Hello Readers, I hope you are all doing well. Today I will be writing about how US aid freeze halts services to Myanmar refugees. A 90-day freeze on foreign assistance programs announced by United States President Donald Trump has led to cuts in services to refugees from war-torn Myanmar, including the shutdown of hospital care in camps in Thailand, where more than 100,000 of them are living. About 106,000 long-term refugees live in nine camps along Thailand's western border with Myanmar. Around 80 percent of the camps' residents are from the Karen ethnic minority, whose homeland in eastern Myanmar is embroiled in combat. The Karen have been battling for greater autonomy from Myanmar's central government for more than seven decades. Intermittent fighting escalated sharply after Myanmar's army seized power from the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, causing more to flee across the border. Karen News, an online news site serving the Karen community, reported on Wednesday that several charity groups and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) providing assistance for refugees from Myanmar suspended operations after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued last Friday an order halting nearly all existing and new foreign aid. On Tuesday, Rubio agreed to at least temporarily keep spending money on humanitarian programs that provide lifesaving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance. But it was not immediately clear which programs if any affecting refugees from Myanmar would be included. "All organizations relying on US humanitarian assistance in the region have been affected. Some operations providing education, healthcare, and support for war-displaced communities have now been suspended," Karen News cited an unidentified worker at an NGO based in the city of Mae Sot in Thailand's western Tak province as saying. It said the groups included the New Yorkheadquartered International Rescue Committee (IRC), which provides hospital services at the border camps, had suspended their operations on Monday. IRC did not immediately comment on the situation. Thai officials said they were aware of the crisis and would ensure that seriously ill patients in the camps would be cared for in provincial Thai hospitals. Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the government's National Health Security Office has set aside the budget to assist those foreigners who cannot survive on their own. "No matter how US policy has changed, we won't let anyone die in our land as long as we can support them," he said. The Jesuit Refugee Service, a charity organization registered in Italy, said that as of last Saturday it had suspended its Urban Refugee Program, which serves refugees outside the camps including in the Thai capital Bangkok. "This is due to the suspension of funding from our main donor, the US State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration," the Jesuit Refugee Service said on its Facebook page. It also said it could neither make nor take referrals or register new clients and services to existing clients were also suspended.

Hello Readers, I hope you are all doing well. Today I will be writing about how US aid freeze halts services to Myanmar refugees. A 90-day freeze on foreign assistance programs announced by United States President Donald Trump has led to cuts in services to refugees from war-torn Myanmar, including the shutdown of hospital care in camps in Thailand, where more than 100,000 of them are living. About 106,000 long-term refugees live in nine camps along Thailand's western border with Myanmar. Around 80 percent of the camps' residents are from the Karen ethnic minority, whose homeland in eastern Myanmar is embroiled in combat. The Karen have been battling for greater autonomy from Myanmar's central government for more than seven decades. Intermittent fighting escalated sharply after Myanmar's army seized power from the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, causing more to flee across the border. Karen News, an online news site serving the Karen community, reported on Wednesday that several charity groups and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) providing assistance for refugees from Myanmar suspended operations after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued last Friday an order halting nearly all existing and new foreign aid. On Tuesday, Rubio agreed to at least temporarily keep spending money on humanitarian programs that provide lifesaving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance. But it was not immediately clear which programs if any affecting refugees from Myanmar would be included. "All organizations relying on US humanitarian assistance in the region have been affected. Some operations providing education, healthcare, and support for war-displaced communities have now been suspended," Karen News cited an unidentified worker at an NGO based in the city of Mae Sot in Thailand's western Tak province as saying. It said the groups included the New Yorkheadquartered International Rescue Committee (IRC), which provides hospital services at the border camps, had suspended their operations on Monday. IRC did not immediately comment on the situation. Thai officials said they were aware of the crisis and would ensure that seriously ill patients in the camps would be cared for in provincial Thai hospitals. Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the government's National Health Security Office has set aside the budget to assist those foreigners who cannot survive on their own. "No matter how US policy has changed, we won't let anyone die in our land as long as we can support them," he said. The Jesuit Refugee Service, a charity organization registered in Italy, said that as of last Saturday it had suspended its Urban Refugee Program, which serves refugees outside the camps including in the Thai capital Bangkok. "This is due to the suspension of funding from our main donor, the US State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration," the Jesuit Refugee Service said on its Facebook page. It also said it could neither make nor take referrals or register new clients and services to existing clients were also suspended.