UNHCR (FNs Flygtningehøjkommissariat) Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has called on the Thai government to grant refugees from Burma greater freedom of movement, after spending a day listening to refugees tell of the difficulties they have faced in two decades of living in closed camps.
– I was saddened to meet a 21-year-old woman who was born in a refugee camp, who has never even been out of the camp and is now raising her own child in a camp, Jolie said after her visit Wednesday to Ban Mai Nai Soi camp, home to 18,111 mainly Karenni registered refugees, just three kms from the Burman border in northern Thailand.
– With no foreseeable chance that these refugees will soon be able to return to Burma, we must find some way to help them work and become self reliant, Jolie said.
The 111,000 registered refugees who live in nine camps in northern Thailand along the Thai-Myanmar border are not allowed to venture outside the camps to work or receive higher education.
Since early 2001, renowned American actress Angelina Jolie has travelled the world with UNHCR to help refugees. She has worked with field staff and met with refugees in over 20 countries.
