The Coalition for the Rights of Refugees and Stateless Persons (CRSP) held a special event yesterday (Sunday) to raise more awareness about the global refugee crisis, marking World Refugee Day today.  

Named “Refugee Stories: From Ukraine to Thailand”, the event included a photo exhibition, which tells the stories of the refugees and depicts their culture and livelihoods. A special discussion was also held, to raise more awareness and to find long-term solutions to help refugees in Thailand.

Puttanee Kangkun, a human rights specialist at Fortify Rights, said she hopes that the event will help provide a better understanding to the public on the existing problems for refugees.

“What we wish is that Thai people will understand more about the situation of refugees and help each other to find the solutions, the long-term solutions for the refugees and we wish that, in the future, there will be no refugees and refugees can survive and not be an issue for or burden on society anymore,” she said.

Meanwhile, according to UNHCR, 89.3 million people were “displaced” by war, violence, persecution and human rights abuses in 2021, which is an 8% increase from the year before. This figure also doubles the number from 10 years ago. UNHCR also noted that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is “causing the fastest and one of the largest forced displacement crises since World War II”

As for the current refugee situation in Thailand, according to CRSP, there are 91,401 Myanmar refugees registered with UNHCR Thailand, as of March 2022, mostly living in nine refugee camps on the Thai-Myanmar border. There are also 5,155 urban refugees and asylum seekers registered with UNHCR Thailand from over 51 countries, mostly in Bangkok and suburban areas.