Mae La refugee camp
|
Mae La မဲၣ်လၤဒဲကဂီၤ |
|
|---|---|
| Refugee camp | |
 Mae La
|
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| Coordinates: 17°07′44″N 98°22′50″E / 17.12889°N 98.38056°E | |
| Country |
 Thailand
|
| Provinces | Tak Province |
| Amphoe | Tha Song Yang District |
| Area | |
| • Total | 2.4 km2 (0.9 sq mi) |
| Population | 46,133 |
| Time zone | UTC+7 (UTC+7) |
Mae La (alternatively spelled Maela),(Karen: မဲၣ်လၤဒဲကဂီၤ) is a refugee camp in Thailand. It was established in 1984 in Tha Song Yang District, Tak Province in the Dawna Range area and currently houses 50,000 refugees, with more arriving each week from Burma, also known as Myanmar. Mae La is the largest refugee camp for Burmese in Thailand. Over 90% are ethnic Karen. The camps are overseen and run by the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), a union of 11 international non-governmental organizations that provide food, shelter and non food items to the Burmese refugees and displaced people.
The first refugees arrived in 1984, mostly of the Karen or Karenni ethnicities, fleeing armed conflict and ethnic persecution by the Burmese government. Thousands of villages, especially in the Karen and Karenni States, were burned to the ground, including houses, religious buildings, schools, belongings, and sometimes even domestic animals. Many refugees cited similar stories: Direct military attacks by the Myanmar army, forced labor, destruction of homes and food crops, and enslavement. The camp was originally established following the fall of the Karen National Union (KNU) base at the Thai village of Mae La on the border, and had a population of 1,100 people.
Until 1995, refugees on the Thailand-Burma border lived in village-type settlements and were allowed to travel outside the camps to get food and shelter materials. However, due to attacks by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), it was moved to the site where Zone C currently lies. After the fall of Manerplaw in January 1995, a number of camps were attacked in cross-border raids and the Thai authorities began to consolidate camps to improve security; Mae La was designated as the main consolidation camp in the area.
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