‘Authorities Should Take Action for Refugees NOW’

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Burma Link | June 20, 2014

Christine is a 22-year-old Karen refugee who lives in Mae La refugee camp with her husband and young daughter. She has lived there for seven years ‘as a prisoner’ inside the barbed wire fence, and now teaches in one of the post-ten schools in the camp. In this interview, Christine talks about the desperation and lack of hope in Mae La as uncertainty about the future mounts and refugees feel that they have no control over their own future. She fears that authorities will organise forced repatriation although they ‘don’t know where to go’ and ‘nothing has changed for the poor’. Christine recently completed Burma Link’s AOC (Agents of Change) training and she is eager to have her voice heard. She wants authorities to take action NOW to help refugees like her and her young daughter.

Living in the camp is similar to living in prison

Most people in the camp have lost their hope. Students have no hope to continue their tertiary education. People who are middle aged have no job to do and elder ones have nothing to do but wasting their time here. Everyone depends solely on their monthly ration. They don’t know where to go or where to settle down. Every refugee, including me, has many feelings, troubles and worries. I wish for a change for the situation in the camp. I have heard that after living in the camp for three years, refugees can make their own decision for their future. For instance, a refugee in Thailand can choose to stay in Thailand or go back to Burma according to his own will, or go for resettlement. However, I have been in the camp for seven years but I still can’t make my decision for my future.

… Most of the people in the camp are hopeless, like they don’t know about their future. Do we always need to stay in the camp? Or do we have to go back to Burma? Or what can we do for our future? And also living in the camp is not stable. We don’t know when they will close the camp, or when they close the camp, where we should go. We don’t know. It’s not good for the people to think like that. And also some have a very strong feeling in their mind that ‘I’m refugee and I’m lower than other people’. And they have not only physical but also mental problems. Some people they try to commit suicide because they don’t know what to do and where to go.

Living in the camp is similar to living in prison because I can’t go outside or make my own decision. I can commute only in the camp. The camp is surrounded by barbed wire. If we go outside of the camp, Thai police will arrest us. In the long run, it affects not only my physical but also my mental health. For ration problem, although TBBC

[Thailand-Burma Border Consortium – known as TBC, The Border Consortium, since November 2012] supports refugees sufficiently, we never get enough rations. I think that is because of the staff working for TBBC. I can’t understand how they are working. As a result, there are many thefts, fights and crimes in the camp. It is not good to have these problems in the camp. Thus, authorities should take action for refugees now.

There is no change for poor people

When asked about the positive changes that are taking place in Burma, Christine says that nothing has changed in her village yet.

Burmese government said that they welcome the refugees to come back to Burma, but I don’t believe the Burmese government. I don’t believe them because there are a lot of military soldiers who come to our village, and there are a lot of landmines around our village so it’s not safe for us… I have heard from my neighbor that nothing has changed.

The people in my village can’t buy even 10 baht clothes that we wear in the camp. They can’t buy a bag of rice at once. They have no money to store any food. They can earn barely for a day. If they earn 100 baht a day, they use it up all in a day. They never earn enough to save. Although they have children, they can’t do anything for their children’s future. Although Burma seems improving, there is no change for poor people. Although the rich ones get richer, the poor stay the same. As for me, I know I cannot get a proper job in Burma… If I do have to go back to Burma, I can solely survive there but there won’t be any future for me. I have a child and I care for her future. That is the reason I don’t want to go back to Burma.

My neighbor told me that you shouldn’t come back, like that. They said that it’s not safe to come back. You can be arrested by the Burmese military because you break the rule that you crossed the border illegally. And also if you come back there is no land for you to stay. And we are Christian, the whole village is Christian. So it’s like they don’t agree, they don’t like the Christians. That’s one of the problems that we have in our village. They believe that Myanmar is a Buddhist country… Over ten years ago, my grandmother told me that they came to our village and they burnt down the [Christian] churches.

If authorities arrange forced repatriation, refugees will refuse to go back

Another fact is that most of the people in the camp left Burma because there were many difficulties to live there. Obviously, they don’t want to go back to their old lives. However, if authorities arrange forced repatriation, refugees will refuse to go back and it can build tension between refugees and authorities. If we go back to Burma, we can be arrested for passing the border illegally. Therefore, I want to say that let refugees choose what they want to do… In my point of view, they [Thai authorities] could give refugees some kind of document like a work permit or something so that they can practice their occupation in Thailand.

Also, about the survey that Mae Fah Luang did in the camp, actually they really want to send refugees back to Burma. The questionnaire in the survey is not right for the refugees to answer. And also this Mae Fah Luang Foundation said that they have met with UNHCR, Thai government, and Burmese government, together, and they really want to know the number of the people who want to go back to Burma. And when they did the survey, they used the tablet to take the answers, but the software in the tablet is made by the Mae Fah Luang people. So even though we say the real answer, they can change it later by themselves. They said that Burmese government welcomes all the refugees to come back to Burma, and they said that the situation is changed now. But I don’t believe the Burmese government because I have heard that nothing has changed.

I hope that my daughter will become a peace maker

In my future, I believe that there is some way and somewhere that I can live safely. And I can do something that will help my ethnics. And also I really want Burma to change the situation.

I think that they [the Burmese government] should let ethnic people to be free, like let them do what they want to do or go where they want to go. They shouldn’t be very strict with the ethnic groups, like you are ethnic you are not Myanmar. You have no choice, you cannot have your own religion. And also, there shouldn’t be Burma military around the ethnic areas, villages and towns. I think every ethnic group should have their freedom.

One day I hope that my daughter will become a peace maker between Karen and Burmese people. And I think I have to give her a lot of education to become a peace maker. And I will try my best for her. Because every parent wants their child to become a better person than them. I also want my baby to become a better person than me.

Finally I want to say that I really want the situation in Burma to change and I hope my ethnics will have freedom… I also wish for change in the camp. I want everyone to hear my voice.

Read this story in Burmese

Christine’s voice is based on an interview conducted by an AOC trainee during Burma Link’s AOC training. Additional interviewing by Ariana Zarleen.