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The Karen people live mostly in the hills bordering the eastern mountainous region and Irrawaddy delta of Myanmar, [18] primarily in Kayin State (formerly Karen State), with some in Kayah State, southern Shan State, Ayeyarwady Region, Tanintharyi Region, Bago Division and in northern [19] and western Thailand.
Mae La is the largest refugee camp for Karen refugees in Thailand. Over 90% are the persecuted ethnic Karen. [3] The camps are overseen and run by the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), a union of 11 international non-governmental organizations that provide food, shelter and non food items to the Burmese refugees and displaced people. [4]
Karen languages are among the Tibeto-Burman languages, which are a branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages. [15] [16] Karen people began to arrive in what became Myanmar around 500 BC. [citation needed] They are believed to have come from the Mongolian region, traveling south through the Mekong Valley, the Irrawaddy Valley and the Salween Valley. [17]
The first Karen camp was established in 1984, not far from the border town of Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak Province. By 1986, there were 12 Karen refugee camps with a collective population of 19,000 people in Tak and Mae Hong Son provinces. [8] The border between Thailand and Burma is over 2,000 km long, with thousands of potential crossing points.
Mae Ra Moe refugee camp, also called Mae Ra Ma Luang or Mae Ra Mu, [1] is a Karen refugee camp in the Sob Moei District, Mae Hong Son Province, Thailand on the Border of Burma, established in 1995. [1] Mae Ra Moe (MRM) is located on the Thai/Burma border, five hours drive west of Chiang Mai, Thailand.
They speak the S'gaw Karen language. [4] The S'gaw are a subgroup of the Karen people. They are also referred to by the exonym White Karen, [5] a term dating from colonial times and used in contrast to the Karenni (or "Red Karen") and the Pa'O (or "Black Karen"), even though the latter often rejected the term "Karen" to refer to themselves. [5]
An exception to the China-Laos-Thailand migration pattern is the Iu Mien people, who apparently passed through Vietnam during the 13th century, prior to entering Thailand through Laos. [13] The Iu Mien arrived in Thailand approximately 200 years ago, contemporaneously with a large number of other Hmong–Mien migrants.
The Karen National Liberation Army (Burmese: ကရင်အမျိုးသား လွတ်မြောက်ရေးတပ်မတော်; abbreviated KNLA) is the military branch of the Karen National Union (KNU), which campaigns for the self-determination of the Karen people of Myanmar (formerly Burma).