Panel

Burma Refugee Crisis, Development/Aid, and State/Non-State Agencies: The Politics of Negotiating the Rights of Ethnic Minorities from Burma

Convenor, Mitos Urgel (mitos@weave-women.org)
Director, Women’s Education for Advancement and Empowerment
Chiang Mai, Thailand

PANEL ABSTRACT
The panel invites papers that investigate and theorize the nexus and complex relationships between actors and groups involved in the Thai-Burma refugee crisis: the Burmese military state, Thai government, ASEAN, UNHCR and other international bodies, non-government organizations (NGOs), and the ethnic groups from Burma who have been/are displaced, confined in camps, resettled, and/or have returned to Thailand after resettlement. Interrogating the arenas under which these groups interact, maneuver, and negotiate their positions in dealing with ideas of rights of displaced individuals is the main focus of the panel. Problematizing the relationship between these groups through their contesting/conflicting paradigms (i.e. the rights-based approach by NGOS vis-à-vis the protectionist and diplomacy stances of nation states and international bodies; political advocacy approach vis-à-vis direct humanitarian intervention) is also welcome.

The panel materializes out of the emerging concern over the 20-year-long refugee crisis in the Thai-Burma border. There is currently continuous movement of ethnic minorities from Burma to the border of Thailand. Millions of dollars have been poured into the crisis in terms of humanitarian aid and relief, development assistance, and repatriation. In addition, there have been extensive inter-government communication, intervention from international bodies, and state and non-state dialogues. The interactions between these parties occur at varying levels. In providing humanitarian aid and development programs, the NGOs often have to constantly negotiate with the military regime of Burma and the Thai government’s strict rule of confinement. The NGOs also engage with international bodies such as ASEAN and UNHCR in lobbying for policy changes. The ASEAN itself has to strategically thread its position in effecting change and still observing its policy of non-interference.

The amount of work done seems to have made little effect on the protracted problem with the unabated flow of ethnic minorities into Thailand. Donor institutions have become weary of the dependency on aid by the refugees, and there have been criticisms of palliative remedies to the problem as well as un-systematized/uncoordinated interventions among NGOs. There have been calls to understand the environment of dialogue between state, non-state, and international state/parties in addressing and finding effective, strategic, structural, and coordinated approach to the problem. There have also been calls within the community for a more analytical - and theoretical – lens in understanding the various forms of politics that inform the communication between different parties.

In this context, the panel proposes to immerse into the politics of negotiating for the rights of the refugees. The following are the questions the panel is interested in: What have been the strategic approaches of NGOs in servicing the displaced people from Burma? What are the modes of negotiations occurring between state-to-state communications, non-state agreements, and state to non-state dialogues? What strategic and arbitrary livelihoods and education programs have NGOs instituted and how are they negotiated with concerned parties? What are the notions of displacement and belonging among ethnic groups in refugee camps? How are notions of rights by NGOs advocated to state agencies, educated among ethnic minority groups, and negotiated in their work on the border?