Bangkok, Thailand 17 Sep 2007 - The International Rescue Committee in Thailand this month reached a milestone in its work to assist people seeking refugee admission to the United States. Since October last year, 10,000 Burmese have departed Thailand and Malaysia. The refugees were assisted in applying for asylum by the IRC’s overseas processing entity, or OPE, in the Thai capital Bangkok.

“This has been an incredible year for us,” said Kay Bellor, the OPE Director. “It’s wonderful to reach this day and know that so many refugees have arrived to the U.S. to a new start.”

Bob Carey, IRC vice president of resettlement, said that the achievement shows the OPE staff’s extraordinary dedication and concern for the welfare of refugees.

“The team in Bangkok has changed many lives for the better and will change many more,” he said.

The OPE, with its 140 staff members, coordinates all refugee processing activities in the Southeast Asia region, including the preparation of refugee applications, facilitation of Department of Homeland Security interviews, and coordination with the International Organization for Migration for medical screening, cultural orientation and departure to the U.S.

Nearly 150,000 Burmese refugees live in nine established refugee camps on the Thai side of the border with Burma. The refugees have fled widespread and well-documented abuses against people opposing military rule in Burma, and include ethnic minority groups, such as the Karen, Shan and Karenni. The OPE staff carries out preliminary interviews in the Tham Hin camp, nestled deep in the hills a few kilometers from the border, and the Mae Lah camp, near the western Thai town of Mae Sot. In addition to assisting Burmese in Thailand, the OPE has sent screening missions to Malaysia, Cambodia, Hong Kong and China.

"We are expecting to reach 14,000 resettled refugees before the end of this month,” said Bellor. “Around 3,000 are resettled from Malaysia and the rest originate from the camps in Thailand.”

The refugees have been resettled in over 40 States in the U.S., with over 3,000 living in New York and Texas.

Refugee admissions accelerated in September last year after the U.S. State Department waived an anti-terrorism restriction imposed under the Homeland Security Act that effectively barred most ethnic Karen Burmese refugees from entering the U.S. The restriction, known as the “material support” clause, barred refugees who may have had contact with, or offered involuntary support to, the armed Karen National Union, a rebel group the U.S. has labeled terrorist. 

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