NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar- The Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar has gone through a tumultuous period of its history as it has transitioned towards a democracy. The country had been ruled by a strict military government for a number of years, and while the progress that has been made since those years has been admirable, there are still reminders of that era. Ethnic rivalries and violence still erupts at times and can make the small nation a difficult place to live.
Violence in Myanmar has been an issue since the 1980’s, when military offensives and systemized persecution began affecting ethnic minorities. In 2011, the Burmese government reached out to a number of rebel groups, and cease-fires were reached in many cases. While the situation has been better, the state is still technically in the midst of a civil war and in recent months further repression against Muslims has been reported.
Amidst the turnover in government, the United States started a refugee program to give the citizens of Myanmar safe passage to a friendly nation. The program has helped 73,000 refugees start a new life in the U.S. since the program’s start in 2005. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki recently announced that “we’re reaching the natural conclusion… with our robust resettlement program.”
The refugee program has done a lot of good during the nine years it was in operation. The program was focused on two Burmese tribes, the Karen and Hmong, that were minorities in the region and where the most concern of discrimination was focused. Just in the past year 6,500 refugees applied for settlement in the U.S., and the U.S. has taken the most refugees from Burma during the time of the program. Australia was a distant second, with 10,220 applicants for resettlement during the time of the program.
Given the impact that the U.S.’s program has already had in the region, it looks like it will take another country or organization to fill that void. There is still much work to be done in the country. There are currently 120,000 displaced Burmese living on the border between Myanmar and Thailand, across nine different camps. The United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees’ office is still accepting applications for resettlement and will hope to place a large amount of those still currently living in the camps in safe environments.
The situation is still volatile in Myanmar and there is interests by many Burmese to leave, as evidenced by the high number of applications for the refugee program in the past year. It is unfortunate that the U.S. has ended its program, but this nine-year period has made a positive impact for the refugees. It shows the importance of positive foreign intervention and the work that groups like the Borgen project do to raise awareness about areas some in the developed world may not know about.
– Eric Gustafsson
Sources: TC Daily Planet, Zee News, Journal Gazette, Irrawaddy, New York Times
Photo: Thai PBS