Life gets no easier for Myanmar's victims of war

Moreover, natural disasters and communal violence have contributed to the rise in the number of IDPs. Many IDP camps have been established along the Myanmar-Thai border and also in the Rakhine State and Meikhtila Township due to communal violence.

For the past ten years, fighting between the government and the Karen National Union has left thousands of displaced refugees. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) there are over 632,000 IDPs including war refugees in Myanmar. The majority are Karen, from 36 townships in the Kayin region, who fled their homes long ago. Although the fighting has subsided, many are uncertain about returning home to earn a living.

The number of war refugees is rising because of frequent armed conflicts with ethnic groups, especially in the Kachin State. Myanmar Peace Monitor, a watchdog organisation observing the “peace process” in Myanmar, says in its 2013 report that fighting between the military and Kachin Independence Army has displaced over 100,000 people in Kachin State. This has resulted in new IDP camps both in the area controlled by the Kachin Independence Organisation and that controlled by the government. Some sources put the number of refugees at over 200,000. 

Similarly, fighting in the Shan State has caused a rise in the number of the refugees in the area. In 2012, government troops battled the Taaung National Liberation Army, the armed ethnic group of the Palaung people. This increased the number of war refugees from over 2,000 to 5,000. The Palaung refugees are now living at IDP camps in the Shan State.

Also in 2012, the military fought the Restoration Council of the Shan State/Shan State Army, the Karenni National Progressive Party, the Karen National Union and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army. According to Myanmar Peace Monitor, the numbers of displaced people are 6,700 in the Shan State, 700 in Kayah State, 200 in the Bago region, 1,600 in Kayin State, 200 in the Mon State and 600 in the Taninthari region.

Due to the communal violence in Rakhine State last year, the number of IDPs in the region has risen to beyond 180,000. According to a UNOCHA report in 2012, the violence left over 70,000 people displaced in June and 30,000 more during October. 

In March, religious violence in Meikhtila Township left over 4,000 people displaced in five new refugee camps there. 

If the conflicts are resolved, peace prevails and necessary support is provided, the displaced people will be slowly rehabilitated. It is a big challenge to adequately serve their basic needs and to create jobs for them. The future for all these refugees is uncertain. Those along the Myanmar-Thai border once dreamt of escaping to third countries. However, when they learnt from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) about third countries’ limited ability to accept more refugees, their dreams faded. For the refugees, it is difficult to return their homeland and earn a living because of infrastructural constraints. 

Meanwhile, the Thai government, which had accepted Myanmar refugees, is now more than willing to deport them back to Myanmar. Nevertheless, the UNHCR in Thailand met with representatives of the United Nationalities Federal Council – an ethnic coalition group from Myanmar – last July, and came to an agreement with the government that refugees would not yet be forced to return to Myanmar. Therefore, the existing IDP camps are still allowed to exist on the Myanmar-Thai border.

Nevertheless, as long as the armed conflicts continue, the number of displaced refugees in Myanmar will continue to grow.

 

Nay Htun Naing is a writer based in Yangon.