Refugees Return: Big Step Towards Peace

Over 60 Myanmar refugees from camps along the Thai-Myanmar border were officially repatriated during this week, in a move the United Nation's refugee agency (UNHCR) has called a "big step" in the momentum towards peace. 

The return of the refugees is the first to receive endorsement from the Thai and Myanmar governments, the UNHCR said.

SPOKESWOMAN , UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR), VIVIAN TAN: "So this is the first time such a return is happening in a voluntary way, organized by the two governments, so it's a very big step and we hope that it will add to the momentum of the peace discussions, the peace talks and to future returns."

For tens of thousands of refugees living in a total of nine camps along Thailand's border with Myanmar a return home has been a dream made impossible because of political and economic uncertainty in Myanmar.

RETURNEE, ZAW SHWE: I've been waiting to go back home for a very long time so with this opportunity I voluntarily want to go back.

The return began on October 25th with one family leaving a camp in the western province of Ratchaburi. Dozens more from Nupo Camp in Thailand's western Tak province followed the next day.

There are around 103,000 refugees and internally displaced people living in the nine camps along the border.

Some residents have been living in the camps for 30 years. Nearly 80 percent are ethnic Kayin from eastern Myanmar.

The refugee agency said that those who chose to return had based their decision on information given by their families in Myanmar who said that it was safe to return.