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Thailand

Field Reports  In-Depth Reports  Letters & Testimonies

Overview
Thailand is a Buddhist country of 60 million people with a strong economy and an at times troubled constitutional democracy. Over the past two decades, its geography, politics and economy have caused it to play reluctant host to hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighboring countries.

Current Humanitarian Situation
Today, 150,000 Burmese (of various ethnic groups) reside in 9 Thai temporary displaced persons camps assisted by the Thai Burmese Border Consortium and UNHCR. Hundreds of thousands of other Burmese, particularly the Shan,live as illegal migrants without access to refugee status or assistance despite having experienced persecution and conflict in Burma. 6,000 Laotian Hmong asylum seekers are being held in an Army supervised camp at Petchabon, without any access to UNHCR or resettlement. The Thai government permits UNHCR to facilitate the international resettlement of Burmese registered in camps, and over 50,000 have been resettled, mainly to the United States, to date. However, the government has given no indication of when it will be able to screen the 70,000 unregistered camp dwellers or assess the claims of thousands of other asylum seekers outside these camps.

Nongovernmental organizations have been providing sorely needed humanitarian assistance cross-border to many of the conflict ridden areas of Burma with displaced populations. RI supports the continuation of this life saving assistance.

Action Needed
The international community should encourage Thailand to retain an open door for persons fleeing persecution. Thailand needs to revitalize its Provincial Admission Boards to screen the claims of Burmese asylum seekers under international refugee protection principles and permit UNHCR to aid asylum seekers. The US and the international community should continue cross border humanitarian assistance to Burmese at risk and work with Thailand in supporting programs that aid refugees who are not resettled to obtain the needed education, skills and mobility to become self-reliant and productive temporary residents of Thailand. The UN and the international community should urge Thailand not to deport Laotian Hmong until independent monitoring of returnees can be put in place.

 

Photo shown above taken by John Baynard, World Witness Project

Field Reports
  • Thailand: New Problems Challenge Old Solutions
    09/30/2009
    Burmese refugees have been living in Thailand for more than two decades. The situation is fluid: resettlement programs have provided tens of thousands of people with new lives, while a new wave of conflict in Burma is changing the political landscape and forcing thousands of new refugees to flee into Thailand.
  • Statelessness: International Blind Spot Linked to Global Concerns
    09/02/2009
    When world leaders gather to address hot issues such as security, governance, poverty, discrimination, human trafficking, and climate change, they invariably skirt around one of the problems that links them all: statelessness. Taking steps to uphold the nationality rights of the more than 12 million stateless persons around the world could go a long way toward responding to these inter-related challenges.
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In Depth Reports
  • Futures Denied: Statelessness Among Infants, Children, and Youth
    10/22/2008
    Statelessness, or the lack of effective nationality, impacts the daily lives of some 11-12 million people around the world. Perhaps those who suffer most are stateless infants, children and youth. Though born and raised in their parents’ country of habitual residence, they lack formal recognition of their existence.
Advocacy Letters