Aung San Suu Kyi endorses work of Thai Children's Trust

Aung San Suu Kyi

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has given her backing to Thai Children's Trust, the UK charity helping Burmese refugee children on the Thai border. In her letter, read out by Reverend Jane Hedges, Canon of Westminster at a reception for the charity in Westminster Abbey on Tuesday night, Aung San Suu Kyi called on people to support the work of the Thai Children's Trust, which provides care for some of the 350,000 Burmese refugees currently in Thailand.

Thai Children's Trust is the UK's largest charity focusing solely on Thailand. Working with local partner organisations across the country, the charity helps nearly 4,000 disadvantaged children, providing care, nutrition, education and a home to children with HIV/Aids, disabilities, children at risk and refugees.

In her message Aung San Suu Kyi said: "Children are the most vulnerable members of human society because of their physical weakness and material dependency. At the same time they are our greatest strength because it is they who will decide the future shape of our world. The fate of migrant and refugee children is of particular concern; in addition to the deprivations they suffer they are often not certain if there is any part of the world they can call their own. The country they have left behind becomes a distant, unreal land to them. Yet the country where they find themselves may be inhospitable and their new home hardly less precarious than the old one.

"Any effort to make the lives of such children healthier, happier or more secure is a truly worthwhile project. It will not only be a contribution towards the fulfillment of immediate needs, it will also constitute a contribution towards a better future for our country. I hope that all who are in a position to help the work of the Thai Children's Trust will do so with generosity and enthusiasm."

Andrew Scadding, Director of Thai Children's Trust, said: "The situation for the ever-increasing numbers of 'forgotten' Burmese refugees is desperate. Aung San Suu Kyi's words of support are timely and greatly appreciated.

"Around half the Burmese children living in the Thai border town Mae Sot are malnourished, so we are currently supporting a food programme delivering essential supplies to 3,800 children in school boarding houses, as well as providing shelter and education to thousands more vulnerable children along the border."

For more information about the Thai Children's Trust, visit www.thaichildrenstrust.org.uk.