Japan to allow resettlement of Burmese refugees

by Usa Pichai
Monday, 30 November 2009 19:51

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Parliamentarians from several countries expressed concern about the plight of refugees from North Korea and Burma, while a Japanese MP said that Japan will start selecting refugees from Burma to resettle from early 2010.

On Saturday, the International Parliamentarians' Coalition for North Korean Refugees and Human Rights (IPCNKR) expressed concerned about refugees from Burma, where they share a similar plight with North Korean refugees.

The view was expressed in a press conference after the annual General Assembly of IPCNKR held in Chiang Mai, Thailand from November 27 to 29, 2009.

Beginning with its 2003 founding General Meeting in Seoul, IPCNKR currently consists of 200 parliamentarians from 62 nations.

Nakagawa Masaharu, Japan’s Member of the House of Representatives, and Senior Vice Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, who is also the standing Co-Chairman of IPCNKR, talked in his welcome speech about the meeting which was organized in Thailand because the country shares a border with Burma - a country with a military junta that can be ranked alongside North Korea.

“It is a fact that gross violations of human rights and persecution of minorities are a serious issue in this country as well. We [IPCNKR] would like to take this opportunity to issue a heartfelt appeal for the restoration of human rights in Myanmar,” he noted.

The meeting focussed on the need to promote and protect the human rights of North Korean refugees in keeping with the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also expected parliamentarian’s participation in efforts to improve the human rights situation in North Korea as well as around the globe.

Refugees from North Korea who flee to escape starvation and/or oppression by their government, cross into China, where some remain and some make their way to South Korea, the United States, Japan, or other countries. A number cross to Lao and Thailand though the northern border in Chiang Rai Province.

Thailand is widely recognized as the number two destination (the first is China) into which North Korean refugees flee from their homeland. Many of them, who arrive in Thailand, are resettled in South Korea. According to the Thai Immigration Office, about 1,000 North Korean defectors entered Thailand in 2007. Later statistics have not been released, but estimates place the 2008 total at around 1,500.

In addition, Nakagawa told the Mizzima that the resettlement programme of refugees from Burma to Japan will start in early 2010, while the actual programme to prepare the refugees to live in Japan could begin around July.

“The first group of refugees to be resettled is around 30 to 40 people. The programme will be handled in phases to see the progress,” he added.

By the end of (2010), Japan has decided to accept a group of Burmese refugees in camps along the Thai-Burma border. The decision makes Japan the first Asian country to accept Burmese refugees.

Japan now becomes the first Asian country to accept Burmese refugees, who have earlier been resettled in United States, Canada, Australia and European countries, through the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR. Besides, it is also a sign of a policy shift in Japan, which rarely allows refugees to be resettled in their country.

Recently, Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama called on the UNHCR to support Japan's plan to accept Burma refugees from fiscal 2010, while he was meeting U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.

At the meeting in the Prime Minister's office, Guterres responded that Japan's foreign policy and the UNHCR's support are heading towards the same goal and that Japan expects continued support from the agency. The government will examine the outcome of the programme after three years and decide whether to continue.