Karen Refugees’ Self-Settlement: Refuge in Local Administration and Contingent Relations

Abstract

Recent discussion over self-settled refugees has revealed that refuge seeking and giving can appear in multiple forms beyond the encamped refugee care system. However, there is very little known about how safety, protection and basic rights access are guaranteed among self-settled refugees. Based on the case of self-settled Karen refugees living around Mae Sot town of northwestern Thailand, this study explores how the delivery of refuge takes place within the non-institutional refugee protection model. This paper proposes that there is a need to pay attention to the socio-cultural dynamics between hosts and refugees in understanding the way self-settled Karen refugees obtain protection after flight. This paper argues that the refugees’ access to basic rights and protection is actually based on localized social relationships and practical understandings achieved between the Thai hosts and the Karen refugees. This alternative form of refuge provides safety and protection for the self-settled Karen refugees while simultaneously entails conditional relations.