{
  "id": "RS21648",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RS21648",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 346878,
      "date": "2003-11-21",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-08T14:33:09.506544",
      "title": "From Burma to Thailand: Refugee\u00a0Flows\u00a0and\u00a0U.S. Policy",
      "summary": "The ruling military junta in Burma, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), has been involved in a series of attacks against Burmese minorities. Refugees from Burma currently living in Bangladesh and Thailand come from a variety of ethnic groups that have fled attacks on their villages by the Burmese army and warlords. Seven ethnic groups\u2014Shan, Karen, Karenni, Mon, Chin, Arakan, and Kachin\u2014have been particularly victimized. Approximately 135,000 refugees from Burma reside in camps in Thailand. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has worked with the Thai government since 1998 to register and protect those in refugee camps along the border. With no access to Burma, UNHCR is limited in its repatriation efforts. Camps were first established in Thailand in 1984. Thailand has been cooperative in helping refugees, but the scale of the problem goes beyond the refugee and resettlement camps as thousands of refugees are living elsewhere in Thailand. While the influx of asylum seekers is currently accepted by Thailand on humanitarian grounds, it has been tightening the restrictions on urban refugees and defining anyone living outside the camps as an illegal immigrant. The United States has been providing assistance for refugees along the Burmese border since the 1990s. It does not provide any bilateral assistance to Burma and sanctions against that country continue. Recent legislation (P.L. 108-61) places further sanctions on the SPDC. This report will be updated as events warrant.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RS21648",
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      "topics": []
    }
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  "topics": []
}