More and more Myanmar flees to Thailand as violence erupts

As violence flares in eastern Myanmar, more than 5,000 Myanmar nationals fled to Thailand last week. They have joined more than 95,000 refugees who have settled in the border area around the Thai town of Mae Sot since the coup two years ago.

This week’s refugees are mostly from the Myawaddy region, an area inhabited by the Karen ethnic population. This minority has been fighting for autonomy and independence for decades. This week, a Karen separatist group, along with the assembled rebel group’s People’s Defense Forces, attacked two outposts in Myanmar.

As the military is known for its retaliatory measures against the civilian population, 5,000 people fled across the Thai border as a precaution. According to one of the separatist groups, at least 22 people were killed in a raid on a monastery last month, possibly in revenge.

More than a million civilians fled the violence. They often sought safer places in their home countries, but hundreds of thousands of Myanmarese crossed borders and fled to Bangladesh, India or Thailand. This puts Thailand in a particularly difficult position.

Myanmar is an important trading partner for Thailand. Also, since Thailand’s current president came to power in a military coup in 2014, the Thai government can hardly criticize the coup in Myanmar.

Diplomatic relations with Thailand

Despite the bloody conflicts in the neighboring country, Thailand is trying to maintain diplomatic relations with the military rulers in Myanmar. This leads to heavy criticism from experts and activists.

Thailand’s difficult situation is also reflected in the way it deals with refugees from Myanmar. Refugee push-backs happen. Those who are reluctantly accepted can apply for asylum, but this application has little chance of being approved.

Demand for a more humane refugee policy

Politicians in Southeast Asia are therefore demanding more humane treatment of refugees from Thailand because they now live in constant fear of being sent back to a country at war.

But the current government will do little with this call. Parliament was dissolved as there was more than a month before the elections. Myanmar activists hope that the polls in Thailand are correct and that there is a new government in Myanmar that will put pressure on the military leadership. But it is especially compassionate for Myanmar refugees in Thailand.

Source: NOS

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