Groups working with/for refugees from Burma/Myanmar
Websites/Multiple Documents
Description:
"In 2008, the International Rescue Committee launched aid programs in Myanmar (also known as Burma) following the devastation wrought by Cyclone Nargis. Today, the IRC provides health, water and sanitation, livelihoods and social development programs in some of the most remote areas of the country including Rakhine, Chin and Kayah states"
Source/publisher:
International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Date of entry/update:
2009-02-15
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
Search for "Myanmar"
Source/publisher:
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
Date of entry/update:
2008-06-04
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
Figures back to December 1998
Source/publisher:
The Border Consortium (TBC)
Date of entry/update:
2012-12-24
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Groups working with/for refugees from Burma/Myanmar
Language:
nglish
more
Description:
"The Information Management Common Service Portal is open to all humanitarian organizations as a way to help disseminate information that will assist refugees - in the nine Temporary Shelters located along Thailand?s border with Myanmar - in reaching freely informed decisions concerning their future lives, including the possibility of a voluntary return home. The information will be up-to-date and accurate, of a non-political and impartial nature concerning the socio-economic, human development and humanitarian activities taking place in southeast Myanmar."
Source/publisher:
UNHCR
Date of entry/update:
2014-02-11
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
Burmese, English, Karen
more
Description:
"Very useful site, well-structured, with lots of material on IDPs and refugees..." .....Now the site has been re-organised and I find it difficult to find stuff.
"TBBC is a registered charity in England and Wales, a consortium of nine international NGOs from seven countries providing food, shelter and non food items to refugees and displaced people from Burma. TBBC also engages in research on the root causes of displacement and refugee outflows. Programmes are implemented in the field through refugees, community based organisations and local partners.
With increased focus on a rights based approach, the organisation is committed to meeting international humanitarian best practices..
The organisation is based in Bangkok, Thailand with field offices in Mae Hong Son, Mae Sariang, Mae Sot and Sangklaburi. "
Source/publisher:
The Border Consortium -TBC (formerly the Thailand Burma Border Consortium - TBBC)
Date of entry/update:
2006-07-27
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English, Burmese
more
Individual Documents
Description:
"The following is an edited version of a speech by Zoya Phan, Programme Director at Burma Campaign UK, at the launch of Refugee Week at the University of East Anglia on 3rd March 2023.
Thank you so much for inviting me back to speak here again. It is a great honour for me to be back at the University of East Anglia.
Refugee Week can be an emotional time for me. It makes me think back on my experiences as a child and young woman.
When I was 14, the Burmese military attacked my village in Karen State, Burma. We all had to flee for our lives. We were lucky, we escaped, we walked through the jungle for weeks before we reached a refugee camp in Thailand. It was the first time I became a refugee. Before then, I had no idea what a refugee was and I had no understanding of the concept of being a refugee.
The second time I became a refugee was two years later, after we had moved back to Burma to try to rebuild our lives in a new place, but that was also attacked by the Burmese military. We had to run through the night back into Thailand. Back into the refugee camps. I thought in my heart, no, not again, I don’t want to be a refugee again. But I had no choice.
The third time I became a refugee was here in the UK, after coming to the UK to study. I became politically active against the Burmese military, and it was not safe for me to return to Thailand because of death threats, let alone Burma.
The theme of compassion for this refugee week is a good one. It focuses on the positive. At every stage of my journey as a refugee people with compassion have helped.
People from my own community, the ethnic Karen people of Burma, formed committees to help Karen refugees. They organised food, shelter and medical support. They made sure children had an education. International donors played a part, and international people came to help.
When I came to the UK, I was met with compassion from friends I made here at this university, from the university itself, which was my first home in the UK, and from Karen and Burmese refugees already in the UK.
Without this support, I cannot imagine my life. I would probably have died years ago.
But while focusing on the compassion that has been so important to us as refugees, we must also focus on the lack of compassion that many governments and institutions have shown to refugees, because this must be challenged and it must change.
When I was a refugee in Thailand, we were not given official refugee status. There was no pathway to work, integration, or making a life in Thailand, even though there was no hope of returning home to Burma. Instead we were made to construct barbed wire fences imprisoning ourselves, fences still there decades later. Thailand, like many countries, hasn’t signed the Refugee Convention.
And the truth is, when I claimed asylum here, the Home Office treated me with no compassion at all. Staff were rude and threatening, my application took years, leaving me stateless and in fear, unable to start a new life. The process was as traumatic as when I ran through the jungle at night with Burmese military mortar bombs shaking the ground as they attacked us.
I am always amazed and inspired by the compassion that so many people have to help others, I could not have survived without it.
But I am disappointed as well at how refugees are treated.
Cuts in aid budgets mean refugees abroad have rations cut, and children who have already been through so much will go hungry.
Governments and media spend more time publicly attacking those seeking asylum than they do terrorists and criminals.
And asylum seekers in the UK are still banned from working, despite the right to work making sense morally, economically, and having majority public support.
If the Nationality and Borders Bill was in place when I claimed asylum, I would have been turned down. There are no legal pathways for people from Burma to come to the UK for sanctuary.
But my hope for positive change is here. It means so much to me seeing many of you here. People with compassion. People who have no personal reason to give your time and effort to help refugees, but do so because you care.
We have to change public attitudes, and we have to change laws. And we will. Compassion will win.
My homeland is now a conflict zone. The Burmese military have been attacking us for decades. Every day, people have been attacked with airstrikes and artillery shelling. People in Burma are so desperate for help.
Refugees just want to go home, we want to go home, but we cannot go home. For many of us our homes have been shattered and our families have been destroyed. There is nothing for us to go back to. But we still want to go home, because we want to help rebuild our country. We want to work for the development of our community and help our next generation to grow..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of publication:
2023-03-09
Date of entry/update:
2023-03-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Groups working with/for refugees from Burma/Myanmar, Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of several ethnic groups., Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians
Language:
more
Description:
"The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) is concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian crisis inside Burma. In target areas of Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi region, HURFOM has documented nearly 30,000 newly displaced civilians who have had to escape violence. These displaced people are just a fraction of the 1 million people across the country who have been forced to flee their homes. The merciless violence deployed by the military junta has not spared women, children, or the elderly.
On World Refugee Day, HURFOM condemns the mass atrocities that the Burma Army continues to commit with impunity. We further call upon international actors, including some UN bodies and the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre), to support local actors in their emergency response to the situation on the ground, rather than make agreements with the Burma Army.
The refugee crisis in Burma is the result of the junta’s insatiable quest for power. Their presence in local villages and communities has brought only destruction and fear as civilians are arrested, detained, brutally tortured, and killed. HURFOM has observed rising cases of forced disappearances alongside mass displacement. The Burma Army is responsible for the generational trauma it continues to exert on displaced populations and refugees. And yet, the response by the international community has been inadequate.
Rather than choosing to allocate funds and resources with well-established civil society organizations with decades of experience working in conflict-affected communities, the UN and ASEAN have opted to facilitate humanitarian assistance through the junta.
Local organizations do not agree with this approach, as it weaponizes aid and is not transparent. Further, it risks legitimizing the regime as a reliable partner. The junta should play absolutely no role in any organizing and distribution of humanitarian assistance. Since 1 February 2021, the junta has boycotted attempts for aid delivery including targeted assaults on volunteer aid workers, and burning supplies intended for displaced populations.
Further, by working alongside the military, an institution with a reputation of corruption and insincerity, the international community is not responding adequately to the realities of the current situation. The National Unity Government, and ethnic revolution organizations must be consulted in the allocation of emergency aid. If international actors are going to provide assistance, they must do so through existing channels which will ensure conflict-affected refugees receive the materials they so urgently need.
On World Refugee Day, HURFOM reinforces calls for international assistance of which is not influenced by the Burma Army. Assistance must be facilitated to leaders on the ground who are trusted by their community and can ensure the emergency needs are met. By failing to listen to the voices of victims and survivors in Burma, the international community is subsequently failing the people and they must do better.
HURFOM reinstates our calls for a referral of the situation in Burma to the International Criminal Court, as well as for a global arms embargo and sanctions on aviation fuel.
Further, as the situation in Burma continues to unravel, the safety and security of civilians must take precedent. The grave human rights violations committed today are ongoing, yet the military evades accountability. There must be concrete actions and steps forward which make clear that the military is not free to violate international laws, human rights, and freedoms..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Foundation of Monland
Date of publication:
2022-06-20
Date of entry/update:
2022-06-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Groups working with/for refugees from Burma/Myanmar, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
more
Description:
"On World Refugee Day, the Karen Women’s Organization (KWO) calls for support of refugees so we all can live with full dignity as a human beings. Refugee Day is a reminder of the struggles those fleeing violence endure as they leave behind their homes and livelihoods to seek safety. Refugees are resilient and capable. They need support and access so they can stand with dignity.
Refugees in the nine camps along the Thai-Burma border are living with less than the minimum standards for basic services. Access to the refugee camps has become very difficult for both refugees and service providers as the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic continue to limit mobility. Shortfalls in funding have led to camp programs becoming under-serviced and underfunded. Refugee community based organizations active in the camps, including KWO, are operating with limited resources.
Refugees should not have to pay for services like education and health, when their livelihoods have been crippled because they are not allowed to work. Refugees living in the camps experience mental health challenges. Support for their security and sustainable livelihood must be in part of policy being considered by the Thai government.
Further, as the Burma Army plunges the country into economic turmoil, and a humanitarian crisis plagued by instability and negligence grows, the need to support refugees and internally displaced people is greater than ever before. Active conflict makes it impossible for them to return home.
World Refugee Day is not a celebration, but rather a reminder of the adversity and resilience that refugees have embodied during their formidable fight to be recognized as equals. They need support, but they must also be provided with documentation which allows them to stand on their own. With access to travel and legal work, refugees will not need to depend on a host country, or organizations in the long term. They can live free from fear, harm, and with dignity.
KWO urges the Royal Thai government to provide legal documentation for refugees to be able to work outside of the refugee camps and subsequently be able to earn an income. In addition, refugees should be able to access health and education services fairly, and without discrimination. We request that the international community put pressure on the Thai authorities to adopt policies that grant refugees the right to employment in Thailand safely and protected by law.
For more information- Please contact KWO Central..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Women's Organisation
Date of publication:
2022-06-20
Date of entry/update:
2022-06-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Groups working with/for refugees from Burma/Myanmar, The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
84.29 KB 164.1 KB 42.87 KB
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Description:
"Solidarity with displaced populations and host communities in Myanmar needed more than ever.
Every year on World Refugee Day, the international community comes together to celebrate the strength and resilience of those forced to flee their homes as well as the host communities who welcome them. For my colleagues and I at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, it is an opportunity for us to reaffirm our commitment in supporting the people of Myanmar.
Solidarity for Myanmar is needed now more than ever amid a growing humanitarian crisis. The realities are sobering. In addition to pre-existing conflict-affected populations, hundreds of thousands more have been displaced across the country in the past year.
As conflict intensifies, the UN projects that the rate of displacement is likely to increase for the foreseeable future. While tens of thousands have sought safety in neighbouring countries like India and Thailand as refugees, the vast majority remain in Myanmar as internally displaced people (IDPs).
The challenges faced by those displaced are numerous. Conditions have deteriorated while vulnerabilities have increased as instability has led to disruptions in health services, food assistance, livelihood opportunities, banking systems and telecommunications. Armed conflict has also impeded the ability of affected populations to seek safety and urgent lifesaving assistance.
Yet, in the face of so much adversity lies the incredible strength of the human spirit. While the challenges and obstacles faced by the people of Myanmar are regularly reported, much less talked about are the stories of courage, solidarity and resilience displayed everyday by individuals.
Acts of kindness and generosity are abound. Whenever my colleagues and I go into the field to distribute humanitarian supplies, IDPs often tell us that they will only take what they need and urge us to give the rest to those in greater need - a beautiful display of empathy and compassion despite many having lost their homes, travelling long distances and sometimes losing family members to conflict.
The assistance UNHCR provides is part of a wider collective effort undertaken by the humanitarian community to support those forced to flee. Just as impressive as the acts by IDPs themselves, are the numerous examples of host communities and local organizations stepping up and acting as first responders. We are all touched by the hospitality offered by monasteries, churches, schools, community halls and even strangers’ homes, welcoming displaced people with open arms and hearts so that they can have shelter, food and safety.
UNHCR continually emphasizes that our assistance merely complements what courageous individuals and caring communities are doing to help those displaced by conflict. As part of our commitment to stay and deliver, we continue to work round the clock to deliver lifesaving aid. In 2021 alone, core relief items, including kitchen sets, blankets, sleeping mats and solar lamps, among other items, reached 182,000 people, while 113,000 benefitted from shelter support. Furthermore, an additional 100,000 people were reached in the first six months of 2022.
Despite these efforts, much work remains to be done. Humanitarian organisations face many constraints, including access limitations and insecurity, in the delivery of assistance and protection services to people in most need. Of particular challenge is reaching those located in rural and difficult-to-access areas where food, clean water, shelter and basic household items are in short supply.
Every person has a right to seek safety. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that people have access to safety and their basic needs met. Together with our sister UN agencies, we continue advocacy efforts to facilitate safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to ensure that no one gets left behind.
Our responsibility does not end there. Once out of harm’s way, we need to ensure that displaced people continue to feel safe and treated with respect and dignity. As the current crisis persists, affected communities are at-risk of finding themselves in a situation of prolonged displacement – a state of limbo exponentially increasing their vulnerability. As community support capacities weaken over time, the need to strengthen programming around resilience building becomes ever more critical.
In this vein, UNHCR will endeavour to mitigate risks faced by IDPs, returnees and host communities by building their resilience in an inclusive manner, while facilitating critical life-saving assistance and protection services. We are here to stay and here to deliver together with partners, committing ourselves to protect those forced to flee and provide vital live-saving assistance to people in need across Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of publication:
2022-06-20
Date of entry/update:
2022-06-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Groups working with/for refugees from Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights and international relations, The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma
Language:
more
Description:
"On this World Refugee Day celebrated annually on June 20, the Ministry of Human Rights, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management and the Ministry of Women, Youths
and Children Affairs of the National Unity Government have issued a joint statement to honor the resilience of refugees from around the world including from Myanmar.
This year marks the 20th year since World Refugee Day was first established in 2001 to celebrate and honor refugees from around the world. The theme of World Refugee Day 2021 is “Together
we heal, learn and shine." According to United Nations statistics, some 79.5 million people around the world have been
forced to flee their homes. Among them are nearly 26 million refugees who have crossed international borders and are taking refuge in foreign countries. Myanmar has the highest refugee
population among the world’s countries.
Decades of armed conflicts, violence, and human rights violations have forced many Myanmar people including Rohingyas to flee to other countries including neighbors like Thailand,
Bangladesh and India. And there have been many more new IDPs in Chin, Karenni, Karen, Kachin, Shan, Magwe,
Sagaing, Ayeyarwady and Taninthayi as a result of the junta’s attacks on innocent civilians. According to UNHCR, there are about one million IDPs in Myanmar before the military coup
and the junta’s attacks after the coup forced around 200,000 people flee their homes. On this World Refugee Day, our ministries make the following demands:-
(1 ) The military regime must immediately end armed conflicts, human rights violations, and
(2) The military regime must immediately end disrupting humanitarian aids and arresting
humanitarian aids providers;
violence;
(3) We urge the neighboring countries to help temporarily shelter Myanmar refugees who
have fled from junta’s violence on humanitarian grounds and do not force them back
while dangers remain in Myanmar;
(4) The cross-border humanitarian aid shall be allowed to provide to IDPs in cooperation
with experienced humanitarian agencies and local organizations:
(5) We urge the international governments to coordinate with local CBOs and CSOs to
provide aids to IDPs who are in urgent need of food, shelter, and medicines, need which
are the causes of displacement.
(6) We urge the international community to take action together against the military regime
which is committing international crimes and worsening the refugee crisis.
On this World Refugee Day, we call for a collaborative effort to help refugees from around the
world including from Myanmar “heal, learn and shine together."
Ministry of Human Rights, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management and
Ministry of Women, Youths and Children Affairs
National Unity Government
Dated 20 June 2021..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Human Rights, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management and Ministry of Women, Youths and Children Affairs
Date of publication:
2021-06-20
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Groups working with/for refugees from Burma/Myanmar, The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma, Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of several ethnic groups., Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
34.32 KB 429.76 KB 424.77 KB
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Sub-title:
A lack of job opportunities is one of the biggest concerns of refugees who have returned voluntarily from camps in Thailand where many lived for decades.
Description:
"IT’S BEEN a tough four months since U Saw Lawi, 54, and his family returned to Myanmar after spending nine years as refugees in Thailand.
Saw Lawi, a Lisu, had been living in the Umpiem refugee camp south of the Thai border town of Mae Sot since 2009.
In 2009, he was struggling to make a living polishing gems at Mogok, the Mandalay Region town famed for its rubies and sapphires, when his wife became ill. He couldn’t afford the treatment so he contacted his son, who was working in Mae Sot, and asked him to send money. The young man instead advised that they travel to Mae Sot, opposite Myanmar’s Myawaddy, so his mother could be treated for free at the Mae Tao Clinic, which was founded in 1988 by Dr Cynthia Maung, who has won many international awards for her humanitarianism. They arrived in Mae Sot later that year.
After his wife recovered, they went to live at Umpiem, one of nine camps along the border with Thailand that were housing 93,534 mainly Karen refugees on July 31, show figures from the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. Umpiem was home to 10,793 refugees.
Life in the camps has become increasingly difficult in recent years because of a decline in donor funding. Almost 10 years after they left Myanmar, Saw Lawi and his family decided to return under a voluntary repatriation programme launched by Myanmar and Thailand in cooperation with UNHCR. They were among 575 people who returned to Myanmar from the camps in Thailand in February; more than 1,000 have returned in four batches since the programme began three years ago, according to Myanmar government figures..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar"
Date of publication:
2019-09-09
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Proposed return of Burmese asylum-seekers from Thailand to Burma, Groups working with/for refugees from Burma/Myanmar
Language:
more
Description:
"An international law firm hired by the United States State Department to investigate last year's military crackdown on the Rohingya in Myanmar, says it has found evidence of genocide, urging the international community to establish a criminal investigation into the atrocities and ensure justice for the victims.
The Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG) said on Monday that its findings, based on interviews with more than 1,000 Muslim-majority Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh as a result of the crackdown in Rakhine state, also found reasonable grounds to conclude that the army committed crimes against humanity and war crimes..."
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera
Date of publication:
2018-12-04
Date of entry/update:
2018-12-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Groups working with/for refugees from Burma/Myanmar
Language:
English
more