Guest post by Hiram Ruiz, DCF’s Director of Refugee Services.
He will be contributing a series of blog posts over the next week
detailing his trip to Asia, where he is spending time with refugees.
The
Burmese have not had basic human rights for many decades, leading to
hundreds of thousands of Burmese fleeing their country. However, in the
past few months Burma’s military rulers have taken steps towards
democracy and political reform.
They freed revered opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi
from her years-long house arrest, permitted elections that elected her
to Parliament, and allowed her to leave the country on a trip that
included a stop to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Suu Kyi also paid a
brief but historic visit to Mae La refugee camp in Thailand.
Hiram showing photos of Burmese refugees in Florida to the Mae La camp Refugee Committee Leader.
Burmese refugees in Mae La and other camps are closely following
developments in their homeland and wondering what the implications are
for them. Is the change real? Is the Burmese military really going to
permit further democratic reform? Even if there is real change in
Rangoon, the capital, will the Burmese military end its decades-long
repression of ethnic minorities? Or is it all a façade?
The answers to these questions will determine the refugees’ future.
If democracy takes hold in Burma and the government allows ethnic
minorities to live freely, the refugees may be able to finally return
home. But what if the apparent change in not genuine? And what impact
will current developments in Burma have on the U.S. and other countries’
plans for future resettlement of Burmese refugees?
Hiram Ruiz meeting with leaders of the Karen Refugee Women's Asociation
Among the refugee leaders I met in Mae La refugee camp and Mae Sot
town were the head of the Karen Refugee Committee in Thailand, the head
of the Refugee Committee in Mae La camp, and leaders of the Karen
Women’s organization. Their views varied, though all remain wary.
They welcome the recent developments in Burma, but while some think
they offer a glimmer of hope, others believe that the Burmese military
is unlikely to end its repression in ethnic minority areas. Many
believe, however, that the international community will continue to
respond positively to the Burmese government’s moves (U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton visited Burma recently, the first high-level
administration official to do so in many years) and that there will
start to be pressure for the refugees to be allowed back into their
countries.
Burmese refugee students at work in Mae La camp school
With the eventual closure of the camps now on the horizon, some
refugees in the camps who had not made up their minds whether to apply
for resettlement to the U.S. or other countries are now beginning to
decide. Even the head of the Refugee Committee in Mae La told me he and
his family had applied for resettlement to join relatives in North
Carolina.
Resettlement is not an option for most, however. For some time, the
U.S. has only offered resettlement to refugees who have been registered
in the camps since 2005 and it is likely that future resettlement to the
U.S. will be limited to refugees who have immediate family members
already in the United States.
Next post:
At Mae La, I met one young woman already accepted for
resettlement in Jacksonville, a family of four who have immediate family
in Florida and may be eligible for future resettlement, and a man whose
uncle lives in Jacksonville but who is unlikely to qualify for
resettlement because he arrived in the camps after 2005 and his uncle is
not considered an immediate family member.
http://blog.myflfamilies.com
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