GENEVA - THAILAND forced 166 men, women and children back into Myanmar on Saturday even though they were fleeing fighting in their villages, prompting a reprimand from the United Nations refugee agency on Tuesday.
Fifty women, 70 children and 46 men at Wa Lay site in Tak Province, were ordered to leave, the UNHCR said in a statement.
The agency said that while it appreciated Thailand's policy of allowing in Myanmar nationals when fighting occurs, they should only be returned home voluntarily and safely.
'They were fleeing clashes between the government and ethnic rebels in south-east Myanmar. The people fleeing were Karen,' UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch told Reuters in Geneva.
No one at the Thai diplomatic mission to the UN in Geneva was immediately available to comment.
The ruling Myanmar junta has long been accused of persecuting the country's ethnic minorities, sparking a continuing exodus. Some 150,000 refugees live in official camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, according to the agency. -- REUTERS
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