On the border: A generation of Burmese refugees in Thailand
27 June 2009
![](/typo3temp/pics/829625a1b0.jpg "A pregnant woman, Naw Mu, 23, is helped into an IRC vehicle for transport to a hospital four hours drive away. Parueluk Kesorn, the IRC doctor at the Tham Hin clinic, suspects a premature separation of the placenta from the uterine wall. "She must receive treatment immediately," she says.")
![](/typo3temp/pics/933f0d5ad5.jpg "Saw Dah, 26, admires his newborn daughter. Although her birth in the IRC clinic was straightforward, like all the children born here she faces an uncertain future. Saw Dah once farmed a small plot of land in Burma but he was forced to leave it. "We have lived in the camp for three years now," he says. "I’m too afraid to return."")
![](/typo3temp/pics/ced8121637.jpg "Refugees are tested for HIV, malaria and other diseases in the Tham Hin clinic laboratory. If a pregnant woman tests HIV-positive, the IRC will enroll her in a programme to prevent transmission of the virus from mother to child using powerful and effective antiretroviral drugs. Currently, 16 HIV-infected patients are receiving anti-retroviral treatment. "We also organise yearly campaigns to inform refugees about how HIV is transmitted and to encourage them to come into the clinic for a test," says Preeyalak Sataranon, the IRC health manager in Tham Hin.")
![](/typo3temp/pics/abb201c658.jpg "Two decades after Burmese refugees first began crossing into Thailand, poverty and violent conflict in Myanmar’s ethnic minority areas continue to drive people into Tham Hin and the other camps along the border. Naw Eh Ku, 24, fled her village last year after an uncle was killed and his family lost their small plot of land. "I think I will have to live in Tham Hin for a long time," she says. "Things will not get any better in my country anytime soon."")
Some 140,000 refugees live in nine remote camps in Thailand near its border with Myanmar, also known as Burma. Refugees have been fleeing Myanmar for decades to escape civil strife, political upheaval and economic stagnation. Many of the refugees are members of the Karen or Karenni ethnic groups who speak their own languages and follow their own customs. The world’s longest-running civil wars have been ongoing in the Karen and Karenni homelands in eastern Myanmar for sixty years now. A generation of refugees has now been born and reared in the crowded camps, which by law they are forbidden to leave. They live a life of continued uncertainty with no immediate prospects of retuning home.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is aiding nearly 70,000 refugees in four of the camps and provides a range of services, including healthcare, drinking water and legal services. In Tham Hin, the southernmost refugee camp in Thailand, the IRC provides healthcare and water to roughly 8,000 people. This work is funded by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid department.
Click the photos to enlarge and read the captions.
Photographs and text by Peter Biro/The IRC
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