Karen Refugees Have a White Christmas in Ireland

CASTLEBAR, Ireland — After fleeing an army campaign of human rights abuses in eastern Burma, a group of Karen refugees celebrated a white Christmas this year in the snowbound west of Ireland.

“Every now and then, the military comes through our village and asks my mother, 'Where is your son?'” said Po Hta. His mother tells them that he is in Thailand.

But that's no longer true.

White Christmas in Ireland in December 2009. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)

As a teenager, Po Hta fled Burma in 1994, spending a couple of years in Bangkok before the Thai authorities moved him to Ban Don Yang refugee camp in the north. He spent 10 years there, before being sent to Ireland in 2007 under a UN refugee resettlement program

Now he calls a friend in Bangkok every few weeks, who keeps in touch with his mother, mother and son pass information back and forth through the friend.

Po Hta, who asked that his real name not be used, is part of a group of 100 Karen refugees who resettled in Ireland two years ago. Estimated to number around 7 million of Burma's 56 million population, with another 400,000 Karen native to Thailand, the Karen are both Christians and Buddhists. Of the six Karen who met wit The Irrawaddy in Castlebar, Po Hta was the sole Buddhist.

The Karen army has fought the Burmese army on and off since the country gained independence from Great Britain in 1948 and ordinary Karens have suffered government army counter-attacks and reprisals.

Karen are the largest refugee group among the 140,000 Burmese refugees in camps along the Thai-Burma border. Hundreds of thousands are among the more than 3 million Burmese economic migrants in Thailand.

“The army comes to villages looking for the Karen rebels, and anyone who they decide has anything to do with rebels is often tortured or killed,” said Po Hta.

Another refugee, Nay Tun, said, “The army comes into a village or region and takes the men away to work as 'porters,' but they are really slaves.”Po Hta said his uncle died while working as an army “porter.”

“We do not know what happened to him,” he said. “but we heard many stories from other refugees who were taken—being beaten, working 16 to 20 hours a day in the jungle, very little food or water.”

Karen refugees receive English language training certificates in Castlebar. (Photo: Karen-Ireland Association)

According to a Harvard University report “Crimes in Burma,” human rights abuses in Burma are widespread, systematic and part of state policy. The report concluded that the abuses justify further investigation and suggested that Burma’s military regime may be committing crimes against humanity and war crimes under international law. Karen refugees have fled what the report terms “widespread and systematic sexual violence, torture and summary execution of innocent civilians.”

Nay Tun said: “We spent three months hiding in the forest and slowly making our way to the Thai border. Usually it should only take four days walking to reach the frontier, but we had to move carefully and slowly, in case the army saw us.”

“After that we spent 10 years in the camp. The Thai authorities would not let us leave the camp, so for 10 years we were totally dependent on the assistance given by agencies and NGOs such as the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium.”

Little wonder, perhaps, that refugees jump at the chance to make a new life elsewhere. “I applied for resettlement in 2005, but I joined a long waiting list,” said Nay Tun.

It took two years for her turn to come, and when she was told she would be sent to Ireland, she said that she knew little about the country.

“When we arrived in Ireland we spent two months in Ballyhaunis (site of the National Refugee Orientation Center), where we learned about the country's culture, history, law and practical things about everyday life.”

Two years on, all say they are happy with life in Ireland—aside from the ubiquitous complaints about the weather.

“Life is different here compared to Burma, so different,” said Phaw Kweh, another refugee. “In Burma, there are farms, in Ireland there are farms.