Women’s Education for Advancement and Empowerment

Refugees on the Thai-Burma Border

The oppressive military regime in Burma has wreaked havoc on the country for decades, and forced many to flee to neighboring Thailand for safety. The Burmese army has particularly targeted the Karen and Karenni minority ethnic groups because of their struggle for regional autonomy. In 2006, a military invasion of the northern Karen state destroyed 232 villages, and displaced roughly 27,000 civilians. Today, there are some 148,000 refugees in nine camps along the Thai-Burma border, facing constant struggles to keep their families fed and healthy, and to educate their children.

In the camps, female refugees, many of whom have suffered sexual violence at the hands of Burmese soldiers, face the incredibly difficult task of providing for both themselves and their families inside the camps, with little opportunity to earn an income. WEAVE collaborates with local and international groups to implement programs that addresses health and women's issues in the camps, and creates opportunities for women to make and sell crafts. By promoting crafts production, WEAVE provides women with a sense of security as well as a means of connecting to their heritage.

Traditional Burmese Weaving and Embroidery

The art of traditional Burmese weaving has a 5,000 year-old history and its own distinct set of motifs, one of which is the series of horizontal line patterns called achiek present in the work sold by Global Goods Partners. The women of WEAVE use vegetable dyes and traditional Karen and Karenni patterns for their cloth and thread. Weaving and embroidery skills and designs are passed down through generations of women. Roughly 300 women are involved in the weaving project to create greeting cards, bags, purses, scarves, and dolls. The project has an impact beyond income generation: it is a creative escape from the hard life of a refugee and a chance for women to bond with each other over their cultural traditions. 

Region: Southeast Asia
Capital: Bangkok
Population: 65,068,149 (2007)
Size: Slightly more than twice the size of Wyoming
Independence: Thailand was never colonized. The country was founded in 1238. It is a constitutional monarchy-ruled by a king
Currency: Thai baht
Languages: Thai, English, ethnic and regional dialects

Adult Literacy Rate: 92.6% (2000)
Education: Education is mandatory for ages 6-14
Life Expectancy: Male 70.24 years; Female 74.98 years (2007)
Infant Mortality Rate: 18.85 deaths /1000 live births (2007)
HIV/AIDS Prevalence Rate: 1.5% (2003)
Poverty Rate: 10% live below the poverty line (2004)
People living on less that $2 a day: 25.2% (1990-2004)
People living on less that $1 a day: 2% (1990-2004)
Access to clean drinking water: 99% (2004)
Access to proper sanitation: 99% of population (2004)
Doctor to patient ratio: 37 doctors for every 100,000 people (1990-2004)
Country Comparison: Burma (also known as Myanmar)

Adult Literacy Rate: 89.9% (2004)
Primary school enrollment rate: 90% (2004)
Life Expectancy: 60.5 years (2007)
Infant Mortality Rate: 50.68 deaths/1,000 live births (2007)
Access to clean drinking water: 78% (2004)
Access to proper sanitation: 77% (2004)
Doctor to patient ratio: 36 doctors for every 100,000 people (1990-2004)

Total number of refugees who have fled Burma: 165,000 (2005)
Internally Displaced People in Burma: 540,000 (2005)

All statistics from CIA World Factbook 2007 Thailand and Burma & UNDP Human Development Report 2006 Thailand and and Burma

Thailand has drawn attention in recent years for its progress in tackling HIV and AIDS and working towards the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), reaching three of the goals ten years early. Since 1990, Thailand has halved the number of people living in poverty within its boarders from 27.2 percent in 1990 to 9.8 percent in 2002, raised literacy rates to over 90 percent, improved maternal health, and improved access to clean water and sanitation for many of its citizens.

The country's HIV and AIDS awareness program is lauded by the world. Taking aggressive measures to curb the rising epidemic, the government aired public service announcements on the radio every hour, included AIDS education in every school, and promoted condom use through both free distribution and education. The results were fast and clear-the prevalence rate dropped to 1.4 percent in 2005 from 1.8 percent in 2003 and more than two percent a decade earlier. This is one of the lowest prevalence rates in the developing world, and it serves as a model for other countries trying to achieve the same goal. Focus is now needed on treating and caring for all of those who are infected and in maintaining the low prevalence rate even as government funding for HIV and AIDS programs has dropped off.

One population, however, that has not seen the same benefits from progress, is the large number of Burmese refugees living in camps along the Thai-Burma border. Thailand took in over 277,000 refugees and asylum seekers at the end of 2001, almost all of which were from Burma. Another two or three million Burmese are estimated to live in Thailand as "illegal" or "economic" migrants.

Burma is controlled by an oppressive military regime that carries out human rights abuses and attacks on Burmese ethnic groups, including the Karen, Karenni, and Katchin people, many of whom have fled across the boarder into Thailand for safety. Thailand, however, has not yet signed the UN Refugee Convention, and so while refugees can often enter the country, those running from human rights abuses are not provided the same protections as those fleeing from fighting in their home countries. The Thai government does not allow refugees to leave the camps to obtain education or jobs, threatening to arrest and send them back to Burma if they do. This means that people who have lived in refugee camps for more than 20 years have no way to educate their children or make money to support their families.