Instances of Refoulement -- Human

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

Burma/Thailand No Safety in Burma, No Sanctuary in Thailand 
Part III

Human Rights Watch/Asia
July 1997
Vol 9, No. 6

Instances of Refoulement 

At Bong Ti, Sal Yo District, Kanchanaburi Province

On February 24, 1997, villagers who had been evacuated by the KNU in
anticipation of SLORC's imminent arrival in their villages were allowed by
the Thai authorities to cross from Burma into Bong Ti village in Thailand.
The following day, the men from this group were separated from the women,
children, sick and elderly by soldiers from Thailand's Ninth Division. The
230 men were then loaded onto trucks and taken to a point on the Thai border
further south known as Pu Cam Rawn, directly opposite the KNU 4th Brigade
headquarters at Htee Kee in Burma, an important objective for the Burmese
army, to which they were advancing rapidly. From this point the men were
forced back into Burma by soldiers of the Ninth Division and told either to
fight the SLORC troops or surrender to them. That same day SLORC troops were
shelling Htee Hta, a village situated only thirteen kilometers from Htee
Keel Two days later Htee Kee itself fell to the Burmese army.

These men had a well-founded fear of persecution. By virtue of living in
KNU-controlled areas, they were perceived as supporters of the KNU. They
were returned by the Thai authorities into an active conflict zone, in clear
violation of international standards.

On February 25 and 26, the 900 women, children, sick and elderly who had
crossed into Bong Ti were loaded by the Ninth Division onto private logging
trucks in two batches and taken to an area in Suan Phung District in
Ratchaburi Province, Thailand. From this point, they were forcibly
repatriated to Burma. Soldiers of the Ninth Division pointed out where they
had to walk and gave them no choice but to return to Burma. They congregated
at a place known as Htaw Ma Pyo Hta, an old tin mining area. The refugees
had no idea where they were being taken when they left Bong Ti and at Htaw
Ma Pyo Hta found themselves at the Burmese army's next objective along the
border, having taken Htee Kee.

One man in his late seventies, who was interviewed by Human Rights
Watch/Asia in June 1997 in a refugee camp in Thailand, spoke of how he had
fled from his village of Amoh in Burma as SLORC troops were approaching. He
was allowed access to Bong Ti, but said that after one or two days the men
were separated from the others in the group.

"I was lucky because I was old. I was not in this group of men who were
trucked away."

He then recounted how he, together with the others remaining in the refugee
group, was trucked to a heavily forested site in the area of Htaw Ma Pyo
Hta. He had been able to take many of his possessions with him to Bong Ti,
but had to leave most of them behind when he was loaded onto the truck. He
spoke of how he could not stay at Htaw Ma Pyo Hta as the Burmese army arrived:

"I ran along the border. I did not think that the SLORC troops would pursue
us, but they did. I fled to a point on the border called Meh Pya Kee and
from here I was able to cross into Thailand."

>From the time he left Htaw Ma Pyo Hta, it took him seven days before he was
able to cross into Thailand, during which time he passed through eight
villages inside Burma, pursued by government troops.

The Ninth Division pushed back a smaller group of refugees on February 28,
1997 in the area of Htaw Ma Pyo Hta, having fled from Amla Kee in Burma to
the Thai border.20 They were taken in two trucks to a point on the Thai side
of the border and Thai soldiers ordered them to walk across the border into
Burma. A relief worker sought permission from the Thai authorities for two
people in this group who were in need of medical assistance to be
transferred back to Thailand for hospitalization, but permission was denied.

At Pu Nam Rawn, Kanchanaburi District, Kanchanaburi Province

As the KNU evacuated the villages in the area of Htee Kee, persons fleeing
from the second prong of the government attack along the Paw Klo river, west
of the Tenasserim River, also arrived at the border after walking for
several days through the jungle and across the mountains. By February 24, a
group of some 2,000 people had gathered at the Thai border, adjacent to Pu
Cam Rawn in Thailand. At the border post, Thai Border Patrol Police screened
the refugees as they attempted to cross into Thailand. Some 500 males were
refused entry to Thailand and told to return to Htee Kee.

Human Rights Watch/Asia interviewed a fourteen-year-old boy, in a refugee
camp in Thailand, who was in this group:

"I and my brother both went to school in Htee Hta, where we lived with my
aunt. My brother is thirteen. The KNU told the whole village that we would
have to leave, as the SLORC were attacking the area. I could hear the sound
of mortar shells and heavy weapons. The whole village left together and we
fled first to Htee Kee and from there to the Thai border. The walk to the
border from Htee Kee took about two hours. I was with my aunt and brother.
When we arrived at the border we saw that there were Thai officials waiting
there. They pointed at some of the males trying to cross the border,
including me, and said that we could not come across. My aunt and brother
were allowed to cross the border. I cannot express what it felt like to be
separated from my relatives, but I was very unhappy. I have suffered a lot.
I then walked back to Htee Kee with a group of four or five other people who
had also not been allowed by the Thai officials to cross into Thailand. The
people in the group I was with ranged in age from thirteen to seventeen
years old."

He also described how he and the others had to leave Htee Kee as the Burmese
army began to attack it. He heard the mortar shells landing in the village
as they fled. They then started a perilous journey along the border on the
Burma side, walking through the jungle for at least seven days until they
reached Htaw Ma Mah, where they stayed for two weeks on the Burma side of
the border. They then moved to Ke Ma Kee, again inside Burma. From this
point, they were allowed to cross into Thailand to Huay Sut refugee camp.
His brother and aunt, from whom he was separated at Pu Nam Rawn, were in Pu
Muang, a different refugee camp in Thailand. At the time of the interview,
three months later, they had still not been reunited.

In addition to the refusal of entry to Thailand by the Thai authorities at
the border, which clearly constitutes refoulement, 21 Thai soldiers of the
Ninth Division also screened the refugees who had already entered into Pu
Nam Rawn before the Border Police had started screening at the border post.
They picked out an estimated one hundred boys, some as young as ten, who
were told they must return to the Burma side of the border. Again, this
group had to make the dangerous journey along the border inside Burma before
being allowed to cross into Thailand at a point further south.

On February 25, 1997, Major General Thaweet, Commander of the Ninth
Division, visited the sites at Bong Ti and Pu Nam Rawn and told the refugees
that they would only be allowed to stay in Thailand for two to three days.
On the same day, two officials of the U.S. Embassy were refused admission to
Bong Ti and Pu Nam Rawn. 22

At Bo Wi, Kanchanaburi District, Kanchanaburi Province

In early July 1997, a group of at least 150 people fleeing from inside Burma
gathered at the border in the area opposite Ho Wi in Thailand where the
Ninth Division refused to let them cross the border into Thailand.

At Tho Kah, Sangkhlaburi District, Kanchanaburi Province

Tho Kah is situated inside Burma close to the Thai/Burmese border. There
have been internally displaced Karens and Tavoyans at this site since April
1995. From the time the Burmese army's offensive began in the KNU's 4th
Brigade area, the number of people at Tho Kah has swelled to over 2,000. As
the SLORC troops approached Tho Kah, the people at the site fled on foot to
the border. They crossed into Thailand on February 28, 1997. On March 10,
1997, this group was pushed back across the border into Burma by the Ninth
Division. They were too frightened to go back to Tho Kah, given the
proximity of the SLORC troops, so they stayed on a hilltop nearby.
Government troops immediately started shelling this area, with some shells
landing on Thai soil.

On April 12, 1997, government troops overran the Tho Kah site and the
refugees were allowed to enter Thailand and stay in an area known as Mong
Soe Mine, very close to the border. On May 19, 1997, this camp was closed
and the refugees transferred to another site in Thailand, Don Yang. By then,
there were only some 800 to 900 people left at the site, the majority having
left this insecure and vulnerable camp. A man recently interviewed by Human
Rights Watch/Asia, who in April/May 1996 had fled human rights abuses in
Tavoy District and had settled at Tho Kah, spoke of how the Thai authorities
would not let him and others from Tho Kah cross into Thailand for more than
a month, despite being in real danger from advancing SLORC troops.

At Htee Hta Baw/Htee Lai Pah, Sangkhlaburi District, Kanchanaburi Province

The original site of this camp which straddled the border was at Htee Htaw
Bah. It was established in 1992, and in early February 1997 its population
was 2,300. On February 15, 1997, shortly after the offensive by the Burmese
army began in the KNU 6th Brigade area, the population of the camp fled to
the Thai side of the border. Two days later, on February 17, 1997, soldiers
of the Ninth Division pushed them back to the Burma side of the border. On
February 20, 1997, troops of the Burmese army entered Htee Hta Baw camp.
Some of the refugees fled to Htee Lai Pah, which is also situated inside
Burma. The Burmese army then appeared to advance on Htee Lai Pah, quickly
outflanking the KNU troops in this area.

The refugees again fled to the border where they were held on the Burma side
at gunpoint by soldiers of the Ninth Division until February 27, 1997, when
they were finally allowed across to Thailand. They settled in the Thai
village of Htee Lai Pah.

On March 9, 1997, these refugees were moved by soldiers of the Ninth
Division back to the border and some were repatriated. It was reported by a
relief worker in the area that some were beaten up by Thai soldiers for not
voluntarily going back. The remaining refugees were forced to move on
numerous subsequent occasions by the Thai army. When they were moved to Don
Yang on May 20, 1997, the refugees had been moved an estimated ten to
fifteen times. Only around 700 refugees remained, representing a "loss" of
over 1,500 refugees. An estimated 600 of these went to Nu Pho, a refugee
camp in Tak Province but the fate and whereabouts of the others are unknown.

The border is not clearly demarcated in this area and given the number of
times this group was moved by the Ninth Division of the Thai army, it is
difficult to say how many times this group of refugees was actually
returned. However, it is clear that refoulement occurred on at least two
occasions and that the group was held in the border area in a extremely
exposed and vulnerable position for three months.

At Don Yang, Sangkhlaburi District, Kanchanburi Province

On the orders of the Ninth Division, refugees from Tho Kah and Htee Lai Pah
were moved to a new refugee site at Don Yang on May 19 and 20, 1997. By the
end of May, the population of the camp was 1,552. A considerable number of
people who were at the sites of Tho Kah and Htee Hta Baw/Htee Lai Pah in
early February 1997 were separated from the main groups of refugees in the
course of the numerous moves they were forced to undertake, including the
final relocation to Don Yang. Despite this, the Ninth Division has said that
beginning in June 1997, the camp would be closed to new refugees, including
those who had originally been in Tho Kah or Htee Hta Baw.

The closure of Don Yang has blocked access to a group of over 2,000 people,
mainly Karens, gathered at a village inside Burma called Htee Wah Doh in an
area opposite the camp of Don Yang, close to the Mon camp, Halockhani, which
is also situated inside Burma. Human Rights Watch/Asia interviewed three
heads of families from Htee Wah Doh who had fled from their villages because
of human rights abuses perpetrated by SLORC troops who entered and occupied
their villages during the course of the government offensive in the KNU 6th
Brigade area. The group may also contain people separated from the refugee
groups at Tho Kah and Htee Lai Pah/Htee Hta Bawl

Htee Wah Doh clearly was not a safe place for this group of displaced
people. On May 11, 1997, some one hundred government soldiers, with forty to
fifty porters, entered the Mon camp, Halockhani. They set up two checkpoints
in the camp and began charging entrance and exit fees. The people in
Halockhani camp were very frightened and some tried to move out of the camp,
either into Thailand or further north along the border inside Burma.
Initially, the commander said their purpose was to demarcate the border and
discussions proceeded with the Ninth Division. However, after two days the
commander of the SLORC troops said they needed to stay in the camp to fight
Karen insurgents in the area. The NMSP, which has a cease-fire agreement
with the SLORC, reportedly wrote to the Burmese army's South East Command
headquarters in Moulmein asking that the troops be withdrawn immediately. On
May 15, 1997, the troops were ordered to withdraw to Three Pagodas Pass, a
point further north along the border and outside Mon state. The SLORC troops
moved towards the village of Htee Wah Doh but were headed off by the NMSP
before they entered the village. The troops then returned to Three Pagodas
Pass.23

On June 1, 1997, a delegation of five people from Htee Wah Doh walked to the
Thai border checkpoint adjacent to Don Yang to seek access to the camp. They
were told that the camp was closed to new arrivals and that the Thai
authorities would not consider any people arriving at the border from the
beginning of June 1997 to be refugees as there was no longer any fighting in
the area. By July 8,1997, this group was still stuck on the Burma side of
the border, in a vulnerable position with very limited access to medical
services or other humanitarian assistance.

In Pranburi Area, Hua Hin District, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province

As the SLORC troops moved further south along the Thai/Burmese border in the
Tenasserim Division and began attacking the headquarters of the KNU's 11th
Battalion at Ler Ker, villagers fled from this area to the border. On March
10, 1997, some one hundred villagers crossed the border into Thailand in the
area adjacent to Pranburi. On March 15, 1997, they were told by the Thai
army that they could not remain in Thailand and they were forced to return
to Burma. They joined approximately 300 others who had congregated on the
Burma side of the border. This group was eventually moved to Huay Satu, an
isolated site a six-hour walk from the last border check point inside
Thailand. At the end of May 1997, this site housed some 1,548 refugees on
the Thai side of the border.

It was at this site that a group of some 400 families connected with the
Mergui-Tavoy United Front (MDUF), another rebel opposition group, was
forcibly repatriated by the Thai army to the Burma side on the border on
June 5, 1997. This group contained a large number of women and children.24

Towards the end of June 1997, the refugees at Huay Satu received threats
from the Ninth Division that they would be forced to move to the Burma side
of the border by the end of June 1997. A representative from the U.S.
Embassy in Bangkok visited this group of refugees on or around June 19, 1997
and was informed by those refugees he was able to speak to that they did not
want to return to Burma. This representative was reportedly informed
subsequently by the Thai Army that there were no plans to repatriate this
group of refugees.25 A few days later, soldiers of the Ninth Division went
to the camp and tore down the plastic sheeting used by the refugees for
their shelters. The soldiers then ordered the refugees to cross the border
into Burma. The refugees had no choice but to do as they were ordered. On
June 26, 1997, SLORC troops came right up to the border on the Burma side
and this group together with some new refugees fled back across the border
to Huay Satu in Thailand. On June 29, 1997, soldiers of the Ninth Division
went to Huay Satu and told the refugees that all of them, apart from the
pregnant, sick and elderly, had to return to Burma or move to Don Yang camp.
All except 220 people were then repatriated by the Ninth Division. At the
time of the repatriation, both the UNHCR of rice in Bangkok and a NGO were
refused access to the site by the Ninth Division whose officials claimed
that the river in the area was too high and the security situation unclear. 

In Thap Sakae area, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province

As the Burmese offensive swept further south in the Tenasserim Division,
fighting commenced between its troops and MAMD in April. A group of some 800
Mon crossed into Thailand sometime in April 1997 to a site near the border,
some nineteen kilometers south of Thap Sakae. The numbers there had
decreased by June 6, 1997, with only 300 to 400 Mon remaining at the site.
On that day, the Thai authorities repatriated this entire group directly
into the hands of a local Burmese army commander. The Thai authorities
invited both Thai television cameras and the UNHCR to be present at the
repatriation. It is unclear what steps, if any, were taken by the Thai
authorities to establish whether the refugees were willing to return to
Burma. An announcement over a loudspeaker was made before the refugees were
loaded onto trucks that anyone who did not want to return should step aside.
This is not sufficient to establish voluntariness on the part of the
refugees. Thirty of the families which were repatriated expressed their wish
not to return to a AGO which was present. It would appear these refugees
were returned. 27

The UNHCR reported that a letter had been sent by the head of this group of
refugees to General Chetta stating that they consented to return to Burma.
However, a letter of this nature clearly does not establish that each of the
refugees was willing to return; clearly a letter from a purported leader
cannot be taken to represent the desires and wishes of each of the
individual refugees within the group. The use of such a mechanism cannot
establish voluntariness on the part of the refugees and its use should be
strictly avoided.

The role of UNHCR's local representative who was present at this
repatriation was unclear, and UNHCR Bangkok did not make public their
objection to the repatriation even though it appeared to fall far short of
the relevant standards. 

20 "U.S. Ambassador to be Summoned Over Karen,' The Nation, March 2, 1997;
Gordon Martin, Uncertainty and Despair: The Plight of Karen Refugees on the
Thai-Burmese Border, (London: Parliamentary Human Rights Group, May 1997), pp.5.

21 It is important to note in this regard, Excom Conclusion 6 (XXV111) on
non-refoulement which reaffirms the "fundamental importance of the
observation of the principle of non- refoulement - both at the border and
within the territory of a state..."

22 See Martin, Uncertainty and Despair: The Plight of Karen Refugees on the
Thai-Burmese Border. Amnesty International Urgent Action, (London: Amnesty
International, Index ASA 03/02/97, February 26,1997).

26 Conversation between Human Rights Watch/Asia and the Mon National Relief
Committee on June 4,1997.

24 Information received from a relief worker who was in the area and met
with members of this MDUF group as they were walking towards the border.

25 Reported in a private conversation with Human Rights Watch/Asia.

26 Reported to NGO workers by those refugees remaining at Huay Satu who
requested anonymity.

27 See the open letter of Human Rights Watch/Asia of June 30, 1997 to the
Thai Prime Minister expressing serious concerns and seeking clarification in
relation to this repatriation.

28 On July 4,1997, Human Rights Watch/Asia along with Refugees
International, U.S. Committee for Refugees, Jesuit Refugee Service USA, and
Christian Aid wrote to the International Protection Division of the UNHCR in
Geneva to express their concern about UNHCR's role in this repatriation.

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