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A Further Request for Arakan Info



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Earlier this month we requested up- to- date information on
DKBO attacks and on the situation in Arakan, specifically on
repatriation, and on forced labor projects there.

On Oct 17 we received a reply from Ruth Marshall of
UNHCR with a copy of that letter to GoMaha@xxxxxxx .

>UNHCR recently put out a bulletin on the
>Bangladesh-Myanmar operation,
>and I would be happy to fax it to you. 
>(You can contact me directly at this
e-mail address rather than clog up the net).  
>It has quite a lot of detail of our development projects 
>and so on in Arakan, as well as the continuing
>efforts to cut forced labor. 

>On the refugee camp attacks in Thailand: there seem to have
>been a series of five attacks, culminating in the one that you
>noted. Two refugees have been abducted and two killed.
>UNHCR has been worried about the location of this
>particular camp, which is perilously close to the border, but it
>appears that all the various actors (government, NGOs and
>the refugees themselves) are now agreed that it should be
>relocated further into Thailand. 

>As you probably know, UNHCR cannot maintain a
>permanent protection presence on the Thai border (Thailand
>has not signed the 1951 Convention relating to refugees and
>wishes to restrict permanent international presence to the
>NGO consortium only) and it is difficult to ascertain for
>certain the identity of the attackers. 
>Regards.
(Ruth Marshall)

In addition, we wrote a letter to Mr. Charney, asking for more
detailed information than would be included in the UNHCR
report, which is of the nature of glossy coverage with PR
photos of happily repatriated refugees.  

We noted Mr. Charney in the list of resources as 
subject coordinator for Arakan / Rohingya / Burma -
Bangladesh Border.  

We're still waiting to hear from him.  Is he also with UNHCR?
If so, mightn't that be a bit of a conflict of interest?  If not, do
we have an old address for him?
 
Rather than worrying about "clogging up the net", we hope to
get much more information, perhaps from Michael Beer, or
perhaps directly from some of the refugee and other groups
active on the border.  

We know there is interest in this matter, because we've
received several requests to share any information that we
receive.  In one case, the need to know is urgent as policy
decisions on funding and support for Rohingyas are pending.

Hoping to have something substantial to share soon.

Ken and Visakha Kawasaki


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