As many as 2,000 Karenni villagers made homeless by Burma Army offensives since 2006 are still without official refugee status in neighboring Thailand.   

Some of the refugees have arrived as recently as March this year. They are without official recognition and have to survive on handouts.   

A policy shift by the Thai government towards refugees and a lack of official clout from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, have left these people vulnerable and without official access to shelter, food and security.   

In the past, Thailand had a commendable record on its treatment of refugees on its borders. But, since 2009 it has used the military to determine its border policies towards refugees.  

Recently, Thailand’s military has overseen the ‘voluntary’ repatriation of Karen refugees north of Mae Sot back to Burma, as well as the heavy-handed treatment of Rohingya refugees from Burma and Bangladesh in 2009 and the forced repatriation of H’mong refugees back to uncertain futures in Laos.  

Thailand is not a signature to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, but it does have an obligation under the international law of non-return of persons to places where they are at risk.  

The international humanitarian organization, Human Rights Watch, said in its latest report (2009), Thailand had failed to deliver its promises on human rights.  

Thailand’s recent policy shift and recent crackdown on refugees has drawn international and regional criticism. The critics include US Senators, Thai legal representatives and even local community based groups.  

Meanwhile, while international human rights groups, the UNHCR and governments debate what is right for refugees, Mee Meh, a Karenni villager who fled fighting in eastern Burma in March this year says: 

A Karenni teachers juggles a large refugee school class.jpg

“My husband was killed by the army, my village was destroyed, my farm has been abandoned. I had no choice; I came to Thailand for the safety of my four children.”

Mee Meh, 35, was not alone in seeking safety in Thailand.  

“There were 115 of us. It took us a week to get to Thailand. We hid, slept in the jungle. We worried about army patrols, landmines and we worried we’d get lost. We carried some food, but most we got from the jungle.”  

Mee Meh felt safe when she first got to Thailand, but that security quickly disappeared, when she was denied official recognition as refugee by the Thai authorities.   

Mee Meh now stays in temporary accommodation at Ban Mai Nai Soi, Camp One, north of Mae Hong Son, on the Thai Burma border.  

“Now, I only think one day at a time. I borrowed money. I have no way to pay it all back. I have no clothes, I rely on people sheltering us, I have a little food for my children. No organization helps us. I rely on handouts from friends.”   

Ban Mai Nai Soi, Camp One, has 13,631 men women and children registered as refugees who are entitled to food, clothing, shelter and protection.   

There are another 727 unregistered residents. And, since December 2010, a further 1,174 people have arrived, in search of safety.  

Mee Meh learns to weave .jpg

The Thai Burma Border Consortium said in their latest report - Protracted Displacement and Militarization in eastern Burma - that as many as “…470,000 people are currently estimated to be internally displaced in the rural areas of eastern Burma alone.”  

The TBBC report says 3,500 villages have been destroyed or forcibly relocated since 1996, including 120 communities between August 2008 and July 2009.

That’s as many as 75,000 people.   

The TBBC compares it to the situation in Darfur and says it is “…the strongest single indicator of crimes against humanity in eastern Burma.”   

The TBBC report identifies landmines and Burmese army patrols as the biggest threat to villagers.   

Camp officials at Ban Mai Nai Soi agree with the TBBC assessment of the dangers for villagers in Karenni state and said:  

“The Burmese army has land mined the villagers farms and walkways. It’s dangerous.”  

Mee Meh is afraid to go back to her old village as the Burma Army has accused her and her husband of helping the Karenni Army.  

“Since my husband was killed by the [Burma] army there is no one to work our land and support us, what can we do?”