"The uncertain plight of more than 140,000 refugees living in camps along the Thai-Myanmar border has become even more precarious. On April 11, Thailand?s National Security Council chief Tawin Pleansri announced that the closure of the refugee camps was imminent. He added that the National Security Council, the institution that has overall authority over refugee issues, is in discussions with the Myanmar government and in contact with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) about repatriating the refugees to Myanmar. This is disconcerting news to those living in the nine official refugee camps dotted along the porous border between Myanmar and Thailand. They fled from armed conflict and structural violence in the Karen, the Karenni and the Shan states on the eastern border as well as other parts of Myanmar. They had been exploited for their labour, food and money by the Myanmar military and its allied groups, which have been waging a long-standing campaign against ethnic insurgent groups since the 1960s..."