Thailand: Catholics help displaced people fleeing Myanmar

image Fides

Source: Fides

The Catholic Church in Thailand is working to rescue, welcome and help refugees fleeing Myanmar who hide in the forest near the Thanlyin River, which marks the border between Thailand and Myanmar.

Mgr Francis Xavier Vira Arpondratana, Bishop of Chiang Mai, says a diocesan team of lay volunteers, priests and nuns are bringing aid and promoting solidarity initiatives in two locations near the border just south of the Thai National Park of Salawin.

Mgr Vira has appealed to the religious communities of the country to come forward with support in money, water, food, medicine and other necessary goods, to be distributed among people fleeing the conflict in Myanmar. Most come come from the state of Kayin and are of Karen ethnicity.

Sister Aranya Kitbunchu, president of the Federation of Religious Superiors in Thailand, is leading the rescue operation in collaboration with the diocese of Chiang Mai and Caritas Thailand.

She said: "The refugees are in a desperate situation: they need food, water, medicine and other basic services to survive these difficult times."

The refugee emergency on the border between Myanmar and Thailand began on March 27 when the military launched several night air attacks on five areas of the municipality of Lu Thaw, in the district of Mutraw, killing three civilians and wounding seven others. The attacks that forced more than 10,000 people to hide in terror in the forest while over 3,000 from the Karen ethnic group, sought refuge in Thailand.

The 'Karen Women's Organization', has called for "an urgent resolution of the United Nations Security Council to bring the situation in Burma before the International Criminal Court".

The European Karen Network has called on the Thai government to stop the forced repatriation of Karen refugees to Myanmar: According to the organization, the Thai authorities have blocked the arrival of humanitarian aid to refugees and have begun to force them to return to the State of Karen despite the danger of further bombings.

The population of the Karen state - about 20% Christian - has been experiencing more than 60 years of conflict between the military and the Karen National Union (KNU) - the armed group representing the Karen population, which in the 1980s had 10,000 soldiers.

Over the years, the civil conflict has caused at least 500,000 internally displaced persons and more than 130,000 refugees forced to live in conditions of extreme hardship in refugee camps in Thailand.

The Burmese army took power on February 1 in a coup, declaring a "state of emergency" for a year, after accusing the National League of Democracy, the party of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, under arrest. Despite the nationwide protest against the takeover of the military, with pro-democracy demonstrators and tens of thousands of people who took to the streets, the repression of the military, fighting between the Myanmar military and various armies ethnic minorities, such as the Karen National Union (KNU) has reignited.

There are 135 ethnic communities in Myanmar, which make up a third of the national population of 56 million people. The largest minority groups are the Shan (9%) and the Karen (7%, about 3.6 million), while the others together make up about 5% of the population.