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NCGUB: News on Migrants & Refugees- 9 February, 2010 (English & Burmese)
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HEADLINES
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NEWS ON MIGRANTSBoat capsizes, two bodies recoveredThirty Burmese deported to BurmaNEWS ON REFUGEES
Karen refugees threatened on media contactKaren Refugees Warned Not To TalkThai-Burmese Border Camps Braced for New Refugee Flow
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Boat capsizes, two bodies recoveredMonday, 08 February 2010 23:30 Khai Suu
New Delhi (Mizzima) – A motor schooner carrying 23 people capsized on the 5
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of this month while traveling downstream on the Pachan River along the Burma andThailand border. Local residents said two female bodies believed to be from thiscapsized vessel were recovered yesterday evening.The boat, operating under the cover of nighttime, was carrying 20 Burmese workers,most of whom were women, along with the boat’s operator, a 4-year old boy and ahuman trafficking agent when it capsized near the village of Ayechantharyar en routeto the Thai settlement of Thitsetni.All passengers except for the two female bodies recovered survived the accident."The boat was covered with a tarpaulin at the time when water entered the boat andsank it at 7 p.m. A 16-year old girl and about a 40-year old woman went missing. Therest survived the accident. Villagers went and tried to find them but could not. First agirl's body was recovered at 3 p.m. yesterday evening. Then, the body of the missingwoman was recovered," a local from Ayechantharyar told Mizzima.
"The two bodies have now been taken to Kawthaung hospital by hearse courtesy of the Kawthaung free funeral service," added a resident of Kawthaung in southernBurma.At the time of the accident the boat, with a maximum capacity of 18, was overloaded,while the tarpaulin was employed to conceal the vessel’s illegal human cargo.The boatman has since been on the run, with all other survivors, including thetrafficking agent, detained at Ayechanthar police station.When contacted by Mizzima, the police officer on duty at the station could notprovide any further information. However, it is learnt one of the detainees, a mother,died at 7 p.m. yesterday."Her heart stopped beating on the way to the clinic. She was pronounced dead whenshe reached the clinic. Her husband is also being detained at the police station,” saidthe Ayechanthar villager. “The mother of the girl who died in the accident is alsobeing detained at the same police station."http://www.mizzima.com/news/regional/3499-boat-capsizes-two-bodies-recovered.html
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Thirty Burmese deported to Burma8 February 2010
Thirty Burmese nationals were deported to Burma by the Mizoram state authorities innortheast India under the Foreigner’s Act last week.They were arrested on January 22 in Aizawl city by Mizoram police. Although theywere granted bail, they could not afford to pay. They were sent to Mizoram central jail.Daily newspaper The Aizawl Post reported that the Mizoram government had decidedto hand the Burmese nationals over to military authorities of Burma on the Indo-Myanmar border.“They have been transported to Zokhawthar, Indo-Myanmar border from Bawngkawnpolice station to be handed over to the Burmese military,” the newspaper said.Recently, the Home Minister of Mizoram said that Burmese people, involved incrimes will be pushed back to Burma.He also ascribed the increasing inflow of illegal drugs to Mizoram to the activities of Burmese people from Chin state and other parts of Burma. He had declared that theMizoram government would take penal action against them.
Most of the 30 Burmese nationals pushed back are wood cutters. This is the first timethat the arrested people have been handed over to the Burmese Army.-
Khonumthung News
http://www.khonumthung.com/thirty-burmese-deported-to-burma-1/
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NEWS ON REFUGEES*************************************************************
Karen refugees threatened on media contactFeb 8, 2010 (DVB)
The Thai army has reportedly told Karen refugees at the centre of a dispute over theirforced repatriation to Burma not to speak to media, otherwise they may face arrest.Around 3000 refugees in northwestern Thailand are currently awaiting news onwhether they will be forced back into Burma’s eastern Karen state, which they hadfled in June last year following fighting between Burmese troops and an ethnic Karengroup.Rights groups have urged the Thai government to ensure that any repatriation ispurely voluntary, following warnings that the area remains heavily landmined andreturnees run the risk of being forcibly recruited into the Burmese army.A senior member of the Karen Women’s Organisation (KWO), Blooming Night Zen,who met with the refugees on Saturday, said that Thai soldiers had told them that they“will face arrest and deportation if they talk to the media and other organisationsabout [the repatriation]”.The return was due to begin on Friday last week, although it has been temporarilysuspended after strong criticism from rights groups, as well as an outspoken letter sentby 27 US lawmakers to the Thai premier, Abhisit Vejjajiva.Before the suspension, Thailand had planned to return all refugees by 15 February.Last Friday it was confirmed that eleven refugees, including a toddler, were sent back into to Burma.The London-based Burma Campaign UK also called on the British government andinternational leaders to urge Thailand not to send the refugees back.A Thai government spokesperson last week told a press conference that the refugeeshad crossed into Thailand not to escape fighting, but instead to find work.However many of the refugees had fled the Ler Per Har camp for internally displacedpersons in Karen state, which was shelled by the Burmese army, and claimed thatthose who remained were being forcibly recruited into the army.Bangkok came under fire late last year after forcing around 4600 ethnic Hmongrefugees back to Laos, where they are likely to face persecution by the government.
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