By Alishba I. Kassim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

THAI SONG YANG, Thailand – A sudden offensive against ethnic Karen rebels by Myanmar’s military junta has led to a mass exodus of refugees from Myanmar. The six-decade long conflict between the Christian Karen and the mainly-Buddhist Myanmar’s junta continues to escalate.

Thailand is already home to 135,000 refugees, yet more refugees and orphans continue to arrive. Just weeks ago a group of 96 orphans fled their children’s home in Myanmar to the sound of mortal shells, AFP reports.

One such orphanage is run by Tasanee Keereepraneed, who watches over children from Myanmar tending to toddlers not much younger than themselves. Tasanee has readily taken in orphans and displaced families from one of the world’s longest conflicts. “The children look after each other and take care of themselves. The older ones teach the younger ones…They have to grow up very quickly,” said Tasanee, speaking about the orphans. These children idly spend their time since the resources available to them are meager at best, “They do not have a school, they do not have a place to stay because they had to run from the attacks,” said Tasanee.

Many elderly couples have been forced to flee the fighting and seek refuge in Thailand’s makeshift camps, some after having walked long distances without food and hardly any water. Those left behind are at risk of suffering at the hands of the rebels and as well as the military. In early June local aid groups reported the rape of teenage and pregnant women by government troops.

History makes no secret of hiding that war brings out ugliness in everyone.

 For more information, please see:

AFP – Myanmar Orhaps Flee to Uncertain Refuge in Thailand – July 9, 2009  

AP – Myanmar Refugee Numbers Swell in Thailand – July 6, 2009   

By Alishba I. Kassim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – The ongoing battle between Pakistan’s forces and the Taliban continues to challenge aid distribution to Pakistan’s growing refugee crisis. As many as 18 people were killed on Tuesday night when alleged Taliban forces detonated a bomb at a luxury hotel in Pakistan.

The Pearl Continental Hotel, the target of Tuesday’s attack, was housing nearly 30 members of the United Nations staff when the bomber hit it. The bombing disrupted aid operations immediately an resulted in a one-day suspension of food distribution efforts. It also prompted several United Nations agencies to move most of their international staff to Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.

Despite reports indicating alarm, the emergency coordinator for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Kilian Kleinschmidt, said “It’s a reshaping of operations, it’s not a reduction. We will not abandon the more than two million people. That’s very clear.”

Among the relocated staff members are also several World Food Program employees who have been brought on board to help handle the influx of Pakistani refugees from the North. Mr. Paul Risley, spokesman for the World Food Program said, “This is a very specific targeting of the humanitarian effort. It was a tragedy, but it won’t stop the U.N.’s work.” Two World Food Program employees were wounded seriously in the attack, but more are expected to arrive soon.

The United Nations High Commissioner, Antonio Gutierrez, in a joint statement with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, condemned the attack, saying, “Humanitarian workers around the world are coming under increasing attack, and it is the poor, the uprooted and the vulnerable who will suffer the most by their loss.”

Needless to say, the refugees’ loss is one that cannot be quantified.

For more information, please see:

NY Times – Bombing Challenges Aid Distribution – June 10, 2009

United Press International – Pakistan Hotel Bombing – June 10, 2009

Reuters – UNHCR Mourns Loss of Staff Member – June 10, 2009

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BANGKOK, Thailand – Almost 3,000 ethnic Karen of Myanmar, mostly women and children, have fled to neighboring Thailand after the Myanmar army launched another offensive attack last week. This attack led to the largest exodus from Karen State since the Myanmar government began its attacks in 1997.

In the recent years, Karen forces have weakened due partly to divisions within its ranks.  David Thaw, the spokesman for Karen National Union (KNU), said they do not have any information regarding Karen casualties of the recent attacks, and one of the camps inside Myanmar, which sheltered internal refugees, has been abandoned.

The KNU has been fighting for autonomy from Myanmar’s military government for the past 60 years, and it is one of the longest running insurgencies in the world.  Around 100,000 Karens have already sought refuge in Thailand after fleeing the counterinsurgency, and about half a million Karens have been internally displaced inside Myanmar.

Karen refugees seeking shelter in Thailand (Source: AP)

According to Amnesty International, this ongoing offensive includes widespread violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by the Myanmar government, including displacement of refugees, unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, imposition of forced labor, and unlawful forms of punishment.

When the tensions heightened in the recent days, Thai troops were deployed to the Thai-Myanmar border to prevent a spillover of the fighting between the Karen people and Myanmar’s government.  The Thai army is also in contact with international aid agencies to provide relief for the Karen refugees.  The United Nations, along with other aid agencies, is continuing to deliver aid to the border and is setting up temporary shelters.

The Myanmar government has refused to comment regarding this situation.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – MYANMAR ETHNIC GROUP FACES CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY – 5 June 2009

BBC – Burma’s Karen flee army offensive – 8 June 2009

MSNBC – 4,000 Karen flee fighting in Myanmar – 9 June 2009

Reuters – Nearly 1,800 Karen flee Myanmar fighting – Thailand – 8 June 2009

By Alishba I. Kassim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

WASHINGTON, U.S. – The U.S. government and several human rights groups have started protesting after North Korea’s highest court sentenced two American journalists to 12 years of hard labor.

The two journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were detained by North Korean soldiers at the Chinese border in March. They were charged with illegally entering North Korea and with “hostile acts.”

There are conflicting reports emerging regarding the stories the journalists were working on. Laura Ling’s sister, Lisa Ling, told ABC television that the journalists had been working on a story regarding the trafficking of North Korean women into China, while other reports suggest they had been reporting on North Korean refugees who had fled North Korea.

The White House has also expressed its sentiment on the issue, and President Obama has been “deeply concerned” by the sentencing. Statements from the White House say that the U.S. is “engaged through all possible channels to secure their release.”

Groups such as Amnesty International have also been criticizing North Korea’s judicial and penal system by highlighting the fact that the journalists have had “no access to lawyers, no due process, no transparency.” They have gone on to call the North Korean judicial system an “instrument of supression than of justice.” Needless to say, the sentencing is the latest development in the strained American-North Korean relationship.

The Obama administration has reached out to the governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, who helped released American citizens imprisoned in North Korea in the past. However, Governor Richardson added that “talk of an envoy is premature because what first has to happen is a framework for negotiations on a potential humanitarian release. What we would try to see would be some kind of political pardon.”

Governor Richardson also noted that North Korea had not filed espionage charges against the journalists as many had assumed might happen and this was a positive sign.

Needless to say the plight of the two journalists has garnered substantial media attention, and the attention of the government and several human rights agencies. According to Governor Richardson there are some positive developments that can be utilized as stepping stones. However, let’s hope the U.S. government can work towards the journalists speedy release since several international reports strongly suggest that detainees at the labor camps are subject to hunger, brutal beatings, and inhumane workloads.

According to the four minute conversation Laura Ling had with her sister, the only thing that could help them would be if the “two countries communicate.”

For more information, please see:

NY Times – U.S. Protests North Korea’s Punishment of two Journalists – June 8, 2009

AP – Will U.S. Send Envoy after North Korea Jails Reporters? – June 8, 2009

Straits Times – Reporters Get Hard Labor – June 8, 2009