Little girl in a displacement camp, right on the Burmese border, in the province of Mae Hong Song, Northern Thailand
Mae Sam Laep, in Me Hong Son province, is been a Displacement camp for 25 years. It is located right on the burmese border, on the Salween River. Irregular migrants, called “hill tribes members” are coming from multiple ethnic groups, including burmese, Bangladeshi, Karen Hill tribe, Kashin, Hmong, Yao, Lahu, Lisu, Akha and the Shan. These people are not entitled to any labour or social protection and often they gain their money illegally with activity like traffic of drugs, weapons and sex and dealing with stealing and smuggling . Thai people are present in the displacement camp as owner of main businesses, but they are also collecting bribes. The refugees are allowed to open little businesses, but most of them are working hard in the corn or rice field. Many children are among this group; some enter Thailand for the purpose of illegal work, while others come with their families and work because they are not allowed to attend school or the villages are very isolated and often they have to walk 7 or even 10 km, sometimes involving travelling by boat, for study a very basic education. The parents often don’t have the time or many to keep their children at school.
Size: 2592px × 3872px
Location: Me Hong Son, Thailand
Photo credit: © Roberta Govoni / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: asian, black, border, burmese, camp, child, childhood, culture, cute, displacement, eating, ethnicity, female, girl, hair, hong, kid, mae, minority, northern, people, pony, son, tail, thai, thailand
