ID :
66052
Tue, 06/16/2009 - 17:18
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/66052
The shortlink copeid
150,000 MYANMARS WORKING IN MALAYSIA
BANGKOK, June 16 (Bernama) -- About 3.5 million Myanmars have fled the
country and are now living in refugee camps or have sought employment abroad,
including an estimated 150,000 in Malaysia, the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
said Tuesday.
Its researcher, Stephen Hull, said that among the three milion people who
were now in Thailand, about 135,000 were cramped in 10 refugee camps along the
Thai-Myanmar border, with the Karen ethnic group being the single largest group.
He said between 50,000 and 60,000 were in Singapore, up to 100,000 ethnic
Chin from western Myanmar lived in the north-eastern Indian state of Mizoram
while about 200,000 Rohingya, also from the western side, had settled in eastern
Bangladesh.
"Most of the people fled the country because of poverty or torture and
forced labour carried out by Myanmar's ruling State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC)," he said at the launch of the KHRG's report on "Abuse, Poverty
and Migration: Investigating migrants' motivations to leave home in Burma."
here Tuesday.
He said the number of Karens fleeing the country was expected to rise,
citing the 3,000 villagers who crossed into Thailand early this month from Dta
Greh Township, following the joint SPDC and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
forces attack on a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) camp, as well as those
fleeing forced recruitment as porters to carry supplies for the troops.
The KHRG said this was the largest refugee exodus from Karen state on a
single occasion since 1997.
The report said many of the Myanmars were seen as economic migrants,
approximately 135,000 individuals in refugee camps in Thailand, about 1,500
UNHCR-recognised refugees in India and 26,000 Rohingya residing within two
officially recognised refugee camps in Bangladesh are acknowledged as forced
migrants entitled to host-government or UN assistance.
Jackie Pollock from the MAP Foundation (Thailand) said that despite the
Karen people fleeing the country to escape the attack and torture, many
receiving countries, including Thailand, regarded them as a threat to the
national security.
She said statistics compiled by several international agencies showed that
there were 200,000 migrant children in Thailand while more than 200,000 aged
between 15 to 18 years had registered to work in the kingdom.
Asked how the workers send back money to support their families, she said
many of them used brokers who charged small amounts of commission or through
friends returning home.
Pollock said that while many of the Asean countries continued to address the
migrant issues, the regional grouping had set up a committee to implement a
non-binding declaration on the migrant workers.
On claims that many of the Myanmars were going to refugee camps to get
resettled in a third country, she said about 30,000 had been resettled in other
countries and added that Thailand's new law allowed children of stateless people
to be given citizenship.
-- BERNAMA
country and are now living in refugee camps or have sought employment abroad,
including an estimated 150,000 in Malaysia, the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
said Tuesday.
Its researcher, Stephen Hull, said that among the three milion people who
were now in Thailand, about 135,000 were cramped in 10 refugee camps along the
Thai-Myanmar border, with the Karen ethnic group being the single largest group.
He said between 50,000 and 60,000 were in Singapore, up to 100,000 ethnic
Chin from western Myanmar lived in the north-eastern Indian state of Mizoram
while about 200,000 Rohingya, also from the western side, had settled in eastern
Bangladesh.
"Most of the people fled the country because of poverty or torture and
forced labour carried out by Myanmar's ruling State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC)," he said at the launch of the KHRG's report on "Abuse, Poverty
and Migration: Investigating migrants' motivations to leave home in Burma."
here Tuesday.
He said the number of Karens fleeing the country was expected to rise,
citing the 3,000 villagers who crossed into Thailand early this month from Dta
Greh Township, following the joint SPDC and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
forces attack on a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) camp, as well as those
fleeing forced recruitment as porters to carry supplies for the troops.
The KHRG said this was the largest refugee exodus from Karen state on a
single occasion since 1997.
The report said many of the Myanmars were seen as economic migrants,
approximately 135,000 individuals in refugee camps in Thailand, about 1,500
UNHCR-recognised refugees in India and 26,000 Rohingya residing within two
officially recognised refugee camps in Bangladesh are acknowledged as forced
migrants entitled to host-government or UN assistance.
Jackie Pollock from the MAP Foundation (Thailand) said that despite the
Karen people fleeing the country to escape the attack and torture, many
receiving countries, including Thailand, regarded them as a threat to the
national security.
She said statistics compiled by several international agencies showed that
there were 200,000 migrant children in Thailand while more than 200,000 aged
between 15 to 18 years had registered to work in the kingdom.
Asked how the workers send back money to support their families, she said
many of them used brokers who charged small amounts of commission or through
friends returning home.
Pollock said that while many of the Asean countries continued to address the
migrant issues, the regional grouping had set up a committee to implement a
non-binding declaration on the migrant workers.
On claims that many of the Myanmars were going to refugee camps to get
resettled in a third country, she said about 30,000 had been resettled in other
countries and added that Thailand's new law allowed children of stateless people
to be given citizenship.
-- BERNAMA
