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International Rescue Committee

Address : 888/213-217 Mahatun Plaza Building, 2nd Floor, Ploenchit Rd, Lumpini, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330

Tel : +66 (0) 2 253 6519

Fax : +66 (0) 2 253 6529

Email :  receptionist.thailand@rescue.org    

Website : http://www.rescue.org/

                                                                                                                       Country Director: Mr. Darren Hertz

                                                                                                                        Email: darren.hertz@rescue.org 

Start Date in Thailand: 1975

Commenced working with displaced Burmese people: 1990

Work Sectors:  Health, Legal Assistance/ Promotion of Rule of Law, Refugee Resettlement Processing to the USA, Child Protection, Water, Sanitation, CBO Capacity Building, Gender-Based Violence, Research and Advocacy, Channel funding to CBOs and to international/ local NGOs for Health, Emergency Response and Livelihoods Development for Displaced Persons from Myanmar

Work Locations: Mae Hong Son: Sites 1, 2, 3, 4 camps, 7 districts and the Provincial Office of Health (PHO). Ratchaburi: Tham Hin camp. Tak: Mae La, Umpiem Mai and Nu Po camps, 5 districts and the PHO. Kanchanaburi: Ban Don Yang camp and 4 districts. Chiang Rai: 4 districts and the PHO. Chiang Mai: 9 districts and the PHO. Bangkok metropolitan area.

Funding Sources: U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees & Migration, Stichting Vluchteling, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, U.K. Department for International Development, EU, AusAid and various foundations and corporate donors.

Mission Statement: The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and in 22 U.S. cities, the IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted. In Thailand, our mission is to support displaced people from Burma to access their rights and achieve life with dignity through durable solutions. IRC does this by providing assistance, resettlement services and by strengthening national and local partner capacities to deliver quality health and protection services to displaced persons in eastern Burma and Thailand.

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Activities: IRC assists target communities in the following ways: 

  • Provides refugees with primary, community and reproductive health care, psychosocial support, rehabilitation for people with special needs, health care training and water & sanitation services in Ban Mai Nai Soi, Ban Mae Surin and Tham Hin refugee camps;

  • Provides refugee health staff with recognised, and where possible accredited, health training from Thai professional and academic institutions in Ban Mai Nai Soi, Ban Mae Surin and Tham Hin refugee camps;

  • Legal assistance services and trainings for refugees in Ban Mai Nai Soi, Ban Mae Surin, Mae La, Umpiem Mai and Nu Po camps in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice and UNHCR. Programs to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in Ban Mai Nai Soi and Ban Mae Surin, Tham Hin and Mae La camps;

  • Assist persons seeking admission the United States as refugees by preparing and completing refugee applications, and to assist the US Government in the processing of applications (Southeast Asia Resettlement Support Center, RSC).

  • Funding assistance and direct capacity building and technical support for 25 Burmese Community-Based Organizations, National and International NGOs and the Ministry of Public Health who provide health, education, food and other relief services to Burmese refugees in nine camps in Thailand and Burmese displaced in five Thai provinces;

  • Strengthening community and institutional child protection mechanisms in Tak province with a focus on displaced Burmese communities in collaboration with NGO and CBO partners, and Thai Government stakeholders;

  • Eye screening training, the provision of eyeglasses and eye surgeries in nine refugee camps, migrant schools and Mae Tao Clinic;

  • Research and advocacy regarding the needs, protection and basic human rights of all displaced people from Burma in Thailand;

  • Partnerships with Provincial Offices of Public Health to support health outreach activities for Burmese migrants in four Thai provinces;

  • Channel funding for to the Thailand Border Consortium for their overall operations to assist displaced persons and refugees living in the 9 border camps;

  • Channel funding for Mae Tao Clinic for health services for over 100,000 people from Burma living near the Thailand-Burma border;·

  • Channel funding for education activities to World Education in seven refugee camps and five provinces in Thailand, and with the Ministry of Education support education services for people from Burma in Thailand;

IRC partners with local community-based organizations, national/international NGOs and coordinates with the Royal Thai Government Ministry’s of Interior, Public Health, Education and Justice, and Social Development and Human Security; the National Human Rights Commission; the United Nations, in particular UNHCR, UNICEF, UNOCHA, WHO, IOM and ILO; and, with the Coordinating Committee for Services to Displaced Persons in Thailand (CCSDPT).