Just when they were getting used to living on the Thai side of the border, Burmese authorities have said they want their Paduang Karens back.
For decades, the Paduang, or long-neck Karen - so-called because of the multiple rings that are added around their necks each year from childhood that eventually turn them into human giraffes - has been fleeing to the Thai side of the border to escape fighting between Burmese government soldiers and rebels.
The local tourism industry took advantage of their appearance and placed them in an artificial tourist village where foreign and local visitors pay a hefty entrance fee just to stare at them.
Burma wants them back, said the then Mae Hong Son governor Direk Khonkeab, who just days ago was transferred to Lampang.
Colonel Noporn Reungchan, commander of the Naresuan Task Force who deals directly with the local Burmese authorities at the border level, said it is up to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
There was no mention of the hundred thousand-plus refugees, mostly Karen of other stock, who continue to live in camps along the common border.
For years, the Thai government has fought the idea of a UN refugee agency working on the Thai-Burmese border. Through the Paduang they found a convenient reason.
However while tour operators and government officials talk in humanitarian terms, it has always been well known that the money factor has always been the key motivation behind their actions. The Nation's Chaiwat Pumpuang, in a recent visit, documented the lives of the stateless Paduang people who continue to live on the edge of a war zone - far enough to stay out of harm's way but confined to a geographical space where they remain as part of what has long been referred to as a human zoo.
Photos and story by Chaiwat Pumpuang
The Nation
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For decades, the Paduang, or long-neck Karen - so-called because of the multiple rings that are added around their necks each year from childhood that eventually turn them into human giraffes - has been fleeing to the Thai side of the border to escape fighting between Burmese government soldiers and rebels.
The local tourism industry took advantage of their appearance and placed them in an artificial tourist village where foreign and local visitors pay a hefty entrance fee just to stare at them.
Burma wants them back, said the then Mae Hong Son governor Direk Khonkeab, who just days ago was transferred to Lampang.
Colonel Noporn Reungchan, commander of the Naresuan Task Force who deals directly with the local Burmese authorities at the border level, said it is up to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
There was no mention of the hundred thousand-plus refugees, mostly Karen of other stock, who continue to live in camps along the common border.
For years, the Thai government has fought the idea of a UN refugee agency working on the Thai-Burmese border. Through the Paduang they found a convenient reason.
However while tour operators and government officials talk in humanitarian terms, it has always been well known that the money factor has always been the key motivation behind their actions. The Nation's Chaiwat Pumpuang, in a recent visit, documented the lives of the stateless Paduang people who continue to live on the edge of a war zone - far enough to stay out of harm's way but confined to a geographical space where they remain as part of what has long been referred to as a human zoo.
Photos and story by Chaiwat Pumpuang
The Nation
Discuss
Add this link to...
Tell a friend
Bury
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