US Assistant Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey and Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Head Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), play with a child during their visit yesterday to Tham Hin Camp yesterday.

The Patriot Act, which took effect after the 9/11 attack in 2001, has barred the State Department from accepting displaced people if they were disqualified under two major conditions: being members of any armed groups or having supplied material support for such groups.

Sauerbrey said the Bush Administration would push for an amendment to the Act in the next session of Congress, which would open next year. However, the subsequent process is expected to take some time.

Sauerbrey, head of the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, was speaking during a visit to the Tham Hin camp in Ratchaburi's Suan Phueng district yesterday. Also visiting the camp was Antonio Guterres, United Nations Head Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and US Ambassador Ralph Boyce.

During his speech at the welcoming session, Commissioner Guterres pleaded with rich countries to help share the burdens shouldered by countries who have accommodated refugees, including Thailand, where more than 190,000 Karenni currently refugees live.

There are now 9,550 persons categorised as misplaced persons living in Tham Hin

camp, which was opened on January 19, 1997. Since then, 979 have been resettled in the other countries including 227, the largest number, accepted by Australia. Sixty three people left Thailand for the US yesterday.

Both Sauerbrey and Guterres will meet with caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin

Shinawatra on Wednesday [today] to discuss possible changes to the strict rules imposed in the camp, including restriction of movement and the ban on refugees working to generate an income while at the camp.

Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister, was visiting Thailand for the first time, six years after his predecessor Sadako Okata came here.

Thasong Asvasena

The Nation