THE CHURCH OF CHRIST IN THAILAND IN. ASSOCIATION WITH

THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

1987 REFUGEE RELIEF

PROGRAMMES

Social Development and Service Department Church of Christ in Thailand 14 Pramuan Rd., Bangkok. 10500 Thailand

The Thailand Burma Border Consortium was

established in 1984 as the Consortium of Christian

Agencies (CCA). Jack Dunford was Refugee Relief

Coordinator with the Church of Christ in Thailand

(CCT) and served as chair of CCA. No reports were

written by CCA in the early years but the work of the

Consortium was summarised in Annual CCT Refugee

Programme reports which also included work with

Indochinese refugees.

This report for 1987 are the sections relating to

TBBC/ CCA's work in the CCT Annual reports that

year.

iii) Karen Refugee Situation

2.19 Th>R n\lllllx!r of Karen refugees in Tak and M·ae Hong Pr o vinc es alo n g the Burmes e border increased from 18 , 428 in December 1986 to 19,675 in 1987 . End of ye ar c a mp by camp populations reported by the Karen Refuge e Committee over the loast 4 year s vere an foLlows

. ,.

. -... ..

Camp 1984 1 ~8 5 1986 1987

Wang Kh a 1737 2136 2303 2370 M·aela 436 1357 1988 2482 Kamaw Lay Kho 617 12 8 7 16' 22 1763 Kler Kho ·· 1724 1350 1582 1570 Sho Khlo 3442 5838 6568 6349 Mae Tha Waw 960 2741 2664 2716 Noe P a Doh 366 619 794 1206 Salween 814 814 Ka Htee Hta 93 713 Mae Po Hta 501

9502 16144 18428 19675

C ····· , ~lllP locations." are s hown on Map 3 .

2 . 20 There was no change in Royal Thai Gvernment policy during the year . This remains a n unofficial refugee sit u ation and the hope remains that the refuge es will e ventually be

• able to go back to their homes . Nai ther th e the United Nations High Commiasi o ner f or Refug ees nor the International Committee of th e Red Cros~ has been invited to provide assistance, and Vol untary Ag encies continue to provide essential eme r g ency relief .

2 . 21 The situation was tense throughout 1987 with fi g hting taking place almos t continuously a t some point o r another alon g the bord e r . In the early months of 198 7 the Burmese troops launched fresh assaul ts north and south of the areas where most of t he !,-cticn had t a k en plc.ce in previous years . IIi the mo st seriou s inc1dent a t t he be g inning o f March, the , Burmese attacked Wawlay s o me 40 kms South of Mae So t a n d praviously c onsidered to be 'safe'. Over 2000 Karen s t o ok shelter in Thailand as the school, hospit a !'" and sawmill were burnt down and a number of houses de stroyed including some in th e ad j a c e nt Thai village. Several people we re killed , some on Thai soil . Within a week however the Burmese troops withdr e w a n d the evacuated population returned .

•

2.22 The rains were late but particularly heavy in 1987 and a number of roads and bi: id g es in the camps were washed-out in late Au g ust . The Karens remained resourceful and independent to a lar g e de g ree, and soon made good tho damag e .

2 . 23 With the end of the rains the usual 'rumou:cs started to circulate of larg o Burmese tL"C OP build-ups , and the likelihood of another major offensive . By the end of 1987 this had not materialised . Whilst rumours of large quantities of Burmese supplies being moved -in persisted, the Karens reportedly had been a tt acking the supply routes with some succeSG . Althoug h the Burmese Governmen t announce d during 1987 tha t it would over - run Karen terr i tory wi thin two years, their Army i8 still also eng aged in heavy campaigns in other parts of the country against other entnic minority groups a& well as the ' Burmese Communist Party. The enormous financial drain on the Country " s fragile economy, and the hug e loss of life being sustain~ by the Army in these camp a ign - must put a question-mark a g ainst the Government's ability to win a ccnc1usive victory in the immedi a te future ,

2 . 24 And so this emer g ency d ra8 s on into a fifth year without any p rospect of an early solution .

' If the Burmese are a ble to 8ustain their offensive then there is the prospect o f yet mOre refug ees . It , for political or ~C!, c 'onomic reasons , the Burmese were t o scale down their activities then some of the refugee population at least would soon return t o the other side of the border . But until there is a real political initiative the struggle will continue .

S.OC.\ALIST R£PuBUC " OF "THE

UN \ OF BURMi\

KA.REN REFUGEE CAMP5 IQ'6'f

T\-\~ \ Lf\ N D

l(~rnQW L~ MhD

MOf-It\

.15

111) Karen Refug~~

4 .29 The Karen Refugee Relief programme wa G s et U? in 1984 a nd CCT has par ticipated through a ' Consortium of Christian Agencies. A summ a ry of CCT ' s input and the Cons or tium prog ramme is gi v'en in Appendl" C. Since the situat i on is still regarded to be a tempor ar y one , .Royal Thai Government policy permits voluntary agencies t o provide only basic eme"gency assistance , i .e. m.ed.i:-ci:ni! , f ood, and o ther basi c relief items . Noth"i;:g is permitted of a 'deve lopmen te d na ture o r which mi ght et t ra c t more refu g e e s into Thailand, or encourage tho se already here t o stay any longe r than necessar y .

4 . 30 The relief prog ramme continue d i n 1907 much as de scribed in last year' s re por t . Ther e were n o ~ajor change s in the c a mp structure e ther th a n the growth o f Ka Htee Rta c a mp in Mae Hong Son Province where mo st of t he ne w arrivals in th e early, par t o f th e year wer e located .

4. 31 Medical services continued t o b e provided exciuGlvcly by French Age ncies . Medecins Sans Fronti e rs (MSF) maintaining the larg est p resence i n Tak Province and Me decins Du Mon d e (MDM) a smalle r prog ramme in Mae Hong Son Pr ovince . Oper a tion Handicap Internati onal (ORI) with d rew its full - time presence from Mae Sot Hospital during the second- half of the year. Locally trained technicians are now .able t o run the prosthetics work- shop and OH l staff visit only periodically . The medi c al

situation was very stable during 1987 with no major epidemics or crises . Malaria remains the single largest problem, but the medic al t .eams found themselves increasingly dealing wit h lees serious ailments .

4 . 32 The "Consortium of Christian Agencies" became largest pr ovi der of food and relief items in 1987 covering over 80 percent of these needs. The composition of the Consortium remained essentially unchanged although World Vision Foundation c eased to participate financially after August having bee n the largest single cont r ibutor in earlier years . The main participants in 1987 were the Thailand Baptist Missionary Fellowship (TBMF), the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT) , World Vision Foundation of Thai land (WVFT) , ZOA Refug~e Care , Netherlands , CAMA Servi c es, Advantist Development and Relief Agen cy (ADRA) , and Food For the Hungry International (FHI) which c ~ntinues to par tly support Brian Hintz as the Consortium Coordinat o r baaed in Mae Sot . The Catholic Office for Emergency Relief a nd Refugees (COERR) a nd International Christian Aid (ICA) were the two main non - Consortium agencies contributing to the food and relief item programm e .

4.33 The Commit t ee for Coordination of Services to'" Displac-cd Persons (CCSDPT) Karen Sub-Committee c ontinued to meet monthly under the chairmanship of Jack Dunford (CCT) . These meetings were attended by moat agencies providing relief to the Karen Refugees, and occasionally by the Ministry of Interi or ( MOL) and ICRC.

4 . 34 The biggest problem faced by the Age ncies supplying f ood in 1987 wa s the dramatic increase in rice prices after August . Following a drought , poor harvests predicted for Thailand , and higher than usual rice export t o other drought - hit countri e s , prices rose sharply from around '/J 300 par 100 kg sack to over i! 500 pe r sack . Uncert ai nty over future rice pri c es r .meined a t the end of the year . Prices had not ·f a llen as usual after the harvest and, with poor second - crop s also predicted , it waa possible that prices would remain high in 1988 .

33

4 . 35 l~is i ncre a s e in ric~ pric e for ce d a more methodic a l app roach t o fun d- raising for 1988. Wher e as in the past each Agency r a ised wh a tever funds wer e availabl .. and contributed them to the overall programme , monthly ex penditures had reach~d such pr o portions that it had becom e essential t o plan income o n a more regular baais . A joint appeal was theref ore prepared aimed main1y a t Consortium supp orters , but ala o usable by other Agencies . The total need f o r fo o d a nd r e lief items in 1988 wa s estimated to be around $ 800 , 000 of which the Cons o rtium hoped to contribute about $ 650 , 000 .

4 . 36 CCT c o ntinue d to rais e funds f o r its participation in tha Consortium p ro g ramme from a v a riety o f sources . Receipts and expenditur e s during 1 93 J are listed in Table C1 of the Appendix . A ba lanc e o f ~ 905 , 215 . 13 was held at th e end of the year altho ugh further transfers to the Cons o rtium wer e b e ing processed . Table C 2 sh ows CCT's total pr og r a mme from the b eg inning in 1984 .

4 . 37 Ta ble C 3 eets out the Cons o rtium acc o unts as a who le f o r 1 9 8 70 A t o tal balance of ~ 1 , 378 , 892 . 67 was held in Bangkok and Mae So t at the e nd of the year , roug hly equivalent to one ' mo nth ' s expenditure at present levels . There was als o stock on hand , mainly rice purchased in advanc e, v alued at about II 1 , 273,000 .-

4 . 38 Table C4 shows Consortium sources o f income during 1987 plus donations of supplies made by individual a gencies in the name of the .Consortium . CCT contributed nearly 27% o f Cons o rtium inco me in 1987 , a propo rtion which was rising as the ye'ar progressed, particularly after August when Worl d Vision ceased to contribute . The 1000 blankets donated directly by CCT were purchase d from a blanket fun d received from Church Worl d Service . In 1987 the overall provisi un o f bl~nkets and mosquito nets was much higher than in previous Y2 u rs . This was judged to be necessary a S a way of reducing the hi g h incidence of respir a tory illnesses and malaria . Distribution of these items was much impr o ved being base d o n detailed house to h o use surveys .

•

4.39 Table C 5 summarises Consortium expendicures i n 198 7 t o talling ~ 11,949 ,19 3 . 8 7 represen ting a n increes2 o f 81% o v er 1986 ~ As usuel t he maj or ity of th e exp e n d i t ure was o n ri c e ( 8 37.) a n d o ther food items (147.) . Administ ration c os ts (1.67.) were mainly the sup por t of Brian Hin t z i n Mae Sot including th e rental o f a pick-up t ruck from ' TBMF .

4 . 40 The scale of Co nsnrtium i nput t o t he t otal provision o f fo od and re li ef item suppli ee to the c a mps c an be se en in Table C 6 whic h lists t0tal supplies as rep o rte d by th e Karen Terugae Committe.. Th a Co n sor tium carried o v er 90% o f th e s t aple d iet re qu ir aments (rice , fish pas te, sait , c h il J. iea) a n d at _ l east 80% o f t he en t ire p r ogramme, At current level s , expendi t u r e i n 1988 is iikel y t o i ncr ease t o a round t 16 milli o n .

4 . 41 Tab le C 7 Sh O\'lS the g rowt h of t he Co ns o rtium p r og r a mm a o ver the last 4 years fTom 'f; 3.3 mi lli o n in 1984 ( 9 mo nths) t o almost t 13 mi ll io n in 19870 The es t T ma ted t o t al cost of th e Co nsort i um programme t o date i s ov~r f, 27 mi l li o n .

4 . 42 Ta ble C 8 p r o videR a n es tim a te of the totai valu~ of a ssist ance given t o the Karen refugee s since 19 84 includ in g both food/relief items from all agencie s and me di c a l serviceG o To tal as sist a nc e is estimatod to have c os t about US $ 26 milli o n in 1987 a nd US ~ 76 milli o r. o ver the fo ur y ear period. This is c alculated t o ave rag e abo ut 1; 25 pe r refugee p er week (US $ I ) .

4 .43 The c os t of assistance t o th e Kare n r ef u gee s has continued t o increase but in 1967 t his was mainly d u e t o increases in r ice pr icee . Th i s remai ns ~ surely s cne of th e c he ap est refugee opera tions per c apit a an y wh er e . The Consortium is c ar rying an ever~i ncre a sin3 proportion o f the t o tal. (50'1. of t otal assistance in 1987 a.. c o mpared with 301'. in 1986) , and CeT is accepting ..:::n .. inCrell·a in8 share of the Co ns o rtium p r ogramme (27% in 1 96 7 c ompa r ed with 161. in 1986 ) . This trend i" likel y t o c o nt i nue in 1988 . The Conso r tium is t argette d t o re. i se Il 16~5 million in 1986 of whic h the Ecumeni cal Agencies h a ve und e rtaken t o try to raise J 6.25 million f o r partici pa tion

thr o u g h CCT ...

35

APPENDIX C

KAREN REFUGEE RELIEF PROGRAMME ACCOUHTS

TABLE C1. SUMMARY OF CCT PROGRAMME 1 JANUARY TO 31 DECEMBER 1987

Bal'an~e clf 1/1/1987 Bread for the World Christian Aid Church World Service Dutch Interchurch Aid Australian Churches of Chris t CAMA United Society Propagation of Gcspel Contributions to Consortium Travel and Administration

CR.

tJ 128, 758 . 60 '/J 1 ,030,656.­'/J 417 ,662 . 50 f, 514 ,800 . ­f, 1 ,379,740 . 90 f, 178,765 . 13 t 257,047.­tJ 123 , 730.-

Dr.

3,097, 04 7.-* 28, 948 . -

905.215.13 Balance at 31/12/87 ==~============= ============~~=

'/J 4 ,031 , 210 . 13 4 ,031 , 210 . 13

*includes '/J 257 , 047 contributed to Consortiuim in name of CAMA .

TABLE C2 . SUMMARY OF CCT PROGRAMME 1984 TO 31 DECEMBER 1987 -------;r- M

Dutch Interchurch Aid Dread for the World Christian Aid

World Council of Churches Church World Service Australian Churches of Christ United Society Propagation Gcapel Australian Council of churches CAMA Serviccs l1iscellaneous donations Donationa to Consortium Anglican Ministry Travel and Adminis tration Bal ance at 31 Dec 1987

CR. t 2 ,054-;T9"9 . 10 '/J 1 , 202 , 531 .-jJ 796,850.-'/J 543 , 700.-t 514 ,800. -'/J 353,250 .63 t 242 , 535 . -'/J 167 , 557 . 40 '/J 257,047 .-'/J 56,400.-

================

13 6,183 ,370 .13

42

Dr.

5,153,247 .-79 ,170 . -51,236 .-

905 , 215 .13 =======;:==

136 ,188,870.13

JE.. :1 1 Delanca El\K Jan 1 Balance Mae Sot Recc.ipts BI\K Interest BK!{ Receipts Mae Sot Interest 11ae So t Expenqitures BKK Expenditures Ma!3 Sot Lean re tur ns (rice sacks Dec 31 Balanc e 13K!{ De:; 31 Bal ance Hae Sot

etc 0 , )

Cr.

2, 296 ,129 . 22 364 , 276 . 29

10, 621 , 612 . 37 9, 391091

200 ,,-16 , 096 . 69

Dr.

19,4710 87 11 , 929 , 722 .­

(20,430 0- ) 1,286,661.69

92 , 280. 98 - - - -- ----.-- -----

t 13 , 307, 706 . 54 13 ,307,706;54 ======c======= =============~

Stock on hand = 2500 sacks rice (t 1 ,000,000); 670 Blankets ( say, ~ 37, 000) , 3740 Mosquito Nets (say, t 236,000)

·!'!JlLE C 4 : CONSORTIUM INCOME 1 JAN TO 31 DECEMBER 1987

Thailend llapitis t Missionary Fellowship Church of Chris t in Th~18nd Hor ld Vi sion Foundation Thailand ZOA CAiolA ArM CCSDPT

'/> 6,442, 565 . 37 '" 2,850,000.­t 639 ,000 .-'I> 300,000. -'/> 247 ,047 . -t 128 ,000.-'/> 15 , 000.-

t 10,621,612. 37 =:;:::;:;:====:;:;::::;::;,:=:===

ath~r donat lcns ma.rla b~

ZOA ... 4 bags of blankets,

Members in kind throush the Consortium

used clothes, 3000 mosqui t o nets, 4800 4500 Gchool sets

TDtiF

fHI WVFT

ceT

- 3 boxes of used clothes

~ 5383 ro( '~<;ui t o ne ts - 1000 bJ.anltets

- 1000 blankets

•

43

'.

TABLE c5 CONSORTIUM EXPENDITURES 1 JAN TO 31 DECEMBER 1987

Rice Fish Paste Sillt Chillies Yellow Beans Ppwdered Hilk Clay jar Cooking Pots Soap Supplementary Feeding Administration Hae Sot

Administration BKK

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ i i ~ , ~

~

10 , 025 , 980 . -1 , 446 , 320 0-

89 , 9110 -29 , 720 0-68 , 780 0-28 , 250 0-

1500 -11,330 0-

1,126 0-54,559 0-

173,596 0-

19 , 471087

11 , 949,193 087 ==============

44

26 , 951 sacks (@ 100 kgs) 11 , 064 tins (@ 20 legs)

1 , 827 bags (@ 30 kgs) 2 ,913 kgs 5 , 540 kgs

95 kgs (@(@ 25 kgs) 1 ong

159 pots 2,066 bars thro 'HSF Salaries, transport , office etc 0, Bank charges etc . ,

TABLE C6 TOTAL SUPPLES TO CAMPS 1 JAN TO 31 DECEMBER 1987*

Item

Rice (sacks) Fish Paste (tins) Shrimp paste (bags) Salt (sacks) Chill ies (kg8) 31nnkets Mosquito Nets Powdered Milk (bags) Sardines (tins) Canned Beef (tins) Sugar (bags) Clay Jars Cooking Pots Buckets Used clothes (boxs/bags) Bowls So;'p (bars) Table spoons Yellow beans (kg) Cookies (pkts) ('joodles (pkts) Biscui t s (tns) Pakheoma (pcs) Gift packs (pcs) T shirts (pcs) Candles (boxs) Candies (bags) Lamp Holders (boxs) Sewing kits _( sets) Note Boaks Wciting Implements (sets) Rulers Pencils School sets Tooth brushes (boxes) Tooth paste ,boxs)

COERR ICA Others Consortium Total ----------------------

-2 , 100

25

500 500

43 ,900 28,500

60

13

6,000

3,000 3,000

2,062

3 ,420 2,000

12 , 000

192 100

:s 288

360

600 8 , 000

84 176 200

5 , 950 12 84 62

400

700

14 5

1,365 26 ,440 11 , 070

1 , 827 2,913 6,490 5 ,143

95

1 159

7

2,066

5,540

4,500

31 , 967 11,070

25 1 , 827 2,913

10,410 7,643

95 55 ,900 28,500

60 -, .I.

351 100

25 288

2,066 360

5 , 540 600

8,000 84

176 200

5,950 12 84 62

400 6, 000

700 3,000 3 , 000 4,500

1~' 5

'Other's include AoKoA, Full Gospel Church , Rev oLarry Jones , Vatican Embassy

*As reported by Karen Refugee Committee o

45

•

TABLE C 7 : CONSORTIUM PROGRAMME 1984 THROUGH 1987

---- ---,-----.-,----- - "---1987 i Total

-+----1I~--L-.---------

i 126 , 951 I'

1

11 ,064 1 , 827

i 2,913 I

59 ,356 19 ,423 I

2, 926 18 ,997 I

3, !:20 \ j' 3 ,000

11 .949m 25 .196m ----+-----~~~--~~---.~---~~j

198 , 000 -1 , 502 400 4 ,620 2, 900 quty quty - quty

- - 198,000 100 8,283 2, 002

3 ,450 " I 6,800 10 ,9 70 quty quty quantity ':-J I ":-J quantIty

I

I

+------------+-'----+---~-Oo~O:---;:-~-_ ..

0 . 450 m 0.350 m

3. 302 m 4.251 m 6. 917 m112 . 949m 127 .. 42:1 m , . I , "--.-.-------------l.---- --.c,-.-__ -'-___ ..J.I _____ ~ _____ _ __ ,

* purchased directly by Consortium Member Agencies but donated in the name of Consortium •

--.---. _ ._-Item 1984 1985 1986

-Food/Rel ief items 1; 5 m. " .10 m. )'\ 12 mo Medical Programme 1; 5 m, t; 9 m. tJ 9 m ..

r---19~-;-;; m.

I Total '/J 10 m. )'\ , ,

I

These figures include etaff and administration costs.

!

1987 !

" 16 m. )'\ 10 m.

I tJ 26 m.

otal T

t. tJ

--tJ

43 ro .. 33 m.

76 m.