US resettlement for displaced persons from Myanmar: protection in a protracted refugee situation in Mae La shelter

Abstract

The objectives of international refugee regime are to provide the three durable solutions for refugees in an attempt to end the cycle of displacement: voluntary repatriation, local integration, and third country resettlement. In case the voluntary repatriation and local integration are not viable options for those in exile, the UNHCR in collaboration with NGOs would seek another approach to protect the lives of refugees, and therefore the third country resettlement would be preferred. In case of Thailand, the Burmese refugees have sought asylum in the refugee camps along the border for over two decades. The problem of Burmese refugees is recognized by UNHCR as one of the protracted refugee situations. Put another way, the prolonged existence of Burmese refugees in Thailand is now at the crossroad because Burma remains in the middle of internal conflicts, while Thailand, as country of asylum, finds difficult to cope with the refugee flows. Meanwhile, USA is one of the developed countries that are supporting international programs to alleviate the protracted refugee situations. Hence this thesis examines the United States Refugee Admission Program as the tool to resolve the protracted situation of Burmese displaced persons because the program provides the greater number of refugee admissions. The site selection is in Mae La temporary shelter, the largest shelter in Thailand with the largest number of departures to the third country resettlement. After the US resettlement process has begun in 2005, the program has brought new homes to a number of Burmese refugees from protracted displacement. From this study, it reveals that US resettlement is a suitable durable solution for the time being. But the gap could be found from the selection criteria as security check on individual is time-consuming, the fraud application, and that the unregistered refugees are excluded in the process. Nevertheless, the US resettlement is the first and only durable solution to address the protracted situation of Burmese refugees in Thailand. The cooperative resettlement program would lead to the positive change in long term.