About 150,000 Karen refugees from Burmese refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border will have the chance to apply for resettlement in the US, said an official report from Washington.
The Karen refugees from eight refugee camps on the border will be given the opportunity to apply for resettlement in the USA.
Previously, a clause in anti-terrorist laws passed after the September 11 attacks prevented those deemed to have provided "material support" to terrorist organizations ineligible for resettlement in the US. Other armed groups, included insurgents in Burma, were included in the definition of "terrorists".
Most of the Karen refugees in camps on the Thai-Burma border back the Karen National Union, and armed group fighting the Burmese military junta.
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice last May waived application of the material support clause for those in the Tham Hin refugee camp in western Thailand, which made some 9,300 Karen eligible to live in the United States.
Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said on Thursday that he foresaw some 6,000 Karen refugees being resettled overseas as a result of the US's waiver.
"This is one of the highest levels in the world," he told reporters. "If the global number of resettled people is about 70,000, to have 6,000 just of one group from one country.....it's not easy to go any further."
About 2,700 Karen refugees are set to resettle in the United States this year, with many others going to Australia. #
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