More than 20 community-based organizations called for better protection for Burmese refugees who are on Thai soil due to clashes between Burmese government troops and breakaway Karen rebels on the Thai-Burmese border.
The rights groups also released an appeal letter to international governments calling for more support to refugees on Thai soil who fear to return to their homes in an area where fighting has broken out repeatedly since Nov. 8, one day after the Burmese general election.
According to intelligence sources with the rebel Karen National Union (KNU), the Burmese regime is reinforcing its troops in Palu village in Myawaddy Township and more fighting is expected.
Five people reportedly have died and at least 27 have been injured, according to rights groups, since the most recent fighting broke out.
Many villagers have repeatedly fled to safety in Thailand, while others have gone into hiding in the jungle.
On Nov. 8, during the conflict in Myawaddy Township on the border opposite Thailand’s Mae Sot, more than 25,000 refugees sought temporary shelter on Thai soil. The refugees were forced by the Thai army to return home the following day, however.
Due to repeated conflicts, some 10,000 refugees in Three Pagodas Pass and about 2,500 from Waw Lay village also fled separately to other parts of Thailand in Tak Province. Hundreds of villagers are still being displaced on the Thai-Burma border along the Moei River, said the rights groups.
The letter, signed by Dr. Cynthia Maung, the founder of Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot, said that there is a strong likelihood of continued or increased armed conflicts not only in Karen State but also in other ethnic areas along the border.
The letter called for a concrete plan for Thai authorities and nongovernmental organizations to provide the necessary protection and assistance to a civilian population fleeing armed conflicts until it is determined that it is safe for them to return home.
The umbrella group also called on the Burmese government to ease all hostilities and provocative actions against ethnic communities and to engage in tripartite dialogue with ethnic and opposition representatives.
In the Thai parliament, Kraisak Choonhavan, the director of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC), said, “I am deeply concerned about the situation of these refugees on Thai soil. According to information received, the provision of humanitarian aid and the process of repatriation of recent refugees from Burma do not abide by international humanitarian and human rights standards.”
Despite the Thai government's statements that there will be no enforced repatriation of refugees until the situation stabilizes, it has been reported that refugees in Mae Sot and Pop-Phra, in Tak Province, have been pressured by the Thai Army to return to Burma and were told that the fighting has ended, according to a statement released by the AIPMC on Dec. 8.
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