International aid agencies, hit by funding cuts and fluctuating exchange rates, are reducing the support available to Burmese refugees.

Below is an article written by Violet Cho in the Irrawaddy News:

International humanitarian and aid organizations working along the Thai-Burmese border have been forced to discontinue projects and decrease their assistance to Burmese refugees due to insufficient funding and the current exchange rate.

The International Rescue Committee, which provides medical aid and humanitarian assistance to Burmese refugees in Mae Hong Song Province in northern Thailand, has had to reduce its commitment on two projects—an “Income Generation Project” and a “Psycho-Social Program” for Karenni refugees—due to funding cuts.

Arthur Carlson, the country director for IRC in Thailand, said that they had experienced funding cuts from all their major donors. “IRC was forced to make these difficult decisions due to funding short-falls,” he said. “IRC received notification that funding would be cut by $1,455,000 in September 2007 due to changes in the manner in which the US government appropriates its foreign assistance.”

Carlson added that the Income Generation Project could keep going under the direction of the refugees themselves, but the Psycho-Social Program would only continue at a much reduced level.

However, a Karenni refugee, who refused to be named, told The Irrawaddy that the Income Generation project had not been a successful project in the refugee community.

“I was not disappointed when I heard that IRC is going to stop the IGP; I find that the project does not benefit us,” he said.

The Thailand Burma Border Consortium, which has been supporting the refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border with food, shelter and other essential items for more than two decades, is also short of funds.

TBBC recently released a statement that said: “TBBC has been forced to make cutbacks in all areas of our programme, starting within the organization itself. As we continue to face this problem, we have no choice but to make a reduction in your food.”

The reduction in food aid applies only to soybean cakes and chilies. The quantities of all other distributed foods are not affected at the moment.

However, Sally Thompson, the deputy director of TBBC, expressed her concerns about the instability in the refugee camps. “It [the cut in aid] is the result of the exchange rate, the increase in prices and the increasing population in the camps—new arrivals come in, but the resettlement process has been going slowly,” she explained.

TBBC has been providing more than 140,000 Burmese refugees along the Thai-Burmese border with a traditional staple diet of rice, salt and fish paste, as well as cooking fuel, building materials, clothing and bedding for more than 20 years.

IRC started work in Thailand in 1976 in response to the influx of refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Now they are mainly serving refugees from Burma, who began crossing into Thailand in 1984.