UNHCR Regional Office for Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam
Aneesa Walji (front) with colleagues from UNHCR |
The UNHCR Regional Office in Bangkok houses the world's largest resettlement program for refugees. Since January 2005, more than 30,000 refugees have departed Thailand for countries like the USA, Australia and Canada where they have opened new chapters in their lives. Resettlement is the only long-term solution for many refugees in Thailand as they cannot return to their country of origin and nor can they integrate locally due to the national policy. Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Conventionand those outside camps are regarded as illegal migrants.
Nevertheless, Thailand hosts a huge number of refugees. There are two overarching categories of refugees in Thailand. The vast majority are from Burma and they live in closed camps along the Thai-Burmese border. These camps have been in operation since the 1980s and it is clearly a protracted refugee situation. The second major group of refugees are those based in Bangkok and other urban centers. They are nationally diverse, originating from over thirty countries such as Iraq, Sri Lanka, China and Somalia.
As a resettlement intern for the urban caseload, my primary task is to interview candidates for resettlement. In the process, I confirm refugee claims and gather additional information required to complete Resettlement Registration Forms (RRFs). I also regularly provide counseling to individual refugees, explaining the procedures and prospects for resettlement given the nature of their case as well as resettlement policies. Moreover, I have had the opportunity to observe a number of Best Interest Determination (BID) panels. These panels bring together a multi-disciplinary group of colleagues to discuss and eventually decide what the most appropriate care arrangements are for individual cases of separated and unaccompanied children, taking into account a wide variety of factors including the views of children.
This internship is providing me with firsthand exposure to the UN and its functioning. In addition, just as I had hoped, I have been thrust into the field of refugee law and policy, dealing with issues ranging from refugee status determination and the applicability of Article 1F in the 1951 Convention to questions of family reunification. In the course of my meetings with refugees, I am developing my interview and counseling skills while at the same time learning about the ongoing challenges refugees face here in Thailand, such as the constant risk of arrest and rising food prices. Not only am I learning a great deal from refugees themselves but also UNHCR staff, who hold a wealth of knowledge and experience as humanitarian workers and have been extremely generous in sharing their time with me.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank both the International Human Rights Program (IHRP) at U of T Faculty of Law and UNHCR for making this internship experience possible.
