Argues that resettlement is a strategic and durable solution for displaced communities, including Burmese refugees, in Thailand. An obvious target for resettlement is the Tham Hin refugee camp, located in an isolated, mountainous area west of Bangkok. The camp’s 9,000 Burmese refugees are suffering from severe overcrowding and extreme limitations on movement beyond the camp’s boundaries. Tham Hin makes sense as a resettlement target for several reasons: (1) it is the most crowded, least humane of the Thai camps; (2) recent political changes in Burma suggest that repatriation is not a viable solution; (3) many families at Tham Hin already have family members in the United States and other countries, so resettlement will facilitate family reunification; (4) the Royal Thai Government (RTG) and the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are re-registering the residents of Tham Hin, giving them an accurate picture of who lives at the camp; and (5) the camp’s isolation makes it relatively easy to prevent new people from flooding into the camp to take advantage of the resettlement program. If the resettlement of Tham Hin is successful, the RTG, UNHCR, and U.S. should expand the program to other Burmese refugees in Thailand.
