Repatriated Myanmar refugees live in limbo

LIVING in a refugee camp near the Myanmar-Thailand border for 11 years was no good, but returning home with no job is not any better, says former refugee Lagon Eain as he prepares to open a stall on the outskirts of Yangon amid pouring rain.

It’s the start of a new life for the former refugee since February who regrets the repatriation programme did not offer him the chance to reintegrate into Myanmar society.

Under the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) arrangement, Lagon Eain was among 500 people in the third batch of refugees who voluntarily returned to Myanmar under the Thailand-Myanmar agreement.

“They told us we will be moved to a different housing complex in two months. That was two months ago. The biggest problem we are facing now is that no efforts are being made to help us have a regular income. As we are now living as temporary residents, we cannot set up a permanent business.

There is also no training or employment opportunities provided to us,” he said.

There are several training positions but no jobs are available, he said, adding the funding assistance they received when they returned is running out.

“After three months, we had almost no money. That was when we started as street vendors selling food and snack. I had learned to make Wet Tha

Dote Htoe [skewered pork] back in the [refugee] camp. That is what we are selling now.”

Under the repatriation programme started in 2016, the Myanmar government had signed an agreement with the UNHCR agreeing to provide the returning refugees education, healthcare, clean water, infrastructure and vocational training.

The gover nment a lso ca l led for col laborat ion f rom et hnic g roups and civ il societ y organisations for the refugees’ return and deemed it part of the ongoing nationa l reconc i l i at ion a nd peac e proc e s s i n Myanmar.

Many of the refugees had f led the countr y when fighting broke out in various parts of the country between t he mi l it a r y a nd et h n ic a r med groups decades ago.

Just like his family, many of the refugees who had chosen to come back to Yangon are now facing difficulties to earn a livelihood. Three out of the five refugee families that had settled in the apartments have to find odd jobs while the other two are street vendors.

Similarly, those who returned to Myawaddy, a border town with Thailand, are also facing income problems. The “villages”, as they are called, built for the returning refugees are located too far away from business and population centres.

“It takes about 45 minutes to get to the town from the outskirts of Myawaddy and the bus only comes once a day. I only know how to farm so without any farmland around us, there is no work for us,” said a 60-year-old Karen refugee, who did not want to be named.

His family takes the bus and finds work in nearby villages. The jobs range from being construction workers and manual labourers to shop assistants. They are paid a daily wage but there is no guarantee they will find work every day, he said.

The returnees received 9,300 baht ($302) for an adult and 7,500 baht for a child from the UNHCR. Myanmar’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement would also provide 200,000 to 300,000 kyat (about $132 to $198) for a household.

They were given a house but nothing else. One of t he major challenges faced by the refugees returning to Myanmar i s t he i nstabi l it y at home.

“Despite t he peace process a nd nat ionw ide ceasef i re, t here is no guarantee that fighting will not happen again. Even if there is no more fighting, the issue of landmines also poses a major threat,” said Nan Paw Gay, chief editor of KICNews.

She sa id t hat if t he ref ugees a re being sent back to Myanmar without ensuring stabilit y in t heir place of origin, it would be more problematic as t he ref ugees would not f ind a sa fe l ivel i hood. That is a lso t he rea son many of t he ref ugees a re reluctant to return home.

In some cases, some of the Shan refugees who went back to Myanmar faced sit uat ions where t hey were forced to f lee aga i n due to armed conf licts between the ethnic a rmed g roups a nd t he Myanmar milita r y.

‘Peace should be guaranteed’

Li fe i n t he ca mps, on t he ot her hand, is a lso not compelling for t he ref ugees. Wit h t he reduct ion of funding by various NGOs supporti ng t he ref ugees, t he ex i les f i nd themselves in a dilemma. Reduction of food rations has caused many to find alternative options, such as foraging in t he nearby jungles, to f ight hunger.

There a re a lso many i nsta nces where ref ugees snea k out of t he camps, risk ing expulsion or being arrested by Thai authorities, to work as manual labourers in nearby Thai v i l lages.

Shelter and housing are major concerns for them as the temporary shelters made primarily of bamboo are now in a state of disrepair due to the shortage of materials provided by the UNHCR and NGOs. The state of medical care could not be verified due to the removal of spokespersons for hospitals in the refugee camps.

“We would like to go back [to Myanmar], of course. But no one is confident about the situation in Myanmar. In recent months, there have been rumours about gunfire in the Karen National Union region even though there is a ceasefire. We can live as long as we have a farmland, but peace should be guaranteed too,” said Saw Thu Lay from the Umpiem Mai refugee camp in Thailand’s northwestern Tak province.

“The sit uat ion i n t he ca mps i s worsening and more and more people are committing suicide. I have hea rd of about f ive su icide cases from the Mae La camp alone in the last severa l months,” lamented Saw Thu Lay.

Furthermore, it is a challenge for t hose who were bor n a nd g rew up i n t he ca mps to prove t hei r nationa lit y.

“T hey [Mya n mar gover n ment] said we will get household registration and national ID in a few months. But we have had no contact whatsoever f rom t he aut hor it ies for t wo months now. My children don’t even have an ID to prove their nationa lit y. This happens to me who has a nationa l ID card [a lbeit expired],” said Lagon.

“Imagine what it would be like for t hose fa mi l ies who never had a household reg ist rat ion or ID a nd had f led to Thailand due to the war,” Lagon sa id, as he ser ved his f i rst customer of the day.

Many of the Karen refugees now l iv i ng i n t he ca mps ca nnot even describe their villages or prove their ancestry as whole villages have been wiped out in t he a rmed conf licts. Many of the refugees have been living in t he ca mps for decades a nd have lost or never had a n ID. For t hem, Lagon said, it would be like “jumping from the boiling pot into t he f i re”.