Refugee Women Dehumanized by Thailand's Government

An article I read on the web recently in Marie Claire describes how a 23 year old
young lady in Thailand is living. Her name is Zember and she is a refugee from Burma who has been living in a village in Thailand
for the past two decades. Since she was five years old she has worn traditional
Kayan neck rings but now she wants to take them off and be just like other young
ladies around the world. The problem is that the Thailand government of Mae Hong Son has put
these Kayan women in small, unsanitary villages and uses them as human tourist
attractions. Approximately 40,000 tourists a year pay $8 to drive thru these
“virtual human zoos” and also buy souvenirs and postcards of these women with
their neck rings. These women earn a small wage, about $45 a month, to
participate and to “smile and say nothing” to the tourist, who are mostly
Americans. If the women discuss their situation or are seen using cell phones or
doing anything modern then the village owners dock their wages or all together
don’t pay them. The owners say that these things may ruin their “traditional”
image and tourist will quit paying to see them. Because of their status in
Thailand as refugees they aren’t allowed to seek other employment opportunities.
New Zealand and Finland have offered Zember and other Kayan refugee’s
resettlement but the government in Thailand keeps blocking their exit visas.
20,000 other Burmese refugees have received exit visas and have relocated but
they were said to lack the same commercial value of the Kayan women, such as
Zember. The Governor of Mae Hong Son has issued press releases that state that
the Kayan women are happy, safe and don’t want to leave. Zember says that simply
isn’t true. They live in very poor conditions with no medical care and no
freedom.
The treatment of these women is so wrong and dehumanizing on so
many levels I don’t even know where to begin. Why should Zember and the other
Kayan women be forced to stay in Thailand, being treated like animals in a zoo
without any rights while the government receives financial incentives from
tourist to keep them this way? The Thailand government benefits from tourism but
the women suffer.
For a story of other women just like Zember visit the
website for Women’s
International League for Peace and Freedom.