§ The Earl of Sandwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees now has a full mandate to operate on behalf of Karen, Karenni, Mon and other refugees from Burma seeking asylum in Thailand; and whether there are any limitations on the UNHCR mandate. [HL856]
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanThe UN High Commissioner for Refugees operates under a global mandate. Although Thailand has not ratified the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees, the Royal Thai Government has invited UNHCR to help deal with the refugee problem on the Burmese border. The Royal Thai Government published a set of working arrangements for UNHCR in 1998 which covered issues of admission, protection, registration, site relocations, assistance and eventual repatriation.
§ The Earl of Sandwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they can provide recent figures for (1) the total number of registered refugees from Burma to Thailand (a) on 1 January 1998 and (b) 1 January 1999; (2) the estimated number of displaced persons currently along the border; and (3) the number of displaced persons who have been forcibly sent back by the Thai army. [HL857]
36WA
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanThe Thai Ministry of Interior had registered 102, 381 persons in camps on Thai soil on 1 January 1998, and 100, 157 on 1 January 1999 (refugees from Burma to Thailand are not fully registered, so current numbers are incomplete). The number of refugees receiving NGO assistance in sites on both sides of the Thai/Burma border on 1 January 1998 was 116, 264 and on 1 January 1999 it was 111, 813. Estimates of total numbers of displaced persons along the border vary from around 10, 000 in Thailand in the immediate vicinity of camps, to hundreds of thousands displaced from their original homes, including those still in Burma. The Thai authorities assure us that no displaced persons have been forcibly sent back from camps in Thailand by the Thai army during the administration of the present government.