The Karen Women Organization said that Thailand plans to send back the Karen, mostly women and children, in the next two weeks even though the area around their village is believed to be infested with land mines due to Myanmar's war with ethnic insurgents.
The group has issued an open letter to the Thai government, which they plan to deliver Friday, calling for any repatriation plans to be suspended. The letter has been co-signed by 75 Thai and Myanmar social action groups.
According to the Karen Human Rights Group, Thai soldiers have been visiting the refugees three times a day to pressure them with threats that they must leave by Feb. 15.
In interviews with the group, the refugees said Thai soldiers told them they would be forced to leave if they do not do so on their own. One refugee interviewed by the group quoted a soldier saying: "If you do not go back, we will ask big trucks to come pick you up and throw you all into the sea."
Thailand has said the Karen will not be sent back against their will.
Col. Noppadol Watcharajitbaworn, the local military commander in the Thai province of Tak where the refugees are sheltering, said a first batch of 30 families _ more than 100 people _ had volunteered to return to their village and would be sent back Friday.
"There is no forced repatriation as it's not our policy," he said. "The commander of Thailand's Third Army has given assurances that these refugees are volunteering. We will not force them back if they don't volunteer to go."
He said the area around their village was safe and land mines were not a problem.
A London-based human rights group, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, has said the refugees could face abuses if they go back.
"There is a severe risk that if they return, the Karen refugees will be subjected to severe human rights violations, including forced labor and rape" by Myanmar government troops, Benedict Rogers, a spokesman for the group, said in an e-mailed statement.
He said the situation was an urgent one requiring immediate international attention, and called on Thailand to continue to provide the refugees with shelter and protection.
"These people must not be returned until they can do so safely, and that will only be possible when Burma is free and at peace," he said.
Myanmar has faced ethnic rebellions along its borders since the country, then called Burma, became independent in 1948. The Karen insurgent group, the Karen National Union, has been fighting for more than 60 years for greater autonomy from Myanmar's central government, but its strength has dwindled over the past decade due to army offensives and divisions within its ranks. Critics accuse the Myanmar government of abusing civilians during its insurgency campaigns.
There are about 160,000 long-term refugees staying at Thai camps along the border with Myanmar.
Source :http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1173022&lang=eng_news
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