THAI GIVE APPROVAL TO PRM DAS RYAN FOR BURMA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BANGKOK 003073

SIPDIS

GENEVA FOR RMA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2015
TAGS: PREF PREL TH BM BURMA
SUBJECT: THAI GIVE APPROVAL TO PRM DAS RYAN FOR BURMA
BORDER CAMP REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT PROGRAM


Classified By: DCM Alexander Arvizu. Reason 1.4 (B,D).


1. (C) Summary. During an April 18-23 visit by PRM Bureau
DAS Kelly Ryan, the Thai government gave its approval for a
multi-year program to resettle Burmese refugees residing in
camps along the Thai-Burma border to the United States. DAS
Ryan told Thai officials that the United States wanted to
begin this program in the Tham Hin camp, was prepared to
offer resettlement to all eligible registered refugees in
camp, and would be able to begin processing before the end of

2005. Thai National Security Council head General Winai
expressed some concern that such a program could pull more
Burmese into Thailand and asked the United States to pursue
the program as discreetly as possible. DAS Ryan agreed that
it was important to try and deter a pull factor and said that
the USG viewed Tham Hin as a pilot and would make decisions
about how best to proceed in resettling refugees from the
other camps after further analysis. The Thai also told Ryan
that the long-delayed Provincial Admissions Boards for
screening Burmese refugees would begin operations in May.
General Winai indicated that the Thai government was looking
favorably at establishing the site currently being used to
process Hmong for U.S. resettlement as a more permanent
facility for Burmese resettlement processing. DAS Ryan
lauded the Thai decision to permit expanded vocational and
educational training for Burma border camp refugees and urged
the Thai to permit income generation as well. DAS Ryan also
urged the Thai to permit UNHCR access to Chinese dissident Lu
Decheng. End summary.


2. (U) Population, Refugees, and Migration Bureau Deputy
Assistant Secretary Kelly Ryan visited Thailand from April
18-23 to discuss refugee matters. Dorothea Lay, CIS Office
of the Chief Counsel, Department of Homeland Security,
accompanied her. Ryan met with Thai government and
multilateral organization officials and NGO representatives.
She also participated in a well-received two-day conference
with Southeast Asian refugee NGOs designed to provide
information about the U.S. refugee resettlement program so
NGOs will be able, if they choose, to refer refugee cases for
U.S. resettlement.

General Winai Gives OK to Burma Border Camp Resettlement
-------------- --------------


3. (SBU) DAS Ryan began her April 20 meeting with Thai
National Security Council Secretary General Winai Phattiyakul
by reviewing progress made over the past year on the Hmong
and urban Burmese resettlement programs. She said that the
United States was now prepared to begin a multi-year
resettlement program for eligible refugees in the refugee
camps along the Thai-Burma border. The United States
proposed to begin in Tham Hin camp. It was prepared to offer
resettlement to all qualified refugees at that site who were
registered by UNHCR in December 2004 as well as those who had
entered Tham Hin after 1999 when the previous registration
was done but whom UNHCR was not able to register last
December. Ryan said that if the Thai government agreed, the
United States was prepared to make the necessary preparations
to begin processing before the end of 2005.


4. (SBU) DAS Ryan noted that the United States was not
certain how many Tham Hin refugees would choose the
resettlement option. But she noted that she had heard the
refugees there express frustration with crowding in the camp
and with the lack of immediate prospects for return to Burma.
In response to Winai,s question about U.S. interest in
other camps, DAS Ryan stated that the USG looked at Tham Hin
as a pilot. It recognized the Thai concern about a possible
pull factor and wanted to proceed carefully. Tham Hin would
provide a start and allow the USG to put the systems in place
for large-scale processing. The USG proposed to evaluate the
experience gained in Tham Hin as it moved forward to other
camps. The United States planned to be engaged in
resettlement in Thailand for the long haul.


5. (SBU) Winai indicated that the Thai government approved a
U.S. resettlement program for the Burma border camps. He
thanked Ryan for the USG efforts over the past year on the
Hmong and urban Burmese programs, but did note that the Thai
government was concerned about a pull factor. The Hmong
program had drawn 5,000 Hmong from Laos into Thailand. Winai
said he also wanted the U.S. to be discreet about a Tham Hin
resettlement program to forestall any disorder in the border
camps. DAS Ryan expressed confidence that the two sides
would be able to deal with the pull factor. The USG had
proceeded as discreetly as possible with the urban Burmese
program and would do the same with Tham Hin. She also said
that it would be helpful for the two sides to have an
exchange of letters to confirm the agreement on border camp
resettlement.


6. (SBU) DAS Ryan then asked Winai about the long-proposed
Thai Provincial Admissions Boards (PABs) that would screen
Burmese asylum seekers. She expressed the hope that the PABs
would begin operating soon. Ryan also inquired whether the
Thai government would consider establishment of a separate
site for resettlement processing for Burmese approved by the
PABs. She noted that she had heard there was some Thai
government discussion about using the site currently being
used for Hmong processing at Tham Krabok temple in Saraburi
Province for this purpose.


7. (SBU) Winai responded that the Thai government had
discussed the Tham Krabok processing site with UNHCR. The
Thai Ministry of Interior agreed with the idea. He noted,
however, there was more work to do on the Thai side,
including gaining concurrence from the private foundation
that owned the land. As for the PABs, the Thai government
was making progress. The goal was to have them active in
four provinces by the end of May. UNHCR will participate on
the PABs. (Note: Since the USG anticipates that some of the
refugee cases approved by the PABs will be referred to the
USG for resettlement, this decision would be welcome and
potentially cost saving as the USG had already funded
improvements to the infrastructure at the site for the Hmong
screening.)


8. (SBU) DAS Ryan praised the Thai government,s recent
decision to permit expanded educational and vocational
training opportunities for Burma border camp refugees. This
was a good idea that made sense in terms of durable
solutions. Refugees with added skills would be better able
to contribute whether they were resettled or repatriated to
Burma. Winai responded that the Thai had started with
vocational training and advanced education. The process had
gone slowly so far, but would hopefully speed up.


Thai MFA Explains Position on Chinese Refugee
--------------


9. (SBU) On April 19, DAS Ryan met with Thai Ministry of
Foreign Affairs Director General Kittiphong Na-Ranong. She
began the meeting by asking Kittiphong about the status of
the PABs. DAS Ryan also noted U.S. concern about Burmese
refugees living in urban areas who had recently been moved to
border camps. Turning to resettlement of Burma border camp
refugees, DAS Ryan described the U.S. proposal to begin a
multi-year resettlement program beginning in Tham Hin camp
later this year. She expressed the hope that those who have
arrived since 1999, the year when the last registration
occurred, could be added to the lists of camp refugees that
UNHCR is currently compiling.


10. (SBU) Kittiphong responded that the Ministry of Interior
was saying that the PABs would begin working in May. He
stated that the MFA for its part had tried to push MOI to get
the PABs up and running. On the urban Burmese refugee move
to the border camps, Kittiphong noted that &Thailand has
been quite flexible" in the past on this issue. He noted
that the Thai government often took a hard public line, but
was &flexible8 in practice. Kittiphong said there were two
schools of thought in the RTG about resettlement of border
camp refugees: the first was looking toward resettlement for
the refugees; the other, mostly the military and other
security agencies, were concerned about the "pull factor"
resettlement might promote. He stated that he was very
sympathetic to National Security Council Secretary chief
General Winai, who had to balance these opposing views.


11. (C) DAS Ryan then raised the issue of the Chinese
dissident Lu Decheng, emphasizing that the United States
opposed any plans to deport him to the PRC or other countries
and that the UNHCR should be allowed to do a formal refugee
status determination interview. She noted that the USG had
not encouraged a public campaign for Lu in hopes that this
would make it easier for the RTG to permit UNHCR access.


12. (C) Kittiphong replied that the RTG appreciated the U.S.
position. He reiterated the RTG concern about the pattern of
PRC and other nationals acting in a "systematic way" to use
Thailand as a transit route for refugee resettlement. He
also made reference to a recent DPRK refugee case and stated
the RTG worry of setting a precedent for these types of
cases. He particularly mentioned initial media coverage of
Lu Decheng's case in late 2004 that "made it very difficult"
to process Lu,s case quietly. Thailand could not be seen as
doing whatever the United States wanted. Kittiphong also
said that RTG authorities had checked out Lu's story and
concluded that he had nothing to fear if he returned to the
PRC. DAS Ryan countered that based on her first-hand
experience, the PRC had manipulated evidence in the past in
presenting information to the United States and to other
foreign government officials in attempts to counter refugees'
claims of persecution.


13. (C) Kittiphong then cited the personal involvement of
former Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai in the case of
Chinese dissident Yuan Bin, who was detained for a short time
in a Thai prison in 2004 before being granted UNHCR access
and expedited resettlement to the U.S. Kittiphong said that
Surakiart's personal involvement in Yuan Bin's case left the
RTG feeling that they were being used by dissident groups and
their networks to get people out of the PRC to the US or
elsewhere.


14. (SBU) DAS Ryan proposed to Kittiphong that the RTG
consider the idea of establishing a transit center to handle
processing of Burmese refugees approved by the PABs. She
also lauded the RTG,s decision to permit expanded
educational and vocational training opportunities for camp
refugees. Kittiphong replied that the idea of a transit
center to assist in the completion of processing was a good
idea but deferred to the Ministry of Interior (MOI) for the
final decision. On the issue of providing more systematic
vocational training in the camps, Kittiphong nodded
sympathetically to this idea and stated that MFA had
suggested it during the Cambodian refugee crisis in the
1980s. It had taken &20 years to get this idea approved."

Ministry of Interior Says PABs Will Begin in May
-------------- ---


15. (SBU) DAS Ryan explained the U.S. plans for Burma border
camp resettlement in her April 20 meeting with Thai Ministry
of Interior Inspector General Tirawattr Kullavanijaya. She
said the United States would continue with resettlement
processing for the urban Burmese who had been moved to the
border camps. She expressed the hope that the Thai
government would show generosity toward the urban Burmese who
had not reported to the refugee camps and urged that none be
deported. She asked about the status of the PABs and the
possibility of a dedicated processing site for those approved
by the PABs. DAS Ryan also praised the Thai government
decision to permit expanded vocational and educational
training for refugees.

16. (SBU) Tirawattr responded that the PABs should begin work
in May and that using the Tham Krabok site was possible. He
noted that the Thai Ministry of Education was looking at
getting more involved with refugee education. The Thai
government was concerned with the international perception
that camp refugees were being &warehoused8 or not well
treated. Tirawattr expressed frustration with the lack of
political progress in Burma and the continuing inflow of
Burmese, noting that while 2,000 urban Burmese had been
resettled, the number coming into Thailand continued to rise.


UNHCR Reviews Montagnard Situation
--------------


17. (SBU) In an April 19 meeting, UNHCR Regional
Representative Hasim Utkan reviewed the Montagnard situation
in Cambodia with DAS Ryan. He repeated UNHCR,s rationale
for signing the MOU on this subject with the Vietnamese and
Cambodian governments. He said that there were now 129
Montagnards who had received UNHCR refugee status but did not
want resettlement to a third country. UNHCR was reviewing,
in some cases for the third time, those for whom it had
previously rejected refugee status. Utkan stated that in his
view the approval threshold for the Montagnards was generally
quite low.


18. (SBU) UNHCR, Utkan said, now had no plans to return
involuntarily any of the Montagnards. It believed it had a
breathing space for further implementation of the MOU prior
to a high-level meeting in late May with the Vietnamese and
Cambodians. But time would eventually run out. He
emphasized that UNHCR found itself in a difficult position
when the Montagnard refugees were rejecting the only durable
solution ) resettlement ) that it could offer. DAS Ryan
stated that the USG did not want any unmonitored return,
voluntary or involuntary, of the Montagnards. It was also
concerned about Montagnards who would cross into Cambodia in
the future and were not covered by the MOU. DAS Ryan said
the USG would consider whether some of the Montagnard cases
currently refused by UNHCR might warrant USG review and asked
UNHCR to provide some illustrative cases.

Meetings with NGO Representatives
--------------


19. (SBU) The head of the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium,
Jack Dunford, told DAS Ryan that he was concerned about a
drop in European Union (EU) funding, of about 3 million
Euros, starting in 2006. He said he suspected, though it was
not saying so, that the EU would shift the funds to
assistance projects inside Burma. He added that the recent
Human Rights Watch report on the Thai-ordered move of urban
Burmese refugees to the border camps confused the two issues
of refugee resettlement to third countries with the situation
faced by Burmese human rights and democracy NGOs in Thailand.
He said that most of the refugees who were moved to the
camps were interested in resettlement and the camp transfer
meant only a delay in that process. He added that the camp
transfer had not affected the &serious8 human rights and
democracy groups. The members of these groups typically had
Thai identification cards, work permits, or were protected by
various Thai government organizations.


20. (U) American Refugee Committee and International Rescue
Committee representatives told DAS Ryan that they were
optimistic about the apparent opening provided by the RTG,s
support for increased education and vocational training
opportunities for Burma border camp refugees. Computer
skills and Internet access would be important areas to
support. They expressed the hope that all of this would in
turn lead to income generation possibilities for the
refugees. Both representatives also stated concern about the
slow start-up of the PABs and the possibility that the Thai
government might take action against the urban Burmese
refugees who had not reported to the border camps.


21. (U) DAS Ryan has cleared this message.
BOYCE