"...Since 1996, the people of Shan State have been particularly targeted for persecution by the military regime in order to stop the resistance efforts of the Shan State Army and to secure control over the state?s rich natural resources. Over 300,000 Shan and other ethnic people have been forced from their homes in central Shan State by the Burmese military, including from lands needed to build a largescale hydropower dam on the Salween river. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has worked in Thailand, with the consent and cooperation of the government for over 28 years, during which time assistance has been provided to more than 1.3 million refugees. In recognition of the fact that many people from Burma have been forced to flee from armed conflicts they face in their country, Thailand has been providing refugee camps for people from Burma since 1984 and has allowed international NGOs to provide support to the refugees. Thailand has allowed the UNHCR to have a limited protection role in these camps since 1998. The people of Shan State, unlike the Karen and Karenni from Burma, are not recognised as asylum seekers in Thailand and are not provided safe refuge and humanitarian assistance. As they are unable to seek refuge, the Shan people are forced to either live in hiding as illegal persons on the Thai-Burma border or seek work as migrant workers, in low-paid, low-skilled jobs such as construction workers, factory workers or domestic workers. The absence of refuge and services particularly impacts on the more vulnerable Shan asylum seekers such as pregnant women, children, elderly and disabled persons who are unable to fend for themselves in the jungle or on work sites. The Shan asylum seekers in Thailand live in precarious situations as they live in constant fear of being arrested and deported to Burma, where they face ongoing persecution in the forms of torture, rape and death on their return to Burma. This fear has increased after the implementation of an agreement between Thailand and Burma on the repatriation of migrant workers since August 2003. Why is it that while asylum seekers from other Burmese ethnic groups have been recognised as refugees and been provided refuge in camps in Thailand, the Shan asylum seekers continue to not be accepted or supported in Thailand?..."