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UN:
MYANMAR REFUGEES LEAVING THAILAND FOR THIRD COUNTRIES PASSES 20,000
MARK-UN: 11/12/2007 (MaximsNews Network)
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UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network /
- 11 December 2007 --
The number of Myanmar refugees leaving
Thailand to start new lives in third countries has topped 20,000, under the
world’s largest refugee resettlement programme, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced today.
Since
the programme began in January 2005, a total of 20,787 refugees have left
Thailand as of 10 December, while an additional 3,741 have been approved for
resettlement and are waiting to leave.
Most of
these refugees fled the fighting and oppression in their home country of Myanmar
over the past 11 years, and have taken refuge in nine camps – housing 124,300
registered refugees – along the border with Thailand.
“Resettlement
is an important solution for refugees for whom returning home or integrating
into their countries of asylum is not possible, and we are grateful to
resettlement countries for giving so many refugees the opportunity of a new
life,” UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told reporters in Geneva today.
The
largest number of Myanmar refugees has departed Thailand for the United States,
which made an open-ended offer in 2005 to take refugees from Thai camps.
Thus
far, nearly 12,000 Myanmar refugees have moved to cities such as Minneapolis,
Minnesota; Fresno, California; Lansing, Michigan; and Dallas, Texas.
Meanwhile,
2,154 Myanmar refugees in Thailand have begun new lives in Australia, while
2,132 have resettled in Canada. Other countries where refugees have resettled
are Finland, Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and
Sweden.
Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
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