Burmese Refugees

It is said of wars that no side wins, there are no winners?

Well in today's world war is big business, not only for arms dealers etc but also for aid agencies and governments who "care" for the refugees of war torn countries.

I recently visited friends in the Maela refugee camp on the Burmese/Thai frontier. It was just a visit to see old friends from Burma, and no more than that. However what I witnessed and heard over the following five days was too much to keep to myself. It is impossible to imagine people living under such conditions in 2012 and some of them have been living there for twenty years, and still they are told they cannot construct their homes with anything but bamboo and leaves because they are temporary dwellings.

They have no running water. They have little or no sanitation. Unless you call the hole they dig next to their "home" sanitation. They live in a stench of raw sewage that after six days I was ready to run from!

The rivers and streams are black and blocked with plastic bags of rubbish. Children as young as four years old walk around barefoot in search of plastic bottles to sell to recycling businesses. Yes there is business amongst the sixty thousand inhabitants, some are wealthy business people who drive cars and live as normally as possible under such conditions. Most of the other plastic waste is burned in the evening. The kids ignorant of the dangers of breathing in the fumes sit next to the fire and play games. Poultry and pigs meanwhile rummage through the rubbish.

The rations are 12.5 kilos per month per adult, and 7 kilos per child.  Half a litre of cooking oil per person, a small amount of dried beans and corn make up the rest. If you don't show your face on time at the ration shed you get nothing for the month and must rely on the kindness of neighbours. And their rations are slim enough without having to share. The quality of rice is not what is originally sent. So where does the good rice go?

Since 2006 over thirty thousand have been relocated, the majority going to the USA. However the rations for these thirty thousand refugees still arrives at the camp, or somewhere in the region? This I cannot prove! But the question needs to be asked and answered!

Those who have electricity pay up to 18 baht per unit for electricity excluding 21% Thai VAT where as Thai people only pay 3 baht per unit.

The UNCHR have made no registrations since July 2006 so there are thousands of refugees without rights or hope of a new life in a new country. Those who have registrations can either choose their preferred countries, but take the chance of being separated from the parents or siblings. It's not uncommon for some family members to be sent to different countries causing more upheaval and distress. I met one man who came back after three years in the USA. He said it was too difficult to be away from his wife and children. I met one young lady whose family were sent to America but because she was "outside" working she missed the registration. She was forced to go "outside" in order to support her family because the UNCHR rations are not enough to live on. She is now left alone in a camp where there is no law enforcement and rape and other crimes are common.  In another sad case a 13 year old was left alone in the camp when her mother died, and her next of kin were all in the USA.  In one area of the camp locals told me of one man who has raped at least three women and is still at liberty.  So this young lady not only has the misery of missing her family, she also lives in fear every day of being attacked. She is not the only lone person!

The so called security officers have no power, and are often inebriated.  

Most of the farm workers I saw leaving the camp are women with young babies who go to work in the fields for 70 baht per day, the men get 100 baht. The national minimum is 300 baht per day. These workers have to navigate carefully when returning to the camp because when they're outside the camp they are at the mercy of the Thai military, who can threaten them with prison or deportation unless they pay a fine ie hand over their days wages.

The young people born here have no rights to a Burmese or a Thai passport, thus there are ever increasing numbers of "Stateless" people.

So it seems slavery is alive and well in Thailand, and even promoted.  This story is not unusual or rare, but it should not be allowed to continue. Who can stop it, and how?