ASIA/THAILAND - Thai Catholics help Karen displaced people fleeing Myanmar

Chiang Mai (Agenzia Fides) - A great commitment by the Church in Thailand is underway to rescue, welcome and help refugees fleeing Myanmar who hide in the forest near the Thanlyin River, which marks the border between Thailand and Myanmar. As confirmed to Agenzia Fides by Msgr. Francis Xavier Vira Arpondratana, Bishop of Chiang Mai, told Fides that the diocesan team of lay volunteers, priests and nuns are bringing aid and promoting solidarity initiatives in two locations near the border between Thailand and Myanmar just south of the National Park of Salawin in Thailand. As Fides learned, Msgr. Vira appealed to the various religious communities of the country to come forward with support in money, water, food, medicine and other necessary goods to be distributed among people fleeing the conflict in Myanmar, who come from the state of Kayin (state of Karen ethnicity).
Sister Aranya Kitbunchu, president of the Federation of Religious Superiors in Thailand, leads the rescue operation with the collaboration of the diocese of Chiang Mai and Caritas Thailand.
"The refugees are in a desperate situation: they need food, water, medicine and other basic services to survive these difficult times", said Sister Kitbunchu, who coordinates volunteers and representatives of various religious congregations.
The refugee emergency on the border between Myanmar and Thailand began on March 27 when the military launched several night air attacks on 5 areas of the municipality of Lu Thaw, in the district of Mutraw, killing three civilians and wounding seven others. The attacks that forced more than 10 thousand people to hide in terror in the forest while over 3 thousand, of the Karen ethnic group, sought refuge in Thailand.
The "Karen Women's Organization", has called for "an urgent resolution of the United Nations Security Council to bring the situation in Burma before the International Criminal Court". The European Karen Network has called on the Thai government to stop the forced repatriation of Karen refugees to Myanmar: according to the organization, in fact, the Thai authorities have blocked the arrival of humanitarian aid to refugees and have begun to force them to return to the State of Karen despite the danger of further bombings. The population of the Karen state - about 20% Christian - has been experiencing the conflict for over 60 years between the military and the Karen National Union (KNU) - the armed group representing the Karen population, which in the eighties had 10 thousand soldiers. Over the years, the civil conflict has generated at least 500,000 internally displaced persons and over 130,000 refugees forced to live in conditions of extreme hardship in refugee camps in Thailand.
The Burmese army took power on February 1 in a coup, declaring a "state of emergency" for a year, after accusing the National League of Democracy, the party of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, under arrest. Despite the nationwide protest against the takeover of the military, with pro-democracy demonstrators and tens of thousands of people who took to the streets, the repression of the military, fighting between the Myanmar military and various armies ethnic minorities, such as the Karen National Union (KNU) has reignited.
There are 135 ethnic communities in Myanmar, which make up a third of the national population, which in all counts 56 million people. The largest minority groups are the Shan (9%) and the Karen (7%, about 3.6 million), while the others together make up about 5% of the population. (SD-PA) (Agenzia Fides, 20/4/2021)

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human rights

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ethnic minorities

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wars

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solidarity

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refugees

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