The Nation - 15 deported women rape

[OKKAR66129@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Re: The Nation - 15 deported women raped by Burmese troops

Thais say firms spreading Myanmar rape rumours
(AGAIN THE MILITARY DENIES THE FACTS)

By Somchit Rungchamrasmi

  
MAE SOT, Thailand, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Thailand said on Tuesday local
employers of illegal Myanmar workers were spreading false rumours about
the fate of deported migrants, including killings and rapes, to stop
their repatriation. 

Thai deputy national police chief General Sant Sarutanon, responsible
for the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of illegal Myanmar
workers, told reporters such ``tricks'' would not stop the deportations. 

Thailand's Bangkok Post and Nation newspapers quoted unidentified
sources this week as saying 15 women deported from Thailand were raped
in the Myanmar jungle on Saturday. 

``The reports of Myanmar soldiers raping returnees may have originated
from some employers who want to put pressure on the government to stop
repatriating illegal workers,'' Sant said. 

``I think some ill-intentioned people have spread the rumour about rapes
and killings merely to legitimise Myanmar workers' continued presence in
their factories so they can exploit the cheap labour,'' he said. 

``APPALLING FABRICATIONS'' 

RP-NOTE: AGAIN THEY DENY AND REFUSE TO ACCEPT THE FACTS.

On Monday, a statement from Myanmar's military government called the
newspaper reports ``appalling fabrications.'' 

But the National Council of the Union of Burma, a border-based grouping
of opponents of Myanmar's military government, called on the United
Nations, diplomats and non-government organisations to investigate the
accusations of ill-treatment immediately. 

``The military dictatorship is not only refusing re-entry to these
workers but also shooting to kill and arresting them and torturing them,
they are in grave danger,'' a statement said. 

``Some are on the run in the jungles ... facing starvation. Some are
stranded on the sandbars in the middle of the river ... thousands of
Burmese workers are facing grave danger.'' 

Thailand last week restarted a programme to repatriate more than 600,000
illegal Myanmar workers employed mainly in low-paid jobs in the farming
and fishery industries. It has rejected employers' complaints that the
workers are essential for Thai industry. 

``More than 10,000 of them have been repatriated since last week,''
Major Chanwut Watcharapuk, deputy chief of the immigration department,
told a news conference in Mae Sot on Tuesday. 

BORDER SHUT AFTER EMBASSY SIEGE 

The move to repatriate the workers came after Myanmar shut the border
with Thailand when five armed Myanmar dissidents seized Yangon's Bangkok
embassy on October 1 and held 89 hostages for 25 hours. 

Thailand ended the siege peacefully but angered Myanmar by allowing the
attackers free passage to the frontier, which has stayed closed. 

Chanwut said about 60 percent of the those deported had returned, but
not because of threats from Myanmar soldiers. 

``Large numbers of them returned to Thailand because some employers had
not yet paid their salaries, so they came back to receive their
payments,'' he said. 

Thai officials estimate that in Mae Sot alone about 100,000 illegal
Myanmar workers have been employed in garment and canning factories and
their employers are trying to keep them. 

``The reports of rapes and killing came from the people who lost the
benefit of exploiting the cheap labour. But their tricks will not stop
officials from doing our duty. The repatriation will continue,'' Chanwut
said. 

Thailand, hit hard by economic crisis for the past two years, used to
host about one million Myanmar workers until late last year when it
repatriated about 300,000. 

Authorities began rounding up illegal Myanmar workers two weeks ago and
are expected to keep most of them in holding centres until the main
crossings along 2,400 km (1,450 mile) border are reopened. 

Repatriation is bound to have repercussions on Thailand's cottage,
agricultural and fisheries industries, especially along the border where
employers are dependent on cheap labour. 

02:05 11-09-99


In a message dated 11/9/99 9:35:29 PM Bangkok Standard Time, 
tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

<< The Nation - Nov 9, 1999.
 Headlines
 
 15 deported women raped by Burmese troops
 
 FIFTEEN women deported under the Thai government's campaign to repatriate
 illegal immigrants were raped by Burmese soldiers, while two other deportees
 were reported to have drowned in an attempt to swim back to Thai soil.
 
 Suchart Wisuwan, president of Tak Chamber of Commerce, said that he was
 informed that the women were raped by the soldiers shortly after they
 reached their homeland.
 
 ''Besides, I have learnt that two Burmese illegal workers who were forced to
 leave Thailand across Moei river in Tak province, drowned while trying to
 swim back. They did not want to go back to Burma,'' Suchart said.
 
 Two women who said they were raped, identified as Sanda Win and Ma Aye, both
 17, are among 400 deported Burmese who managed to return to Thailand and are
 now being detained in Tak's Mae Sot district.
 
 Thai Rath, a mass circulation newspaper, quoted Sanda Win as saying that she
 and 1,000 other Burmese were repatriated by boat on Saturday. However, they
 could not land on the Burmese side of the Moei river because the soldiers
 stationed there refused them entry. The boats then left them on an islet in
 the river.
 
 Sanda Win said that during the night, around 10 Burmese soldiers forced her
 and others to leave the islet for the river bank at gunpoint and raped them.
 They were released in the morning and decided to escape back to Thailand.
 
 The Thai government has claimed that about 10,000 Burmese illegal workers
 have already been deported under the repatriation programme that started
 last week.
 
 However, Pol Maj Gen Charnwut Watcharapuk, deputy immigration police
 commissioner, said that about 40 to 60 per cent of the deported workers had
 managed to return to Thailand.
 
 Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart said the government could not contact
 the Burmese government to discuss the repatriation. However, he insisted
 that the government had to deport the illegal immigrants, whom Thailand has
 had to support for a long time.
 
 ''We could not contact Rangoon about the repatriation. But we will continue
 sending them back home as we can no longer bear any burden from their
 presence,'' he said.
 
 ''I have already instructed governors of the border provinces to impose
 strict measures to prevent the Burmese illegal workers from returning,'' he
 said.
 
 
 The Nation
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