Burma's forgotten refugees

international | miscellaneous | opinion/analysis Monday June 21, 2004 13:50 by Eve Campbell

"We are struggling like hell" -Daisy Dwe, Karen refugee from Burma, mother and activist.

This article briefly describes the political situation in Burma and the problems faced by refugees from Burma in thailand. It focuses on the story of Daisy Dwe a refugee activist in Thailand.

Sangkhlaburi is an unremarkable town in many ways. It has a bustling market square with stalls selling piles of fruit, hot plates of spicy food, and colourful clothing There are a few houses clustering around with children playing outside and motorbikes parked along the streets. Sangkhlaburi is different to many Thai towns in one way though, looking around, one is struck by the marked ethnic mix of people living in this small border settlement. Burmese, Karen, Mon, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim; what ties these seeming quite distinct mix of people together is that many of them are refugees who have fled persecution of the Burmese military government.

Since 1962 the people of Burma has been living under a military dictatorship. In that year a military coup by General Ne Win toppled the then government instating in its place the State Law and Order Restoration Council (S.L.O.R.C ), who now go by the somewhat ironic name of State Peace and Development Council. Since 1962 the people living in the state of Burma have been subject to a litany of gross human rights abuses including arbitrary murder arrest and torture, systematic rape of women by the military, forced labor on state roads , military bases and operations, forced relocation, lack of freedom of speech, censorship, and violations of religious freedom ect. Members of Burma’s many ethnic minority groups have and continue to be particular targets of state violence and oppression.

The military held elections in 1990 resulting in a landslide 80% victory for the opposition National League for Democracy party under Aung San Suu Kyi. Power, however, was never handed over to the newly elected government and the junta continue to hold the reigns in Burma using violence, oppression and torture. Suu Kyi is currently under house arrest in Rangoon.

In Sangkhlaburi I met Daisy Dwe, a Karen refugee from Burma, mother , community and political activist. I first encounteredDaisy in the small shop that she and her daughter Daffodil run from their home which they share with Daisy's grandchildren and some hens. The shop sells multicoloured fabrics and clothes made by a group of refugee women from Burma. Weaving for Women is the name of this group. I later returned to Daisy and Daffodils shop armed with a pen and pensil to find out more. This is Daisy's story as best as Ican tell it.


Like so many people Dwe was forced to flee Burma in the late eighties. A period that saw the political situation get increasingly worse culminating in 1988 in the murder of some 10,000 peaceful pro democracy demonstrators by the military in Rangoon and the arrest and torture of many more. In 1962 when the junta came to power, Dwe and her family had their land belongings forcibly stolen by the government, “they took everything,” she told me. In 1978 she made the move to the Burmese side of the Three Pagodas Pass, a border crossing point, in the hope of eventually making it into Thailand.

It was here that Dwe became actively involved in activism. She became a member of the Karen National Union (K.N.U.) a group set up in 1956 with the aims of establishing the right to self determination and democracy for the Karen and all the ethnic groups living in Burma. It was here also that Dwe became involved in a network of women from across the ethnic minority groups that eventually became Weaving for Women (W.F.W.). All of them were very poor she said but had to work together and help each other out.

Dwe emphasised the many problems especially faced by women and children in Burma . Many women are left widows because of the frequent fighting between government forces and dissident seperatist groups. Women, especially women from the ethnic minority groups, are very vulrenable to sexual abuse at the hands of the military. A report issued by the Shan Women’s Action Network (S.W.A.N.) entitled “Licence to Rape” and another more recent report by the Karen Women’s Organisation (K.W.O.) “Shattering the Silences: Karen women speak out about the Burmese military regimes use of rape as a strategy of war in Karen State” testify to the very systematic use of rape by the Burmese military to “intimidate, control, shame and ethnically cleanse” ethnic minority women and to “terrorize, … subjugate …[and]…to completely destroy their culture and communities.” According to the K.W.O. the “rape of women is often committed in conjunction with other human rights violations such as beatings, mutilation, torture, murder, forced labour and denial of rights to food, water and shelter, and denial of the right to legal redress.”

In 1989 Daisy and her family made it to the Thai side of the border. She was one of the lucky ones and was eventually able to gain official status enabling her and her family to start a better life in Thailand. Many though are not so lucky as she explained. Initially the Thai government had a relatively helpful response to those fleeing persecution in Burma, but things have since changed.
Increasingly warm relations between the Thai government and the Burmese junta has resulted in a much harsher stance towards refugees in Thailand. It is difficult for many refugees to gain official refugee status in thailand. Since president Thaksin came to power in 2001 there has been a very palpable crackdown on those fleeing Burma, with tighter border controls more deportations and reduced a role for the U.N.H.C.R. and N.G.O.s .

In 1995, Dwe and seven other women formed Weaving for Women, a group aiming to educate and provide an income for refugee women.The women all come from a mix of ethnic background but all have one struggle in common Dwe explained. Using their traditional skills of weaving the women in W.F.W. are able to create an alternative income to prostitution, to support themselves and their families, often being the breadwinners. Their wares are sold to tourists in thailand and there is also a small export market to Europe. From small beginnings the group has expanded and now there are almost seventy women with five looms.

W.F.W. seeks not only to provide an income for refugee women but also to educate. The recent government crackdown has meant that there are currently many refugees in a state of limbo unsure of their future in constant danger of deportation back to Burma. Dwe explained how, without papers, official legal status or money and often with pressure to send money back home to Burma of to feed their families, many women and girls resort to prostitution. Most of the girls are aged between 14-20 and from rural parts of Burma. Often they have no education about S.T.D.s including H.I.V./A.I.D.S. which is a growing problem in thailand. Dwe and her group aim to educate these women visiting the brothels and teaching them about the risks of unsafe sex.


The ammount of courage that Daisy Dwe and so many other Burmese refugees that i have met is astounding. Equally astounding is the silence and lack of debate over what is currently happening in their country from which they are exiled. The international community is not listening and Thailands currently harsh approach towards those seeking refuge in their country has gone unnoticed. It is time that we started to listen.

Sources for this article come from
www.hrw.org/doc?t=asia&c=burma
www.karen.org
www.karen.org/knu/knu.htm
www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/Shattering_Silences.htm

As well as notes from my chat with Daisy Dwe who can be contacted at daisydwe@hotmail.com