UNHCR presents first draft of Myanmar repatriation plan

Karen refugees at the Mae Surin refugee camp in Khun Yuam district in Mae Hong Son province on March 13, 2013. (Photo by Thiti Wannamontha)

BAAN MAE PA CAMP, TAK — The UN refugee agency unveiled a draft plan this week detailing how to carry out the voluntary repatriation of 110,000 refugees residing in this province’s camps, drawing mixed reactions from their leaders.

Thailand currently has more than 110,000 refugees from Myanmar residing in nine camps along the border. Open for more than 30 years, recent talks of repatriation has sent shockwaves through the camps as refugees remain wary about Myanmar's nominally civilian government. There are still reports of fighting within various parts of Myanmar, including Karen state, where the majority of the refugees are from.

The draft document, titled Operations Plan for Voluntary Repatriation, was presented by Iain Hall, senior coordinator for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, during a closed-door meeting to roughly 70 camp leadership members on Tuesday, along with relevant NGOs,Democratic Voice of Burma reported on Wednesday.

Held every three months, this meeting is for various stakeholders working on refugee issues along the border to air their concerns and needs.

This plan comes at the heels of a Strategic Roadmap for Voluntary Repatriation, released earlier this year, which deals more generally with the principles of the voluntary return of refugees, should they choose to take that step.

The operations plan presented on Tuesday provided more details to facilitate the return, such as transportation logistics, helping people with specific needs (like children, elderly, and those who are disabled), and ensuring voluntariness among refugees.

Blooming Night Zan, the joint general-secretary of the Karen Refugee Committee, which oversees camp management in seven of the border camps, said in a terse e-mail that the KRC does not intend to help UNHCR with the operations plan. Her main concerns were that "(the KRC is) not involved or participating in it, and it is not ours," she said in the email.

Bweh Say, first secretary of KRC, struck a more conciliatory tone. "We do have a little bit of worry because first we talked about the strategic roadmap and now we are moving towards an operations plan," he said. "But we do trust UNHCR because I think it is important to know where we are going and what is in our future."

"Our concern is more about how the camp management will figure in the operations plan," he added, reiterating that KRC's policy on repatriation is that it should only happen when there is a signed national cease-fire agreement and "genuine peace."

Luiz Kaypoe, first secretary of the Karenni Refugee Committee -- which oversees the two Karenni camps in Mae Hong Son -- agreed, though he thinks the plan comes a little too soon.

"At the same time, they are following the plans of both governments -- the Thai and the Burmese -- because after the election, if something happens and the refugees are given the green light to return, [the UNHCR] would like to catch up on that," he said, referring to Myanmar's national poll scheduled for Nov 8.

"For us, we are not very sure about the strategy yet, but when they present the plan it's a little bit concerning for us," he added. "We don't want them to push the refugees."

Mr Hall, the UNHCR senior coordinator who presented on Tuesday, explained that this came about because the UNHCR has had specific questions in recent months on what should be done if a refugee were to decide to voluntarily return. He declined to provide the specifics, saying that it is only the first draft.

"We've been saying for the last two or three years it's too early to do planning, but in the last six months, people have been talking more and more and we've had specific requests, so we said 'Let's start planning'," he said. "UNHCR made very clear yesterday that if refugees don't feel comfortable about the planning, then we will stop."

Mr Hall added that just because there is a draft plan does not mean that repatriation is imminent. "Even if we complete the document in the next six months, they might not go home for the next six years," he said.

"We don't know -- it doesn't depend on our plans; it depends on peace and politics, and there's no peace," Mr Hall said. "But if there is peace, and politics sort itself out, we will need to be ready if the refugees start to decide when to go home."

Patrick Kearns, the chair of the Committee for Coordination of Services to Displaced Persons in Thailand -- a joint organisation made up of 19 NGOs working on camp issues -- said that the general consensus among the camp leadership, the UNHCR, and NGOs is that the time now is not appropriate to consider a large-scale return. That being said, Mr Kearns believes that it is important to begin planning should refugees choose to return on their own.

"The consistent message is nobody is in a hurry to have a finished document," he said. "But there is a necessity now to start to address these questions to begin looking at what the needs are."

http://www.bangkokpost.com

Angelina Jolie takes her human rights crusade to Burma

Angelina Jolie takes her human rights crusade to Burma: Hollywood star and UN special envoy shakes hands with the president before meeting refugees and political prisoners on south east Asia tour 

• Angelina Jolie Pitt arrived in Burma straight from Cambodia this morning
• It has a horrific human rights record and brutally oppresses opposition 
• Personally invited by former political prisoner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
• She hopes to shine a light on human rights, sexual violence and democracy 

By JAMES DUNN FOR MAILONLINE

Angelina Jolie today met the President of Burma as part of a trip to meet high-ranking officials and the victims of a country with a poor human rights record and a history of political unrest.

It's her first visit to the country and is part of a tour of south east Asia in her role as a UN special envoy, promoting human rights, and as part of work to counter sexual violence worldwide.

She was personally invited to the troubled country by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the opposition in the dictatorship, who was put under house arrest by the Government for a total of 15 years. Jolie visited her during the trip.

Rare meeting: Un Envoy Angelina Jolie shakes hands with the president of Myanmar, Thein Sein, at the presidential palace earlier today. She hopes to shine a light on human rights abuses and sexual violence

Angelina said: 'I am looking forward to meeting with many people including women’s groups, civil society, displaced people and youth, to learn firsthand from them about their concerns and hopes for the future of their country.

'With elections on the horizon in November it is an important moment for people to exercise their democratic rights and help to address the fundamental issues critical to a peaceful future.' 

This morning she arrived in the country, also known as Myanmar, and met President Thein Sein and high-ranking members of the military government at the presidential palace.

Sources close to Mrs Jolie Pitt said she used the opportunity to talk about prominent issues in the country, including sexual violence, a lack of transparency and child soldiers.

But she will also be visiting members of the political opposition and will carry out field visits to displaced people in Myanmar’s conflict-affected states.

The source, who has been travelling with the UK special envoy party, said that Burma is one of 130 nations that signed up to an agreement to address sexual violence as part of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative.

Yet it has taken no concrete steps to address the issue and lags behind countries such as Somalia, the Central African Republic and Kosovo, who admit to having problems but are making better progress.

The source says addressing sexual violence is high on her agenda, as she is dedicated to stamping out the use of 'sex as a weapon' in conflicts.

Between now and Saturday, when she leaves Burma, Mrs Jolie Pitt will also visit members of the political opposition, who have been severely oppressed over the years, and refugees.

She will meet local people who are working on human rights and inter-faith relations, and groups carrying out projects to promote women’s rights, voter education and participation ahead of the forthcoming elections. 

Arrival: As well as high-ranking members of government, she will also be visiting members of the political opposition and will carry out field visits to displaced people in Myanmar’s conflict-affected states

Human Rights Watch says that the President's Cambodian People's Party has made often violent attempts to silence political opposition and has a history of taking political prisoners.

The Government controls the judiciary which means people have no legal recourse to the oppression, according to Human Rights Watch, and protest has been made illegal.

But it is hoped that Mrs Jolie Pitt's unique status as a non-Government party will help 'shine a light' on the country's problems in a way other organisation's can't.

The source said: 'She will be telling senior figures that they have similar interests, and if they truly want to become a democratic country, the onus is on them to address these problems.

'It is an amazing opportunity to get into Myanmar which not everyone gets so Angelina will be using it to meet as many different groups as she can and try and open a dialogue on these issues.'

Angelina Jolie Pitt has been following the situation in Myanmar closely since her first visit to Myanmar refugees in Thailand in 2002, and many subsequent visits to the region to focus on these issues.

She arrived in Burma from Cambodia, where she was visiting health, education and conservation projects funded by the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation since 2003.

She was beginning preparations to direct the film First They Killed My Father based on a child’s experience of the years of turmoil in the country.

Angelina and husband Brad Pitt adopted their son, Maddox, in 2003. He is originally from Cambodia.

During her visit to the country, she reportedly told reporters Maddox is her son but also 'a son of Cambodia'.

Rights groups condemn Malaysia’s human-trafficking upgrade ‘to ease TPP’

In May, mass graves of Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi illegal immigrants were found in the village of Wang Kelian, Perlis, along the Malaysian-Thai border. Rights groups say Malaysia has failed to suppress trafficking despite the United States upgrading its human-trafficking status. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, July 29, 2015.Human rights groups have roundly criticised Malaysia’s upgrade to the so-called "Tier 2 Watch List" status from Tier 3 in the annual report on human trafficking, reports the BBC today.

The United States upgraded Malaysia in an annual report on human trafficking on Monday despite calls by human rights groups and nearly 180 American lawmakers to keep the Southeast Asian country on the list of worst offenders in failing to suppress trafficking.

Malaysia's improved rating on human trafficking was an affirmation of the country's efforts to address the issue, newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times today.

Rights groups said the decision removed a barrier to President Barack Obama's 12-nation Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, which contained an anti-trafficking clause.

Malaysia is one of the TPP parties.

On Monday, the State Department said while Malaysia did not fully meet minimum standards to eliminate trafficking, it was making significant efforts to do so, citing a proposed strengthening of anti-trafficking laws and a more than doubling in trafficking investigations.

In May, mass graves of Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi illegal immigrants were found in the village of Wang Kelian, Perlis, along the Malaysian-Thai border. The village was described as a hotbed for people smugglers.

Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch told the BBC that convictions for trafficking were lower than last year and, citing the mass graves as an example, adding that trafficking and abuse of migrants were still done "with impunity".

"How can the State Department call this 'progress'? This upgrade is more about the TPP and US trade politics than anything Malaysia did to combat human trafficking over the past year," he was quoted as saying.

Workers’ rights group Tenaganita said with only “three traffickers convicted for forced labour, corruption at its highest level and the existence of policies that continue to suppress the migrant and refugee communities in the country”, it was “baffled” over the reasons for Malaysia’s upgrade this year.

It said the US government made 14 recommendations to Putrajaya in its report last year but “very few recommendations were followed through”.

Confiscations of passports, it said, remained a huge area of concern with employers often advised by agents as well as government officials to withhold the passports of their workers.

The non-governmental organisation also highlighted the issue of forced labour in the palm oil industry.

The BBC also reported US-based Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking as saying the upgrade "lacked credibility" and accused the US of "allowing political interests to influence how governments are held accountable".

A group of 25 rights groups have also sent a joint letter to Secretary of State John Kerry supporting the move to retain Thailand in Tier 3. Bangkok has been accused of not doing enough to stem the Rohingya migrant crisis, which saw thousands fleeing Myanmar for Thailand. – July 29, 2015.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

72 indicted on human trafficking charges in Thailand

72 indicted on human trafficking charges in Thailand.Picture: Getty Images

Seventy-two people, including an army general, were Friday indicted in Thailand on human trafficking charges.

According to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), the suspects were involved in a ring that smuggled Rohingya refugees from Myanmar through Thailand to Malaysia and Indonesia.

“The investigation shows this is a big network that had a system for transporting people through the country,” said Wanchai Roujanavong, an OAG spokesman, at a press conference.

“The OAG are treating this case very seriously.”

Among those indicted by the OAG are Army General Manas Kongpaen, four policemen and powerful local politicians who Wanchai say will also be charged with negligence of duty.

The network came to light last month after investigators discovered mass graves of Rohingya refugees at a trafficking camp in southern Thailand.

The ensuing outcry led the government to crack down on human trafficking networks, sparking a humanitarian crisis with thousands of migrants being stranded in boats off Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The Rohingya say they suffer discrimination in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, which does not recognize them as one of the country’s official ethnic groups, and considers them illegal Bengali immigrants.

The OAG say that as many as 30 more suspects are still at large.

DPA

Source : http://thenewage.co.za

Shahidan says refugees must go through Immigration, not UNHCR

KUALA LUMPUR, July 25, 2015

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim has expressed his disappointment at the number of Rohingya refugees in the country who only aim to get UNHCR cards without going through Immigration. — Reuters/Antara Foto pic

Immigrants that enter the country must go through Immigration and not just aim to get their refugee cards from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim expressed his disappointment at the number of Rohingya refugees in the country who only aimed to get UNHCR cards without going through Immigration.

“The Rohingyas that enter the country without their passports will be categorised as illegal immigrants (PATI), but they end up going to the UNHCR office to get their refugee cards without the knowledge of the Home Ministry,” he said at his Hari Raya open house function today.

He said if the matter continued, Malaysia would be the main destination for those who flee their countries.

“The cost of RM6.50 a day is also being absorbed by the Home Ministry and their presence is a burden.”

He said Malaysia on humanitarian grounds allowed these people to stay in the country temporarily before they were deported back or to another country.

“We must remember that UNHCR card holders enjoy privileges like unrestricted movement and free from being detained unless involved in crime.

“They are also not deported unless they volunteer to go back.

“According to UNHCR statistics, as of April 30, there are 152,832 refugees in Kuala Lumpur from 23 countries.

Of these, refugees from Myanmar were the most at 138,775, and 45,170 of them were Rohingyas.

Refugee students learn life’s lessons

Close to the Burmese-Thai border, young Karenni refugees study desperately to gain acceptance into universities worldwide. But with talks of repatriation echoing through the camps, it’s unsure how long they are to stay there.

It’s 9am on a Tuesday, and the usual noisiness that accompanies school mornings rings out across the village of Do Ki Ta.

Ranging in age from late teens to early twenties, the students of the Karenni National Community College (KNCC) make their way from the Burmese refugee camp of Ban Nai Soi, located on the Thai side of the eastern Burmese border, to their classrooms.

Some have walked for an hour and a half to get to school. Others have come on motorbikes, a 45 to 50-minute journey across muddy, uneven roads which are dangerously flooded during the monsoon season.

Lucky students like 20-year-old Nyereh are housed in one of the college’s few bamboo hostels dotted about the village. But now that Burma’s ethnic rebels are in the final stages of signing a ceasefire agreement with government, talks of repatriation are echoing through the refugee camps along the border, and it is unsure how long they can remain there.

Nyereh flicks through his workbook, quickly revising before class starts. (PHOTO: Melanie Keyte).

Like many others, Nyereh’s family fled his home in the eastern state of Karenni (also known as Kayah) when he was a small child to escape the ongoing conflict between the regional ethnic group, the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), and the Burmese army, a seemingly never-ending civil war that has taken a huge toll on the local population for generations. Like many others, they are now under pressure to return to the home they were forced out of.

Since the 2012 announcement of a ceasefire agreement between the KNPP and the Burmese military, those displaced by conflict have been ordered to return to their home villages.

However, many of the students say this is impossible.

“I want to help my community back in Karenni, to give back to them once I am educated,” Nyereh said.

“But we can’t go back to Myanmar [Burma]. We have no food, no land, no home. And no peace.”

Similar to numerous other ethnic armies across the nation, the KNPP has been fighting government forces since Burma’s independence in 1948, causing mass displacement of Karenni people for nearly 70 years.

Ariana Zarleen, a co-founder of Burma Link, an agency which aims to empower Burma’s ethnic nationalities and displaced people, said that as genuine and lasting peace is currently nowhere in sight, outside agencies should not be discussing refugee return.

“Any repatriation taking place in the near future is likely to lead to involuntary return, either directly or indirectly through cutting off aid,” she said.

Most recent figures from The Border Consortium (TBC), a non-governmental organisation dedicated to providing support to refugees along the Thai-Burmese border, say that 11,546 people are sheltering at the Ban Nai Soi camp, with 95 percent being of Karenni ethnicity.

According to TBC’s data, some three to four percent of the Ban Nai Soi camp population has been repatriated to Burma since 2012, including more than 4,600 refugees who returned in 2014.

Muyein’s English class is silent, as students concentrate hard on their work. (PHOTO: Melanie Keyte).

Duncan McArthur, TBC’s Partnership Director, said that while there may be an increase in refugee return this year, movements are likely to remain tentative.

“The general consensus amongst international observers is that conditions are not yet conducive for an organised and large-scale voluntary return of refugees,” he said.

“Although there has been a significant decrease in fighting, the peace process is yet to address the underlying causes of insecurity and injustice.”

While McArthur hypothesised that the upcoming elections may mean more opportunities for the potential return of refugees to their homeland, he remains wary of the risks associated.

“There is also a risk of further reductions in humanitarian aid for refugees if donor governments focus on the democratisation process and ignore the complexities of resolving ethnic conflict and displacement,” he said.

McArthur’s predictions are aimed into the future, but the Karenni college is already feeling the effects of this push for repatriation.

Elizabeth (Mimar) dreams of her small college being recognised as a proper university. (PHOTO: Melanie Keyte).

KNCC founder Mimar, commonly known as Elizabeth, explained that as fighting dies down in their home states, Ban Nai Soi’s youngsters are encouraged to move back to Burma and continue their studies there. Their refusal to do so means students’ graduation certificates from KNCC are no longer recognised in Burma or Thailand.

“They say Myanmar is safe now, and we don’t need a school here anymore, so this education does not count. Now, to study further, our students need a Thai or Burmese high school certificate,” she said.

“Students must try harder to earn scholarships internationally, but this is very competitive. Many students are losing motivation to study, because their graduation certificate won’t count.”

Loki, one of the college teachers, helps a student with her classwork. (PHOTO: Melanie Keyte).

This is not to say that the community college’s only goal is to get their students into university. KNCC also aims to equip young people with skills to develop their communities back home, should they return to Burma.

In addition to the standard mathematics, science and English courses, students take classes on ‘active citizenship’, which discusses the need for everyday people to engage in the nation’s political sphere, as well as social and community development.

According to Elizabeth, these lessons are particularly important as it seems increasingly likely that graduates will have to return to Burma once they have completed their education at KNCC.

“We want to give the students education so they are able to contribute to their community, in working with a non-government organisation or running their own [social development] projects,” she explained.

“They gain more confidence at college, and want to help their communities, but we still have doubts about the peace and safety in Burma. We don’t see many things changing.”

Indeed, this is the consensus coming from most of the young adults and teens at KNCC. Whilst many retain a cautious optimism that the political situation in Burma is improving, realities such as continued landmine usage, arbitrary detention of ethnic villagers and vicious crackdowns on public dissent keep the students wary of any so-called ‘reforms’.

KNCC students must study English, mathematics, social studies and basic computer skills in addition to other electives. (PHOTO: Melanie Keyte).

By the end of 2011, which is the most recent estimate given by the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor Myanmar, more than 3,240 people had been killed or injured by landmines since recording began in 1999, predominately in Shan, Karen and Karenni states.

In December 2014, the Karenni Civil Society Network reported an increase in Burmese military outposts, personnel and arms, and accused the army of confiscating over 3,000 acres of farmland to build a military school.

Furthermore, as Burma Link’s Zarleen points out, conflict has escalated in northern Burma in 2015, a fact entirely contrary to talk of peace and safe return.

“At the moment, the Burmese military is waging a war and committing war crimes in northern Burma,” she said.

“As long as the fighting is happening and the Burmese military uses brutal tactics targeting civilians in any part of Burma, it is only a matter of time until these same atrocities are brought back to other parts.”

Understandably, TBC’s McArthur said, the ongoing militarisation of rural villages by Burmese government units somewhat undermines refugee confidence in returning to their homes.

TBC believes if refugees are able to make informed choices about their return, and are consensually repatriated, they can make significant contributions to the recovery of their conflict-affected communities in their home states.

Regardless, Komeh, a 19-year-old student in her final year of study at KNCC, said a return to Burma does not feature in her future plans.

“I want to go to Chiang Mai [in Thailand], and study further there,” she said.

“Then, maybe I will come back here to be a teacher. In Burma, we cannot get a good education, and we have many problems with [a scarcity of] teachers here, so I want to help.”

In the college hostels, teens and young adults cook their own dinners using fresh produce from neighbouring farms. (PHOTO: Melanie Keyte).

Aspirations like these help Elizabeth’s dream of a fully-functional university inch closer to realisation. With more teachers and international recognition she hopes to open up the world to students graduating KNCC.

“We need this education, to keep our language, our culture and our communities. And of course to give our students a better and a different future to what they might have had,” she said.

But for the time being, said Elizabeth, all the college needs is for other countries to recognise her students’ graduation certificates so these young adults can move on from the Ban Nai Soi refugee camp, and continue with their lives.

The tuna in your sandwich might be the result of slave labor in Thailand

By Nidhi Prakash

Refugees fleeing Myanmar are being forced to work in Thai fisheries, which then export their products to countries like the United States and the U.K., an investigation by the Guardian revealed today.

The latest report by the Guardian found that Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are forced into slavery on Thai fishing operations. Since 2012, some 10,000 Rohingya have been displaced as the Myanmar government cracks down on the Muslim minority in the west of the country, according to Human Rights Watch.

“The Rohingya refugee crisis is a man-made crisis and it’s designed on purpose to court anti-Muslim sentiment and groups inside Burma as part of the regime’s campaign to try and win some kind of support for the [November] elections,” Simon Billenness, executive director of the advocacy group U.S. Campaign for Burma, told Fusion.

The refugees are held captive by traffickers who either pick them up when they’re desperate and on the run by boat, offering shelter and dry land, or abduct them from refugee camps in Myanmar. They’re then held for ransom and face a grim future on a fishing trawler when their families can’t pay.

“When men or boys [held in traffickers’ camps] are unable to pay…to secure their freedom they are often sold to fishing boats for use in slave labour. This has been happening for decades. It’s a situation in the Thai fishing sector that’s been going on since the ’90s, at least as far as we can tell,” Matthew Smith, director of Bangkok-based human rights group Fortify Rights told the Guardian.

The Guardian first broke the story of exploitation in Thai fisheries last year, when it uncovered slave labor practices at Thai fisheries producing shrimp that ended up in supermarkets in the U.S. and the UK., including Walmart and Costco. More recently, the Associated Press found similar practices in Indonesian fisheries, with some of the products imported for Kroger, Albertsons, Safeway, and Walmart.

In response to the investigation, representatives for Walmart and Costco said they were taking action to make sure their suppliers stopped using slave labor. Walmart signed up to Project Issara, a coalition of retailers and non-profits working to put an end to slavery in Southeast Asia.

America imports around 90% of its seafood, according to Fishwatch, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration initiative. In 2013, that added up to 2.4 million metric tons from farmed and wild caught seafood.

But how can we tell if the seafood we’re buying is from one of these slave labor fisheries?

It’s hard to pin down the exact supply chain, the Guardian found, especially with this most recently uncovered slave labor from Burma. There’s no publicly available direct breakdown of which fisheries are supplying U.S. companies, or which companies import from Thailand and Indonesia.

Getting seafood importers to declare their sources and guarantee that slave labor is not used would be a step in the right direction, Billenness told Fusion–but that’s something that’s only going to happen if consumers (that’s us) care enough to do something about it.

He says we should think about not just boycotting products we suspect might have come from slave labor fisheries, but actually reaching out to the company and government in charge.

We should be “asking those companies and asking those governments, ‘what are you doing to make sure that this doesn’t happen in the future?’ Simply not buying something doesn’t send that kind of direct message,” he said.

http://fusion.net