US aid freeze leads to suspension of health care to Myanmar refugees in Thailand
US aid freeze leads to suspension of health care to Myanmar refugees in Thailand
Share:
A 90-day freeze on foreign assistance programs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump has led to cuts in services to refugees from war-torn Myanmar, including the shutdown of hospital care in camps in Thailand where more than 100,000 are living, activists and Thai officials said Wednesday.
About 106,000 long-term refugees live in nine camps along Thailand’s western border with Myanmar, according to the Border Consortium, which coordinates and supplies food, shelter and other support to most of them. The consortium's mid-year report last year said the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration was its largest donor, contributing 69% of its funding.
Around 80% of the camps’ residents are from the Karen ethnic minority, whose homeland in eastern Myanmar in embroiled in combat. The Karen have been battling for greater autonomy from Myanmar’s central government for more than seven decades. Intermittent fighting escalated sharply after Myanmar’s army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, causing more to flee across the border.
Karen News, an online news site serving the Karen community, reported Wednesday that several charity groups and NGOs providing assistance for refugees from Myanmar suspended operations after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio last Friday issued an order halting nearly all existing and new foreign aid.
On Tuesday, Rubio agreed to at least temporarily keep spending money on humanitarian programs that provide life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter and subsistence assistance, but it was not immediately clear which programs if any affecting refugees from Myanmar would be included.
Share:
More for You
Top Followed
You Might Also Like
