The following report is the third of three pieces written by ABCUSA General Secretary A. Roy Medley about his recent experiences traveling in Southeast Asia. (View Part 1 * View Part 2)
On Monday, July 11 our group now consisting of ABC missionaries Duane and Marsha Binkley, Liz Congdon, Wayne Paulsen, Kabi Gangmei and myself (pastor Duh Kam and pastor Rollin Van Bik not traveling on from Malaysia with us) caught a late night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok. Arriving late at night we quickly made our way to the Bangkok Christian Guest House. And early the next morning we began our visit to Thailand.
Our first visit was to visit Nightlight a ministry headed by ABC missionary Annie Dieselberg.
REFUGEE PROCESSING
From there we traveled over to meet the representative of the Refugee Service Center which is contracted by the US government to International 
Rescue Committee. This contract is regularly sent out for bids by Homeland Security/ICE. International Rescue Committee won the contract away from the former group. While doing so guarantees the lowest price, one has to wonder what is lost in shifting such a complex process and records from one group to another.
Each country that resettles refugees has its own process for required documentation for those whom the UNHCR has registered. International Rescue Committee is responsible for entering the camps to gather the required information and submitting the completed forms to Homeland Security. In Malaysia, the Burmese refugees were granted refugee status through a blanket category. This means that as a refugee from Burma they do not have to prove that they individually fit the requirements for refugee status. They do have to provide personal data that documents who they are. In Malaysia, the UNHCR did the documentation on each person whereas in Thailand that is the responsibility of International Rescue Committee. Homeland security then interviews each refugee and has the right to admit or refuse to admit any applicant. We found it interesting that while Homeland Security makes the decision, it is International Rescue Committee that communicates the decision to the aspiring refugee. In addition, every refugee undergoes a health screening including a test for TB. With a clear medical screening a refugee is ready for assignment to a third country. The average time for screening and relocation is 18 months.
Priority placement is given to those with serious medical problems. In assigning a country to a refugee, the Refugee Service Center attempts to place them in with any family member who has already emigrated to a third country. If they have no relatives they seek to fulfill the quotas each resettling country has set for itself. The US is by far the largest resettling country, followed by Australia, Canada, and a few Scandinavian countries. We were surprised to learn that Burmese refugees have also been accepted by Romania and the Czech Republic. The US is the only country that does not “cherry pick” refugees using screens such as educational level, professional skills, etc. The staff of International Rescue Committee gave the US a strong endorsement for its humanitarian policies in resettlement.
When we visited two years ago, refugees who were to be resettled in the US received almost a week orientation. We reviewed the workbook that was used, and were pleased to see the variety of topics they sought to cover. That has now shrunk to four days and is not mandatory. The staff said that in four days all you can really hope for is that you can teach them how to cope with airports, flying, and getting to their destination without getting lost.
On the US side there is a monthly meeting in DC of the authorized resettlement agencies such as Church World Service. At these meetings each agency determines the number of refugees it will accept for resettlement that month. Local sponsors are then sought from the agency’s constituency to receive the refugees and assist in their resettlement. For us, the American Baptist Home Mission Societies carry the work of the liaison role with Church World Service to recruit and assist ABC congregations as sponsors. We have a tremendous track record in refugee resettlement.
This refugee situation, however, is significantly different from those in the past because of the refugees’ high identification with ABC due to our mission history in Burma. Consequently, many of these refugees are turning to the American Baptist congregations in their area for worship, fellowship, and support even though those congregations may not be their official sponsors.
CONDITIONS ALONG THAILAND/BURMA BORDER
Refugees have been arriving in Thailand from Burma since 1984 when the Burmese military regime launched an assault against the Karens who then 
began to flee across the border to Thailand. The Thai government responded to this first rush of refugees by placing them in what is now known as the Tham Hin Camp. The position of the Thai government is that this is a temporary situation and therefore the camps are provisional.
There are now nine camps along the Thai border with the southernmost being Tham Hin. The inhabitants are mostly Karen, but the two northernmost camps are Karenni. It is estimated that the 9 camps now hold 150,000 people. The population is fluid with new arrivals from Burma and new departures to third countries every week. The largest camp is Mae La which is home to approximately 30,000 refugees. Tham Hin by contrast houses approximately 7,500.
In addition to the 150,000 in camps, it is estimated that there are almost a half million Burmese who are internally displaced. They have fled or been forced from their villages and hide in the hilly jungles of eastern Burma.
The military regime conducts forcible village relocations. A village may receive notice they are being relocated a day to a week ahead of the actual relocation. Families are forcibly removed from their villages bringing only what they can carry. They are moved to another area within the army controlled zone and their former village is burned and often mined. Their new camp where they are taken is hedged with fences of sharpened bamboo and razor wire to prevent them from leaving. Often there is no land to farm and the people are reduced to near-starvation. It is within the relocation camps that many of the human rights abuses occur including systematic rape of the women.
Just recently, the many years old cease fire between the Kachins and the government was broken and the renewed fighting is sending more people into diaspora – often into China in this instance.
The Thai government, like Malaysia, does not grant refugee status to those that have fled into the camps. Because the situation is “temporary” and because each person is capable of returning home according to the Thai government, no refugee is allowed to work. All food, clothing, and building materials is supplied by the Thai Burma Border Commission. Originally set up by the churches and missionaries in Thailand to meet the needs of the refugees, the TBBC has grown from an original budget of $40,000 to well over $36 million now. While the villagers can grow vegetables and livestock they are not permitted to grow rice. Hence, every grain of rice consumed in the camp is brought in by the TBBC.
In truth, many refugees do leave the camps to work illegally in Thailand. However, within the camp itself, apart from those employed by NGO’s to assist in the delivery of the rice, or a few that are in a microbusiness trial project, there is no work. With over a third of those within the camps now having been born there, the young people are not learning a culture of work.
Click here to CONTINUE reading about Warehousing, The Church in the Camps, and Burmese Refugees and ABCUSA in Thailand
Report written by Rev. A. Roy Medley
General Secretary, American Baptist Churches USA