06/25/2003

Naw Htoo is from Burma, but she has been living in her Karen refugee camp for 13 years.  The Karen are an ethnic minority group in Burma.  She fled Burma because of ethnic persecution by the Burmese army in Karen State, which is the traditional homeland of the Karen in Burma.  Because she came into the camp many years ago, she was allowed to register with Thai authorities to enter camps there.  Later, she got a UNHCR card validating her, her husband and four children as camp-based refugees, which entitled them to UNHCR assistance and protection.  Neither of these procedures is currently available in Thailand.  RI interviewed Naw Htoo, age 38, in May 2003.  She described her experience being sent back to Burma against her will by Thai authorities in March 2003.  

“In early March, my husband and I were collecting leaves for roofing material,” she explained.  Naw Htoo was as part of a group of 119 Burmese who were gathering supplies to fortify camp homes against the oncoming rainy season.  They had spent a week in the jungle collecting leaves, sleeping there overnight.  One morning at about 4:30 a.m., she woke to the sound and sight of a knife dropping next to her head.  A Thai man in plain clothes had thrown it there.  Scared, she got up and tried to run away, but the man grabbed her by the shirt and threatened to beat her with a rope he was carrying.

Naw Htoo was led to a place where the other 118 refugees were gathered.  A spotlight shone on them until a car came to take them away—where she did not know.  They were loaded into some vehicles and taken to an official Thai police station in Mae Sot town.  “We were afraid that they might deport us to Burma, so we agreed to make up a story to tell the Burmese authorities that we were just economic migrants, having been in Thailand for two months to earn some money.  If they know that we are refugees they will kill us,” Naw Htoo explained.  Many refugees are accused by the Burmese Government of having links to resistance groups.

A Thai policeman told the refugees that they would have their names and photos taken and then be sent back to the camp.  “We were so relieved when we heard this,” Naw Htoo explained.  “But instead of sending us back to the camp, they sent us over the border to Myawaddy town [in Burma].  We had to sit in the hot sun for close to three hours before we were taken to the police station, where they told us they would test our blood ... . I could not tell if the needle was new or not, and they did not tell me the result of the test.”

After spending the night in a Burmese jail, the refugees were put on trucks to be sent to Paan, the capital of Karen State.  At the beginning of the long drive, each truck had a soldier and a translator.  Later, when the driver asked the refugees for money, they could not pay.  As a result, all the people were told to get off of the bus and were allowed to go in whatever direction they wanted.  Naw Htoo and her husband split up from the group to be less noticeable.  They had no money, so they asked some people to help them and loan them the money to hire a car for the return to a border town near Thailand.  Naw Htoo was afraid to go to this town because she had heard that the Burmese Government had killed people in that town, accusing them of links to resistance forces and trying to escape to Thailand to join them.  But she also felt she had no choice if she wanted to return to her home and see her children.  The driver of the truck was also Karen and felt pity for her and her husband, so he gave them a discount on the fare.  After they arrived near the border town four days after their arrest, they still had to walk for one day.  Then they were able to cross secretly to Thailand and find their way back to their home in the camp, where they were reunited with worried children and friends.

The forced return of Naw Htoo and her husband along with 117 other people by Thai authorities raises serious concerns about Thailand’s respect for the principle of non-refoulement [forced returns] and UNHCR’s authority to protect Burmese refugees.  Thai authorities knew these people were camp-base refugees and, as such, should have had the protection of UNHCR.  Yet they forced these refugees, many with UNHCR registration, back to Burma where they could be accused of links to the resistance – and imprisoned, tortured or killed.

Naw Htoo’s group was extremely lucky.  On that day in March, there were many round-ups of Burmese and returning refugees were not screened for political activity.  They were able to escape imprisonment or worse.  Luckily, the Burmese authorities believed that they were temporary migrants.

RI raised the case of these 119 lives with the UNHCR in Bangkok who were unaware of their forced return, even though many were under the care of UNHCR.  RI is not aware of any complaints being made by the UNHCR head office to Thailand regarding this breach of international customary law.