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Resettlement of Myanmar refugees from Thailand tops 30,000

News Stories, 25 June 2008

© UNHCR/R. Arnold
Myanmar refugee children like these in Mae La Camp in Thailand will get the chance to grow up in the United States or Australia thanks to UNHCR's third country resettlement programme.

BANGKOK, Thailand, June 25 (UNHCR) – The world's largest resettlement operation passed a significant milestone this week with more than 30,000 Myanmar refugees transported from Thailand since January 2005 to begin new lives in third countries.

The UN refugee agency said in Bangkok that the number of departures since the resettlement programme began had this week reached 30,144. Nearly all of the refugees had been sheltering in nine refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border since fleeing fighting and oppression in their homeland.

"Some of the refugees have been here for nearly two decades. Some were born in refugee camps, grew up there and are now raising their own families in refugee camps," said UNHCR Regional Representative Raymond Hall. "For them, resettlement offers a way out of the camps and the opportunity for a fresh start in life."

Resettlement has become an attractive option for Myanmar refugees in Thailand, Hall added, as the chances of returning home any time soon have dimmed. Settling down permanently in Thailand is also not a possibility.

"We are very grateful to resettlement countries for making it possible for so many refugees to get a new chance at building productive lives," Hall said.

Of the 30,144 departures so far, the vast majority – 21,453 – have gone to the United States, which made an open-ended offer in 2005 to take refugees from the camps in Thailand. They have gone to cities like Milwaukee, Denver, Syracuse and Minneapolis.

Australia has received 3,405 and Canada 2,605. Other resettlement countries for Myanmar refugees are Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

About 300 Myanmar refugees leave Thailand every week on average for resettlement, and close to 8,000 more could leave by the end of this year. The nine camps remain home to 123,584 refugees and asylum-seekers.

Asia is also the site of another of the world's largest resettlement operations, with more than 10,000 refugees from Bhutan expected to leave Nepal for resettlement countries such as the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway in a programme that began in March this year.

By Kitty McKinsey in Bangkok, Thailand

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UNHCR country pages

Integration Handbook: Refugee Resettlement

A relevant handbook on the reception and integration of resettled refugees.

UNHCR-NGO Toolkit for Practical Cooperation on Resettlement

A repository for exchanging ideas on resettlement partnerships, June 2011.

Resettlement

An alternative for those who cannot go home, made possible by UNHCR and governments.

UNHCR Resettlement Handbook and Country Chapters

July 2011 edition of the UNHCR Resettlement Handbook.

Returnees in Myanmar

During the early 1990s, more than 250,000 Rohingya Muslims fled across the border into Bangladesh, citing human rights abuses by Myanmar's military government. In exile, refugees received shelter and assistance in 20 camps in the Cox's Bazaar region of Bangladesh. More than 230,000 of the Rohingya Muslims have returned since 1992, but about 22,000 still live in camps in Bangladesh. To promote stability in returnee communities in Myanmar and to help this group of re-integrate into their country, UNHCR and its partner agencies provide monitors to insure the protection and safety of the returnees as well as vocational training, income generation schemes, adult literacy programs and primary education.

Returnees in Myanmar

UNHCR Relief Items Pour into Myanmar

With eight relief flights and an earlier truck convoy from nearby Thailand, UNHCR had by June 6, 2008 moved 430 tonnes of shelter and basic household supplies into Myanmar to help as many as 130,000 victims of Cyclone Nargis. The aid includes plastic sheeting, plastic rolls, mosquito nets, blankets and kitchen sets. Once the aid arrives in the country it is quickly distributed.

On the outskirts of the city of Yangon – which was also hit by the cyclone – and in the Irrawady delta, some families have been erecting temporary shelters made out of palm leaf thatching. But they desperately need plastic sheeting to keep out the monsoon rains.

Posted on 12 June 2008

UNHCR Relief Items Pour into Myanmar

Myanmar Cyclone Victims Still Need Aid

With eight relief flights and an earlier truck convoy from nearby Thailand, UNHCR had by June 6, 2008 moved 430 tonnes of shelter and basic household supplies into Myanmar to help as many as 130,000 victims of Cyclone Nargis. The aid includes plastic sheeting, plastic rolls, mosquito nets, blankets and kitchen sets. Once the aid arrives in the country it is quickly distributed.

On the outskirts of the city of Yangon – which was also hit by the cyclone – and in the Irrawady delta, some families have been erecting temporary shelters made out of palm leaf thatching. But they desperately need plastic sheeting to keep out the monsoon rains.

Posted on 12 June 2008

Myanmar Cyclone Victims Still Need Aid

A new life for refugees from BhutanPlay video

A new life for refugees from Bhutan

They fled to Nepal from Bhutan amid ethnic tensions in the early 1990s. Now, many of the slightly more than 100,000 refugees have been offered the possibility of resettlement to another country.
Aid To Myanmar Cyclone VictimsPlay video

Aid To Myanmar Cyclone Victims

UNHCR has sent in almost 120 tonnes of aid to help more than 10,000 victims in Myanmar of Cyclone Nargis.
Play video

Through ninemillion.org Paw Wah, a young refugee living in a refugee camp in Thailand is able to share with you a glimps of her life. To learn more about the ninemillion.org campaign visit the website.