THAILAND: Thailand's foreign minister, on a visit to a refugee camp for displaced people who've fled Myanmar, denies there's a plan for their forced repatriation

Record ID: 345564

  • Title: THAILAND: Thailand's foreign minister, on a visit to a refugee camp for displaced people who've fled Myanmar, denies there's a plan for their forced repatriation
  • Date: 23rd October 2010
  • Summary: MEDIA
  • Embargoed: 7th November 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Thailand
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: International Relations,Social Services / Welfare
  • Reuters ID: LVAC7JF2ESEHF6YS7T6UIE2HK2XC
  • Story Text: Thailand's foreign minister, on a visit to a refugee camp for displaced people who've fled Myanmar, denies there's a plan for their forced repatriation.
    Thai minister of Foreign Affairs, Kasit Pirom, insisted there would be no forced repatriation of displaced people who have fled Myanmar, when he made a visit to a refugee camp on Friday (October 22).
    Mae La camp, about 600 kilometres north-west of Bangkok, is a large shelter for about 50,000 displaced persons who have fled from sporadic fighting between Myanmese troops and rebels.
    Earlier this month Kasit said in New York that he wants to find ways of sending displaced people from Myanmar back to their homeland after the country's military rulers organised a general election, to be held on November 7.
    "It's about preparation for people in this camp for when their country (Myanmar) is peaceful. We might start counting from November 7 as there'll be the election and with it, a new government," Kasit said after meeting with aid workers in the refugee camp.
    Kasit's initiative has raised concerns to human rights and aid agencies about whether Myanmar will be a safe place for those returning home.
    "We won't force them to return home, that is the first point. The second point is after I talked to them, it seems like everyone wants to go home but they will return home only when it's safe," he said Besides political asylum seekers, there are about 1.5 million Myanmar illegal migrant workers, spread among Thai industries, hoping to find work as labourers in the country.
    The majority of refugees in the Mae La camp are Karen, the largest Myanmar ethnic minority group who have been fighting the military junta for over a half of century, since the former Burma gained independence from the British.
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