Thai Human Rights Officials Visit Karen Camps

MAE SOT, Thailand — The Thai National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) visited Karen refugees at Naung Bwa and Mae U Su temporary camps on a fact-finding mission on Thursday.

Officials spent about an hour in each camp and interviewed some of the residents at both camps.

This week, Thailand canceled plans to return 3,000 Karen refugees to their homes in an area where there has been heavy fighting between Karen rebels and Burmese forces. The plan was abandoned after heavy criticism by nongovernmental organizations and the international community.

“The general conclusion we got was that the refugees want to return home but not now,” Boonthat Verawonswe of the NHRC told The Irrawaddy.

“At the moment, they don’t feel safe going back home. They are worried about landmines, the DKBA and the recent shooting which took place in the area.”

Recently, Thai authorities said that no refugees would be forced to return to Karen State against their will.

“There is no forced repatriation as it’s not our policy,” Col Noppadol Watcharajitbawom told The Associated Press.

Boonthat Veraongse said he believed that the Thai authorities have stopped forcing refugees to return, but he said some pressure to return might still exist.

“We weren’t told directly by the refugees that they had received pressure from the Thai authorities. They said that officers had told them they had been in Thailand for eight months, and it was time for them to go home.”

Boonthat Veraongse said that healthcare and sanitation were issues for the refugees. The U Su camp has access to a river, he said, but Nu Poh experiences frequent water shortages.

Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Rachanan Thananand said this week that the area from which the refugees fled in June 2009 is clear of landmines, according to information it had received from the Burmese side of the border.

On Monday, officials with the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines told The Irrawaddy that they were concerned for the refugees because of the presence of landmines in and around their villages.

Commenting on landmines, Boonthat said that the landmine situation is not clear, but it was a major concern of the refugees.

“When we met with people from the Mae Tao Clinic they told us in 2008, under 50 people were injured by landmines, but last year it was more than 100. That says something about the landmine situation.”

Asked what recommendations the NHRC had for the Thai government, he said, “We need to keep focusing on the non-refoulment policy and for the general safety and well-being of the refugees.”

The NHRC will present its recommendations to the government on Tuesday.

“The NHRC is giving the government the opportunity to share their information with us so we can have a dialogue. Some of our officers will tell them what we think they should do, and they will tell us what they can and cannot do. We need to make sure these people are safe.”

Three Karen families were sent back to their village, Ler Per Her, in southern Karen State on Feb. 5, but later re-entered Thailand, saying they felt unsafe in Ler Per Her and were afraid of landmines.

Some 3,000 Karen refugees were due to be repatriated by the Thai army by Feb 15. However, the plan was suspended following criticism by human rights groups and the international community.

TBBC has reported that 300 refugees have returned to their homes in Burma from Mae U Su temporary camp.

On Feb. 4, a number of US congressmen sent a letter to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva requesting that Thailand halt the repatriation of the refugees. In the letter, they said that “these refugees will suffer horrific human rights abuses” if forced to return.