© Thai Burma Border Consortium
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| Daily life in Mae La and Umpiem, Burmese refugee camps, May 2005 |
Burmese Taw Klu’s youth was marked by ‘moves’. The 33 year-old’s Karen family was forced to move on numerous occasions when the home in which they were living was literally threatened by the Junta. “Sometimes we had worked the soil and sown seeds somewhere and were then forced to flee again before we were able to harvest the crop. I have seen many people die right in front of my very eyes from exhaustion and malaria”, says Taw. After an arduous journey, the family finally ended up in one of the first refugee camps on Thai soil in 1984.
‘Minor problem’
Englishman Jack Dunford, who was in Thailand at the time to provide shelter to Indo-Chinese people fleeing for the Vietnam war and Pol Pot, was one of the few relief workers to be concerned about the fate of the mainly Karen families. “These 10,000 refugees were only a ‘minor’ problem for the big organisations”, says Dunford. “We decided to provide these displaced persons with minimum care.” The predecessor of the Thai Burma Border Consortium came about during a field trip to the first primitive refugee camps. Dunford soon became its director.
Basic needs
What was to be a three-month project has turned into an organisation 22 years later, which has just agreed on a 41 million dollar budget for 2007. The work that TBBC is doing is being done by UNHCR elsewhere, but because Thailand refuses to sign the UN refugee treaty, TBBC is responsible for the work here.
TBBC takes care of the by now 160,000 refugees in the border region, who are mainly from ethnic minorities. It is the only organisation to provide food, building materials and other basic needs for the camp residents. The residents themselves take care of the distribution of all relief goods themselves and are furthermore in charge of safety and solving disputes that may arise. Primary education and simple healthcare is provided by other non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Dependent on aid
The reception is no longer the same as it was at the start of TBBC. What were ordinary villages at the time, have now turned into overpopulated camps with up to 50,000 inhabitants. “The refugees also face more restrictions. Initially they were allowed to leave the camp, to fetch wood and occasionally to work the land. Now we have to provide them with everything. They are fully dependent on aid. In the past we used to support them in a natural environment.”
Group of friends
TBBC used to be ‘a group of friends providing aid’, according to Dunford. The programme was based on trust. “The way we organised things then, would no longer be acceptable today. The demands placed on donors and others are stricter now and that means that Dunford’s work has changed. He still visits the camps a couple of times a year.
“Whenever I go there, I have renewed confidence in the need to continue with this work. I am surprised by the dignity, the faith and hope of these people.”
House arrest
Not a great deal has changed in Burma. In 2006, the Junta is still in power. The military regime has increased its territory, there is more tension and violence.
“In Burma we do not have any rights”, says Taw. “People from ethnic minorities are randomly killed. We were told: ‘soon you will need to go to a museum to see a Karen.”
There are still no signs of democracy being restored. The leader of the democratic opposition and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has been held under house arrest by the Junta for years, ever since her party, the NLD, won the election in 1990 with a great majority.
Continuity
“What I appreciate most of all in our organisation is the continuity. Most NGOs come and go, donors come and go. We have a history of continuity”, says Dunford. The Thai Burma Border Consortium has been receiving support from ECHO for years. ECHO, the EU emergency relief programme, support TBBC with EUR 5.5 million in 2006.
Dreams
Taw was able to flee to Europe. His family still lives in one of the nine border camps in which TBBC is active. The Thai authorities do not allow them to work the land there. Some young people from the camp illegally look for work in Thailand. “My brothers and sisters get bored now that they are no longer able to attend school in the camp”, he says. Taw got the opportunity to continue his studies elsewhere. Taw:
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“They can only dream about returning to their own country.”
The article is written by Saskia Bolt, ICCO. DanChurchAid has a long history of supporting Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC). TBBC has been receiving support from ECHO for years. ECHO, the EU emergency relief programme, support TBBC with EUR 5.5 million in 2006.