Thailand - IOM in Thailand has passed a migration milestone – assisting the departure of the 100,000th refugee since large-scale refugee resettlement from Thailand restarted in 2004.

Ma Lay Lay, 24, left Mae La refugee camp on the border with Myanmar for Pittsburg, PA, USA with her two children, Labur Paw (3) and Ywar Mar Ser (11 months). Her husband, Christopher, 26, hopes to join her at a later date.

"Of course I am sad to leave my family behind, but we are not separated by death and we know we will be seeing each other again," she said, arriving at IOM's refugee processing centre in Mae Sot, Thailand last week, on the final leg of a comprehensive resettlement process which began several months ago..

She plans to find a job, send the children to school, learn English and one day study medicine. "If I can become a doctor, I can take care of my family and my neighbours. Maybe even save a life."

Ma's parents fled conflict in Myanmar in 1988 and she has known no other life outside Mae La, one of nine, remote camps on the Thai – Myanmar border.

The resettlement programme, chiefly funded by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), was established in 2005 in response to the Government of Thailand's agreement to the large-scale resettlement of Myanmar refugees by the international community.

Other resettlement countries include Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

IOM, which provides pre-departure medical screening and arranges travel for all refugees accepted for resettlement, works closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which coordinates the resettlement process, and the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which processes US applications and provides cultural orientation for refugees departing for the USA.

"It's an exciting day for Ma Lay Lay and her family because they are leaving for a new life in the United States. Like the many other Myanmar refugees who've been in camps for the last 20 years or more it's a huge opportunity for them to give their children the things they never had," said Pierre King, head of IOM's office in Mae Sot.

For more information please contact 

Joe Lowry
IOM Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok
Tel. +66818708081
Email:  jlowry@iom.int