Heavy fighting between Kokang and Myanmar government troops was the main reason why an estimated 100,000 refugees initially fled to China in February 2015. Now continuing persecution by Myanmar troops camped near their villages is preventing many of these refugees from returning home, the statement said.

Refugees described to SHRF how Myanmar troops were continuing to commit abuses against civilians, including arbitrary arrest and torture, sexual violence, looting of property, and forced labour.  Myanmar troops have also laid landmines along border paths, injuring refugees trying to return home, the statement said.

SHRF spoke to refugees from over 20 villages (in northern Laogai and Konkyan townships), who said their villages were either completely deserted or with only a few inhabitants temporarily staying to look after their farms. They said conditions were similar south of Laogai.

Stuck in China, but with no access to official refugee camps, which were closed down by the Chinese authorities last year, over 20,000 refugees are sheltering in makeshift camps just inside the Chinese border, surviving on donations from volunteers and wage labour in nearby farms. Many more have scattered to find work elsewhere in China.

SHRF said it was concerned that the ongoing Myanmar Army persecution of Kokang civilians and resulting refugee crisis is being ignored, both inside Myanmar and internationally.  A UNOCHA update issued in January 2016 downplays the severity of the crisis, giving a figure of only 4,000 Kokang refugees left in China, the statement said.