Bangkok Ceases Sending Karens Back Home

[webfact]

REPATRIATION OF KARENS

Bangkok ceases sending Karens back home

BANGKOK: -- Thailand decided on Friday to halt the repatriation of more than 3,000 ethnic Karens to Burma following protests by human rights groups and US lawmakers who said they were being forced to return against their will.

Foreign Ministry's deputy spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said "there is some concern, we have decided to halt the process until the Karens clarify their position. We want to dispel any concerns that their return would not be on a voluntary basis."

Earlier Friday, 12 Karens in three families voluntarily returned to Burma before the process was stopped, Thani said. Embassies and civil society groups sent representatives to the Thai-Burmese border to observe the procedure, he said.

Twenty seven US lawmakers on Thursday implored Thailand not to deport thousands of ethnic Karen villagers back to Burma, saying they were at grave risk of human rights abuses.

US lawmakers sent a letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva urging Thailand not to repatriate the Karen, with reports saying the operation could begin imminently.

"If forced to return, these refugees will suffer horrific human rights abuses," said the letter led by Representative Joseph Crowley, a Democrat from New York.

"They will undoubtedly be subject to forced labor, executions, torture and mutilations, forced recruitment as soldiers, including child soldiers, and theft and extortion, making their survival very difficult," he said.

While praising Thailand for taking on the burden of settling tens of thousands of refugees, the lawmakers warned of repercussions for forced repatriation.

"Historically, Thailand has developed a reputation as a country that provides refuge to those fleeing serious persecution, but actions like this will undermine and tarnish this reputation," the letter said.

-- The Nation 2010-02-05

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[webfact]

PM says gov has no policy to force back Burmese refugees

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Friday that his government has no policy to forcefully repatriate ethnic Karen refugees on the Thai soil along the Thai-Burmese border.

He was commenting on a call by Congressman Joseph Crowley for the Thai government to halt the repatriation of ethnic Karen refugees to a dangerous conflict zone in eastern Burma.

"The government does have a policy to repatriate the Karen people in the area yet," Abhisit said.

-- The Nation 2010-02-05

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[Thailand]

Thailand actually listening to the views of foreigners-can't be true

Or simply just more bad publicity forcing a climbdown.

[GungaDin]

Good news, let's hope the Thais keep their word.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi.

While i am VERY strongly against immigration restrictions and forceful repatriation of refugees, what is it the U.S.' business to say "they are being forced to return against their will"..???

Hey U.S.A., i've got news for you - look at your very own southern border and check if some Mexicans are maybe "forced to return against their will" before you start messing in other countries' affairs.

Oh forgot, you always prefer to mess in other countries because that is more convenient than at home.

Tsk tsk tsk.

Thanh

[jonclark]

Hi.

While i am VERY strongly against immigration restrictions and forceful repatriation of refugees, what is it the U.S.' business to say "they are being forced to return against their will"..???

Hey U.S.A., i've got news for you - look at your very own southern border and check if some Mexicans are maybe "forced to return against their will" before you start messing in other countries' affairs.

Oh forgot, you always prefer to mess in other countries because that is more convenient than at home.

Tsk tsk tsk.

Thanh

There is a difference - Mexicans are mainly economic migrants - Karens are forced to flee for fear of persecution. As far as i know not many Mexicans are forced in becoming child soldiers, are subject to systematic torture, and have their women folk raped by the vindictive Mexican government when the US repatriates them. If you have evidence to the contrary Thanh please share it.

Whilst you may think the U.S is meddling, it's merely voicing it's concerns, as Thailand does with some frequency to Cambodia.

[Pib]

That's great you are against it; but I doubt "only you" can do anything to stop it. So, since representatives from another country (USA in this case) were apparently able to stop it (at least temporally), why are you so upset? And the Mexican/USA border thing is almost like a daily ping-pong game...that is, you illegally get across the border today; I try send you back across the border tomorrow.

[RKASA]

Hi.

While i am VERY strongly against immigration restrictions and forceful repatriation of refugees, what is it the U.S.' business to say "they are being forced to return against their will"..???

Hey U.S.A., i've got news for you - look at your very own southern border and check if some Mexicans are maybe "forced to return against their will" before you start messing in other countries' affairs.

Oh forgot, you always prefer to mess in other countries because that is more convenient than at home.

Tsk tsk tsk.

Thanh

Complete apple and oranges. The US sends back illegal workers not refugees. Thailand also sends back illegal workers and no one will complain about that. Illegal workers don't get killed for coming home. tsk tsk tsk you are completely off base.

[Meridian007]

I think the similarities are closer than you think. Between the issues of food/nutrition, and human security from either a government or a drug mafia, both countries have problems with the conditions they send people back to. I wouldn't call it apples and oranges, maybe big apples and little apples. Thailand is just unlucky enough to have many very unstable neighbors, and has the biggest immigration problem with the most unstable one. That's what makes it difficult to compare.

Besides, Thailand is listening to outside criticism, (which is more than the states has ever done), and it has done so before. The issues of the Hmong and Rohinga were unfortunate exceptions.

(I actually heard a rather convincing case for Thailand's side of the story on the Rohinga case from someone who works in disaster management for both the Thai government and the US State Department. I still don't agree with what happened, but it made more sense afterward.)

Right now, Thailand can't afford to distance itself from the States, if things get shaky, they may want to extend the Cobra Gold exercise...

[Publicus]

Besides, Thailand is listening to outside criticism, (which is more than the states has ever done), and it has done so before. The issues of the Hmong and Rohinga were unfortunate exceptions.

the United States and Thailand are two radically, inherently and completely different and differing countries, societies and civilizations. They hardly if ever can be compared, only almost always contrasted.

Every country has the inherent sovereign right to control and protect its borders. As has been pointed out, the Karen are political refugees, Mexicans are economic migrants. If any comparason might be appropriate, it would be that Thailand rejects certain economic migrants as a matter of public policy, same as the US and numerous other countries.

Kindly get off your high horse, thank you. 

[Thongkorn]

These people are put in camps for years some as long as twelve Years , Some have been born in them and have never seen the outside world , they are on the Thai Burma boarder, They are not only Hill tribes people, there are some Educated people amungst them, Engineers, Doctors, Teachers , all fled because of persecution, The UN is trying to do its bit. Its unfairer to put all the responsibility on Thailand , Thailand has enough problems of her own, how many people can Thailand support and feed , they have Burma , Cambodia, China all as boarders to patrol,

Edited February 5, 2010 by Thongkorn

[tripplejjj]

I am a US citizen and do agree with you. It is people in government that want to look good in public that often interfere in other countries. It is like a parent telling his kids not to smoke cigarette because it is bad for their health while puffing on a cigarette in his mouth.

Hi.

While i am VERY strongly against immigration restrictions and forceful repatriation of refugees, what is it the U.S.' business to say "they are being forced to return against their will"..???

Hey U.S.A., i've got news for you - look at your very own southern border and check if some Mexicans are maybe "forced to return against their will" before you start messing in other countries' affairs.

Oh forgot, you always prefer to mess in other countries because that is more convenient than at home.

Tsk tsk tsk.

Thanh

[puipuitom]

Hi.

While i am VERY strongly against immigration restrictions and forceful repatriation of refugees, what is it the U.S.' business to say "they are being forced to return against their will"..???

Hey U.S.A., i've got news for you - look at your very own southern border and check if some Mexicans are maybe "forced to return against their will" before you start messing in other countries' affairs.

Oh forgot, you always prefer to mess in other countries because that is more convenient than at home.

Tsk tsk tsk.

Thanh

One dramatic difference with Mexicans etc sent back from the USA to theri countries of .. Africans in EU being sent back: These peole do not have to face harse retalliation of their governments. These Karen end up in prison, and for a part might be shot. Maybe you forgot the monks in the uprising in Myanmar some time ago.

[Scott]

Mexicans who are sent back face nothing more than continued economic problems. In general, if they have a relative in the States who is sponsoring them for legal immigration to the States, the illegal entry does not count against them if they return voluntarily.

People can, and do, fight deportation in the Courts. If they seek asylum, they have the right to a full hearing and a determination of status. If they are classed as a refugee, they will not be repatriated.

The Burmese government does not provide legal protection for those people who are repatriated.

[Johpa]

I think the similarities are closer than you think.

Au contraire, the differences are greater than you are perhaps willing to acknowledge. The Karen are a minority within Burma, whose desire to retain some autonomy is being violently repressed by the Burmese military junta. Despite the narco-violence occurring in Mexico, the Mexican government is not raiding villages, destroying crops, and raping women in the Mexican rural provinces where many of the "illegal" migrants originate. Mexican "illegals" repatriated by the US government go back to real homes and not to burned out villages. Just because Mexico is also no Paradise does not set it even close to the same end point of the continuum representing good and evil where the Burmese junta has placed that nation.

[cdnvic]

The topic is not about Mexican migrants, please return to the subject.

[peemailao]

Besides, Thailand is listening to outside criticism, (which is more than the states has ever done), and it has done so before. The issues of the Hmong and Rohinga were unfortunate exceptions.

the United States and Thailand are two radically, inherently and completely different and differing countries, societies and civilizations. They hardly if ever can be compared, only almost always contrasted.

Every country has the inherent sovereign right to control and protect its borders. As has been pointed out, the Karen are political refugees, Mexicans are economic migrants. If any comparason might be appropriate, it would be that Thailand rejects certain economic migrants as a matter of public policy, same as the US and numerous other countries.

Kindly get off your high horse, thank you.

Well Said, Thanks now i don't have to reply to that BS.

[Lite Beer]

Inflammatory post deleted. Plus the reply to it.

[rainman]

It's amazing how many people are attacking Thaksin in the other posts for killing drug traffickers, yet nobody seems to criticize the Abhisit government for human rights abuses of innocent civilians happening right now under our eyes.