05 Oct 2007 -

Ellen Beattie
The IRC

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published the following opinion piece by IRC's Atlanta resettlement director Ellen Beattie today.

The demonstrations in the streets led by Buddhist monks, suppressed by violent force and killings, remind us of the dire situation in Burma where a military junta has ruled for over two decades.

Persecution and unrest in Burma are not new, even if they have just blasted back onto our TV screens.

Americans can play a vital role in helping the people of Burma, also known as Myanmar.

Thousands of refugees from Burma live in other countries in Southeast Asia, including in nine refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border and in Malaysia. Many are from ethnic or religious minorities and have been brutally oppressed by their own government. Torture, rape and extrajudicial killing have been widespread in Burma.

My organization, the International Rescue Committee, delivers life-saving services to several refugee camps in Thailand, from running medical clinics to providing skills training and legal counseling. While the camps give desperately needed protection, they offer a very artificial and crowded existence, with zero opportunity for travel outside the camps, and little chance of advanced education or any kind of normal life or career.

Our government decided to admit many of these refugees to the United States this year. About 14,000 refugees from Burma have reached the United States this year — including 188 IRC has resettled in Atlanta. Another 100 will arrive here in the coming weeks.

Life in the United States for refugees is not easy but, time and again, refugees not only adapt but make major contributions to their adopted homelands. It is incredibly challenging to adjust to a completely new culture, language and neighbors. IRC and many local volunteers help with this adjustment — including finding housing, enrolling children in school and offering advice on how to do everything from taking the bus to shopping for groceries to operating a washing machine.

Those who want to help their newest neighbors can contribute money, household items or time to resettlement agencies like IRC. Employers should know that refugees are legally in the country. Many will need entry-level jobs. At the same time, we need to call our representatives in Congress, asking them to support legislation, such as the State Department and Foreign Operations appropriations bill, that will fund refugee programs.

We have seen how ethnic groups in the United States, like the Vietnamese in California or Eastern Europeans in the Midwest, can become potent forces to help accelerate change in their home countries — either by becoming politically active American citizens who lobby U.S. political leaders, or by sending money or other support home to relatives. In other words, refugees can be a force for the global spread of democracy.

Now is exactly the time to welcome refugees from Burma to our country.

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