ASIA/MYANMAR - The poor and vulnerable children in the Country seek refuge in Thailand

Friday, 14 November 2014

Naypyidaw (Agenzia Fides) - In order to attend school, children in Myanmar are forced to emigrate on their own, without their parents, towards camps in the mountainous forests of Thailand. Decades of war and neglect have left the Karen people without access to schools and hospitals. Currently, there are over 120 thousand people from Myanmar living in camps. The Catholic Agency for Emergency and Refugee Aid, COERR, is engaged in the refugee camps on the border between Thailand and Myanmar. It is a branch of Caritas Thailand, which works with vulnerable children who have made the journey alone. It has 360 community operators in nine camps. They deal with the protection of children separated from their parents who live alone, suffer from hunger and poverty, and are also more likely to be victims of abuse. The system of home visits by COERR helps to keep them safe. Adolescents living in boarding schools receive some sort of training on how to protect themselves in dangerous situations. Children take part in the program for agricultural training that will give them an income for the future. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 14/11/2014)


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