regulations being blocked. Quite literally the government of Australia cannot do right for doing wrong!

Conclusion

The comments from the Indonesian authorities have further highlighted the ever-growing problem of immigration and in particular refugees in Australia. This is a situation which has been ongoing for some time now and one which the authorities have tried time and time again to rectify. However, the situation is now reaching boiling point and the previously strong relationship with the Indonesian government is under threat.

While increasing the number refugees accepted into Australia would help the situation in the short term it would also likely need to a massive increase in the number of refugees coming from all areas of the world. However, if the authorities continue to resist demands to increase the refugee intake then there will be further problems for Indonesia as the number of refugees looking to Australia is still growing. Is there really a simple solution?

Source : http://www.australiaforum.com

IRT at the London 10K 2012

Monday, July 9, 2012

 

IRT's CEO Adrian on the left and Ryan and Shilpa at the finish of the race. Well done guys!IRT supporters ran the British 10K London Run yesterday to help raise funds for our projects on the Thai-Burma border.
 The route runs through the heart of London past lots of famous sites such as Trafalgar Square, Houses of Parliament and the London Eye. About 20,000 people took part in the run this year, so it really was a major event!
We are so grateful to our runners who all made excellent times and whose support and commitment to IRT and our work is truly wonderful.
Although in other years we tend to run for all of IRT's projects, we wanted to highlight the plight of Burmese refugees in Thailand this year. We want to make sure that we do not forget that although there are some positive changes happening in Burma, such as the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the problems for the ethnic minority Burmese refugees in Thailand is far from  

One of our runners, Paul, at Trafalgar Square.over. Thank you to our runners and everyone who supported them for making sure that these refugees are not forgotten. 
Katherine and Kate cheering on our runners at Trafalgar Square. 
Paul and Gemma at the finish, both with very impressive finishing times!  
Gianna putting on her race number before the race, at Piccadilly Circus.

Source : http://www.irt.org.uk

High Commissioner for Refugees wraps up mission to Myanmar, Thailand

Source: Content partner // UNHCR 

BANGKOK, Thailand, July 13 (UNHCR) - UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ant�nio Guterres has concluded a five-day trip to South-east Asia with agreements in both Thailand and Myanmar that refugees should only return home voluntarily, in safety and in dignity - and should be able to stay home when they do go.

"We don't want the refugees of today to become the irregular migrants of tomorrow," he said.

Meeting Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, he thanked Thailand for its generosity in hosting tens of thousands of Myanmar refugees for more than two decades. The two reached "a solid agreement" that refugees should only go home when they choose to do so.

Earlier in Myanmar, Guterres told President Thein Sein and other senior officials that UNHCR supports peace-building in the south-east (the area from which refugees fled to Thailand) through assistance to displaced people.

"We are ready to help prepare for returns, which should be voluntary and carried out in safety and dignity, both of those displaced within the country and from the nine refugee camps in Thailand," he told the president and other authorities.

Both in Myanmar and in his meeting in Bangkok with the secretary general of Thailand's National Security Council, Wichean Potephosree, all sides agreed that the return of many of the 150,000 refugees now in nine camps in Thailand must be sustainable.

All sides also agreed to work together to create security, economic and social conditions on the ground to make returns successful and ensure that refugees will be able to make a living when they go back. "No one wants refugees to go home, only to have to flee again," Guterres said, "Or, worse yet, become displaced within their own country."

Less encouraging were recent disturbances in Myanmar's western Rakhine state, but there UNHCR has been delivering - and will continue to deliver - humanitarian aid to both displaced communities, Rakhine and Muslim, without discrimination.

"We believe that this can be a factor for reconciliation between communities and we hope that a situation will be established in Rakhine state with the rule of law prevailing, with a human rights-based approach," Guterres said.

The High Commissioner also expressed concerned for the status of the 800,000 stateless Muslims of northern Rakhine state.

He told President Thein Sein and the Myanmar government he hoped that - independently of possible improvements in the nationality law - nationality would be granted to the members of the Muslim community who are entitled to it under the present legislation.

"Others should receive a legal status that would grant them the full enjoyment of rights required to develop a normal life in the country," he added.

On Friday night, the High Commissioner was to travel to Ethiopia for the Africa Union summit and for a field mission on Monday to see conditions for refugees from Sudan's Blue Nile State.

By Kitty McKinsey in Bangkok, Thailand

Top UN Official Offers Ideas to Quell Ethnic Strife in Burma

Lisa Schlein

GENEVA — The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, is offering to help the Burmese government reconcile the Buddhist and Muslim groups in sectarian-torn Rakhine State.

Guterres, who is on a mission to Thailand and Burma, also known as Myanmar, has presented proposals to the Burmese president and other officials for bringing the two communities closer together.

The U.N. refugee agency reports a tense calm has returned to Rakhine State, a remote region in western Burma.  In May, violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine flared after three Muslims were detained following the rape and killing of a Buddhist woman.  More than 60 people were killed and thousands of homes destroyed in sectarian clashes that followed.

U.N. refugee spokeswoman Melissa Fleming says the UNHCR continues to view the unstable situation in Rakhine with concern.  She says Guterres conveyed these concerns to Burmese officials along with his offers of help.

“We would like to state that in Rakhine State we remain absolutely committed to delivering humanitarian assistance to both populations, the Rakhine and the Muslim without any discrimination," Fleming said. "We believe that this can be a factor for reconciliation -- this aid between the communities -- and we hope that the situation will be established there, with the rule of law prevailing and a human-rights based approach.”

At the peak of the ethnic fighting, hundreds of Rakhine Muslims fled across the Naf River to Bangladesh. Their efforts to seek refuge were frustrated when Bangladesh closed its borders.

Security forces reportedly pushed back refugee boats when they arrived on their territory, leaving hundreds of people adrift in the Naf River.

UNHCR spokeswoman Fleming said the situation of people fleeing across the border is no longer acute.

“We are absolutely monitoring this and hopeful that things will return back to normal and that relations between the two communities can be re-established," she said. "But, one of the festering problems is, of course, the statelessness situation, As the nationality law stands, it is based on ethnicity and it does exclude certain groups including the Muslim Rohingya population.”

Fleming says the UNHCR believes nationality should be granted to members of the Muslim community who are entitled to have it according to the present legislation.  And, others, she says should receive a legal status that would grant them the rights required to develop a normal life in the country.

On another issue, she says Guterres asked Burmese officials to clarify why 10 local U.N. and non-governmental aid workers were arrested last month, allegedly on criminal charges. The high commissioner also asked for access to three UNHCR staff being detained. 

 

Source : http://www.voanews.com

UNHCR Rejects Rohingya Resettlement Suggestion

---

Rohingya Muslims carry their belongings as they move after recent violence in Sittwe. (PHOTO: Reuters)

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has rejected an offer by Burmese President Thein Sein that the UN agency take responsibility for resettling Burma’s Rohingya community in third countries.

On Wednesday, Burma’s presidential office released a statement, citing that it will hand over responsibility for the Rohingya minority to the UN’s refugee agency in Arakan State, adding that it is also “willing to send the Rohingyas to any third country that will accept them.”

UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres, who met Thein Sein in Naypyidaw on Wednesday, told reporters at a press conference in Rangoon the following day that the UN’s resettlement program is totally unrelated to the situation in Arakan State.

Guterres said, “The resettlement programs organized by UNHCR are for refugees who are fleeing a country to another, in very specific circumstances. Obviously, it’s not related to this situation.”

The Portuguese diplomat said that the UNHCR does not discriminate and will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to both communities—Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese Buddhists—who have been affected by the recent sectarian violence in Arakan State.

The UN refugee agency estimates that 91,000 people have been affected by the violence and says 82 temporary camps have been set up to accommodate the displaced.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Kitty McKinsey, the regional spokesperson for the UNHCR in Asia, said, “Resettlement under the UHNCR program is only for recognized refugees. And people cannot be refugees in their own country. So it is not logical to talk about resettlement for people who are in their own country,” said McKinsey.

She also said that the UNHCR has no policy to register people as refugees if they are domestically displaced in their own country.

Apart from Rohingya issue, Thein Sein and Guterres also discussed plans for bilateral cooperation in handling the affairs of Burmese refugees at the Thai-Burmese border, as well as Kachin war refugees in northern Burma.

Guterres is planned to leave for Bangkok on Friday to meet with Thai Premier Yingluck Shinawatra to discuss the return of more than 150,000 Burmese refugees who are currently sheltered at nine camps along the Thai-Burmese border.

Source :http://www.irrawaddy.org