| Burma
is the world’s third largest source of refugees
after Afghanistan and Iraq. Between 1995 and 2005, the
flow of refugees has increased between 48% and 800%
in Burma’s neighboring countries. It is estimated
that during the last 20 years, as many as two million
people from Burma have fled their own country as a result
of the military regime’s widespread and systematic
human rights abuses, military offensives, religious
and ethnic persecution. |
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| Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs) |
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Burma has one of
the world’s 10 worst displacement situations.
Burma’s civilians are targets in the SPDC’s
campaign to undermine ethnic armed opposition groups.
The civilian population has ‘become the battlefield’
of the conflict, with civilians representing a military
target. The junta’s so-called "Four Cuts"
policy aims to undermine the armed opposition's access
to recruits, information, supplies and finances by
forcibly relocating villagers from contested areas
into the military regime’s controlled areas.
Harsh offensives against villages, forced relocation
and forced labor for villagers suspected of being
“rebel supporters”, or simply belonging
to a particular ethnic nationality, has generated
massive displacement in Burma’s border regions.
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Independent reports suggest that the number of people
currently displaced in Burma is close to – or
even exceeding – one million. As of November 2006,
there were an estimated 500,000 IDPs in the conflict
areas bordering Thailand, hiding in conflict areas,
ceasefire zones and relocation sites. 82,000 fled their
homes during 2006. |
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Displaced persons face a heightened vulnerability to
disease and ill-health, violence, trafficking, exploitative
labor and reduced access to health services, education,
and employment. |
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Citizenship law has rendered most of the entire Rohingya
community stateless, and especially harsh abuses and
restrictions on education, livelihood and marriage has
causes huge displacement. |
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| Asylum
Seekers and Refugees |
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| At least 200,000
UNHCR-recognized refugees from Burma live in neighboring
countries. Most of the refugees fleeing Burma have sought
refuge in neighboring Thailand and Bangladesh. Malaysia
and India have also hosted a sizable number of refugees
from Burma. However, as none of these countries is a
signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967
Protocol, refugees from Burma remain subject to exploitation
and abuses and deprived of their basic rights. Camps
in Thailand have been in place for decades, with many
children being born and growing into adults in temporary
shelters. The flow of refugees from Burma into neighboring
countries remains steady. |
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The UNHCR’s 2004 survey of refugees found 453,500
refugees from Burma in Thailand, 150,000 in Bangladesh,
60,000 in India, and 25,000 in Malaysia. |
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During 2005, the highest numbers of new and appeal
asylum claims worldwide were filed by nationals from
Burma (55,800). The number of asylum-seekers from
Burma was concentrated in two countries only: Thailand
(46,200) and Malaysia (7,700). |
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100,000 living outside refugee camps in Bangladesh,
20,000 live in two massive camps. |
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Refugees who live outside the camps are vulnerable
to labor exploitation, smuggling, human trafficking,
and the spread of communicable diseases including
tuberculosis (TB), malaria, and HIV/AIDS. |
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| At least two million
Burmese live as undocumented migrant workers in Thailand,
Bangladesh, Malaysia, and India. Responsibility to support
the family, armed conflict, and lack of economic and
educational opportunities can “push” individuals
to seek work outside their community, while the demand
for low-skilled and low-wage occupations as house maid
and sex workers in neighboring countries, particularly
Thailand, “pull” women away from their home. |
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The failure of host countries to ratify the UN refugee
convention makes it difficult to obtain refuges status
or resettlement, forcing many asylum seekers to live
without official documentation in neighboring countries
and work in the black market.
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It is estimated that there are at about one million
migrant workers from Burma in Thailand, and about
20% are children. |
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There are significant numbers of people from Burma
working in Malaysia and India. |
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| Rampant corruption
and complicity of SPDC officials allows the trafficking
of persons to flourish. The military regime claims to
recognize trafficking as a problem, taking highly visible
steps – new laws, “rescue” missions,
and the participation in regional and international
mechanisms to demonstrate its willingness to combat
human trafficking. Many of the regime’s measures
to combat trafficking in fact contribute to the problem,
placing restrictions on the movement of women, especially
young women, in ethnic nationality areas, effectively
increasing the costs of bribes during transportation
and dependency on male brokers. |
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Men, women and children from Burma are trafficked across
Asia and forced to work in manufacturing, building,
domestic service, and the sex industry in Thailand,
China, Bangladesh, and Malaysia. |
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The junta itself traffics people within Burma, forcibly
relocating villagers off their land to forced labor
in urban centers, development projects and military
camps. |
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A large proportion of sex workers in Thailand’s
brothels are from Burma, and 60% are under 18 years
of age. |
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