From the January 1998 issue of Diak

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January 1998 Diakonia
Jesuit Refugee Service Asia Pacific

In the brief ... Burma
by Jon Greenaway

With the new year beginning there is anticipation that SLORC's dry season
offensive against ethnic minorities last year will be repeated by its
successor the State Peace and Development Council. Yet while there are
suggestions that clashes are already escalating, the welfare of those who
choose to flee their homes in Burma are also affected by the policies of
Thailand's army and government.

November brought a change of government in Thailand and the new
administration promised that it would conduct its foreign policy in
accordance with the principles of human rights. However, despite new Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai's superior track record on the question of Burmese
refugees compared with his predecessor Chavalit Yongchaiyndh, this intention
may buckle under the weight of an ailing economy.

At the beginning -of December Bangkok announced that it would launch a crackdown
on illegal alien workers in Thailand. Estimates of their numbers vary but go
as high as one million. IJniversity research puts the proportion of illegals
that are Burmese at 75 per cent. The Government has chosen to discontinue
the temporary allocation of work permits to foreign labour as part of a
campaign to find jobs for Thais.

While technically a migrant worker is not a refugee, the distinction is not
so clear in the case of the Burmese. The Army divisions in control of the
Burma border have policed the camps in the last year under a policy of no
acceptance unless in the case of flight from armed conflict. This is part of
a process of deterrence that has stunted the development of conditions and
services in the new camps created from the consolidation of temporary
refuges that housed those who fled last year's offensive. Many Burmese thus
choose to work in Thailand instead of seeking the protection of the camps.

There is the hope that the new administration in Burma may not be a purely
cosmetic change and that something might come from dialogue with the Thai
Government in a working group established to deal with the problem of
refugees and migrant labour from Burma. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan met
with the head of Burma's military government at the ASEAN meeting in
December and informed him that the special envoy to Burma, Alvaro de Soto,
would be sent to Rangoon in January, the first trip by the envoy since 1995.
In other talks with Chuan, Kofi Annan also asked that Thailand distinguish
between refugees and illegal immigrants to avoid accusations of mistreatment

What effect the agreement between Thailand and Burma to officially demarcate
their border will have on the camps and the populations sheltering in what
is nominally Burmese territory also remains to be seen. 
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