A three hour drive south of Mat Sot on the Thai-Burma border on the side of the hillside terrain lies 'Umpiem Mai' refugee camp, a home to more than 15,000 refugees who have fled Burma. At the top of the hill right at the back of the camp, Section 17 is home to the political refugees and former political prisoners who have now been forced to make the camp their home. Approximately 40 former political prisoners live in the camp, many with their families, many also unregistered and unable to...
more »A three hour drive south of Mat Sot on the Thai-Burma border on the side of the hillside terrain lies 'Umpiem Mai' refugee camp, a home to more than 15,000 refugees who have fled Burma. At the top of the hill right at the back of the camp, Section 17 is home to the political refugees and former political prisoners who have now been forced to make the camp their home. Approximately 40 former political prisoners live in the camp, many with their families, many also unregistered and unable to get access to the official route to resettlement to a third country under the UN programme. With Thailand's screening programme of asylum seekers being closed for many years, most who arrive in the camp now live as stateless people, unable to go back to Burma where they would most certainly be returned to jail.
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