Karen Refugees Deportation Halted
The plan to deport about 1,700 Karen refugees back to Burma has been halted temporarily because of mounting domestic and global pressure.
Activists, led by the Friends of Burma and the Karen Women’s Organization (KWO), yesterday put forward a letter of request to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva subsequent to an earlier call seeking postponement of the deportation which failed to stop the process.
They had requested the National Security Council and the ministries of interior and foreign affairs to discontinue the plan to drive the refugees back to Burma.
The 3rd Army had at first had said the deportation would take place yesterday. However, the plan has been halted for now as vocal resistance to the policy has been rising.
The Karen refugees escaped to Thailand last year subsequent to a summer military offensive by the Burmese military junta.
The KWO has stated that the repatriated refugees could be subject to ghastly human rights abuses, including rape, torture and even murder if they were to be sent home.
US Congressman Joseph Crowley called on Thailand to bring to an end the expulsion of the Karen to the unsafe conflict region in eastern Burma.
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