An abandoned Karen village after the attack
Once again, ethnic groups living in the border region of Myanmar and Thailand were forced to flee the conflict and walk to the Thai border. But the State of Thailand pushed them back. The photo story you see here reminds us that these people are victims of conflict but their dead were never counted. An old story in a new jacket. The suffering that the perpetrators don't care about and that the world doesn't want to see. Isn't 70 years long enough for this kind of life and all those deaths?
Mutraw Province in Karen State is located in southeastern Myanmar along the Thai coast near the Mae Sariang and Sop Moei regions of Mae Hong Son Province. This was the first area where the Myanmar Army Karen mercilessly bombed and shot villages, livelihoods and anyone with a weapon.
That was the reason that more than 10.000 citizens had to forget everything and flee in all directions, fearful and panicked. People tried to get each other out of the houses to save lives. Then they fled without knowing where.
This has repeatedly happened to the Karen in the border area. Some of the older ones had predicted that their children would never experience this again. And yet that night the bombs came down, one after the other.
'How many times do we have to flee? When can we, the Karen, live in peace?' They want peace and tranquility and live like ordinary people. Will this ever come true in a country where the state is your enemy?
The photos of the war violence were taken in Mae Sariang and Sop Moei in Mae Hong Son province and you can see them on the site: https://you-me-we-us.com/story/lives-and-losses-left-unrecorded
Source: https://you-me-we-us.com/story-view Translation and editing Erik Kuijpers. The article has been shortened.
Text and photos by Ms. Saiporn Atsaneechantra for the Center of Ethnic Studies and Development (CESD), Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University.
I really appreciate you highlighting the problems of the minorities in this region. Thailand doesn't give the stateless people and minorities what they deserve either, but Myanmar's military is even more terrible. I hope that the other countries will completely stop supporting the military in Myanmar and recognize the government in exile. Hopefully a future government will treat all people equally and well. Let's all be aware of what is happening so close by and do something to improve where possible.
We have employed Karen Burmese for over 9 years without exception in housekeeping and help on the market. Hundreds of thousands of Karen earn a living in Thailand. Many in dire circumstances. I have these kinds of stories firsthand and empathize with them. The elderly and backward Karen are not to be envied.
We have seen the recent coup by the army and the reactions to it. Especially the reaction (including the right of veto) of the communist regime of China and Russia keeps it going. People are left to fend for themselves and apparently have to figure it out for themselves. Financial matters (including the one belt road and Casinos) and favoritism are partly at the root of this. It is to be hoped that this group of coup plotters will one day be brought to justice for their crimes.
In 2015, Thailand adjusted the work permits (for illegal immigrants) and introduced the Pink ID card. Was something positive compared to many Karen working in Thailand. The motivation is twofold, own (country) interest and the interest of the individual. Unfortunately, this was only true for a certain part of the working Burmese, due to interim consultations between Burma and Thai authorities about important data collection and the inability to obtain it. On the side of the Burmese authority, things were a mess in terms of administration. Our domestic staff were issued one with someone else's personal details when their passport was renewed. However, there was a paper to whom this may concern (for those who this may concern) that the person in the passport was called differently. namely…… Yes, that's how it can be and fortunately it was accepted by the immigration police. A few years later, a new Pink ID card was issued as a replacement, valid for ten years and with a work permit on the back for two years.