Refugee Camp Organisational Structures

The organisational structure for administration of the refugee camps is illustrated in the following chart.

Authorities and Organisations

Thai Authorities
The RTG maintains ultimate authority over the Karen, Karenni and Shan refugee camps in Thailand. The MOI, through provincial and district authorities, enforces refugee policy and controls the day-to-day running of the camps in collaboration with refugee and camp committees. Various other government agencies, including the Royal Thai Army Paramilitary Rangers and the Border Patrol Police also assist in implementing policy and providing security. Usually a MOI local District Officer (‘Palat’) is assigned as the Camp Commander in each camp, with Territorial Defence Volunteer Corps (‘Or Sor’) personnel providing internal security under his jurisdiction.

[Rev: Oct 07]

Community Elder’s Advisory Boards (CEABs)
Community Elder’s Advisory Boards are set up to provide guidance for refugee committees and camp committees in their work. They are made up of elders appointed from the local community and in theory consist of 15 members. In reality, a lot fewer than this actively make up each board. Specific aspects of their work include the organising and overseeing of refugee committee and camp committee elections, and assisting in solving conflict.

CEAB members are appointed by senior elders from the local community in which the CEAB operates. There is rarely a fixed term of office, although in some camps they are reassigned every two years. However, members can be reappointed by the senior elders.

The central Karen CEAB is based in Mae Sot, with camp-based boards present in each Karen camp made up from the local population. The central Karenni CEAB is based in Mae Hong Son, with camp-based boards in both Karenni camps. Members of these are also made up from the local population.

[Rev: Oct 07]

Refugee Committees (RCs)
The Karen, Karenni and Shan Refugee Committees (KRC/ KnRC/ SRC) are the overall representatives for Karen, Karenni and Shan refugees living in refugee camps in Thailand. They oversee activities of all the camps through the camp committees, coordinate assistance provided by NGOs and liaise with UNHCR, the RTG and security personnel.

Refugee committees consist of an executive committee, administrative staff and heads of various subcommittees which oversee specific services and activities organised in the camps. In theory, refugee committees also consist of fifteen members, however, due to the difficult working conditions associated with such duties, often there are fewer active members.

As the main coordinating bodies of the camps, refugee committees have rules and regulations governing the selection processes of the camps’ administrative committees. Some of these take the form of more general guidelines, allowing for varying interpretations in their implementation. As a result, selection procedures often differ from camp to camp. The explanations in this section are based on standard Karen Refugee Committee rules and regulations, but they share many features with those of the Karenni Refugee Committee.

Refugee committee selections occur every three years, and are organised by the central CEAB. Of the fifteen members selected, eight respected and experienced people are appointed by the CEAB and the other seven are chosen from representatives from all the camps. The process of selecting the seven camp representatives is as follows.

Each camp committee is asked to put forward a number of camp residents who would like to stand for the refugee committee selections. Members of the outgoing refugee committee together with these new camp representatives select the new eight camp representatives from amongst themselves.

The new refugee committee, consisting of the eight appointees and seven camp representatives, then selects their executive committee members from amongst themselves; first the Chair, then the Vice Chair, followed by the Secretary, the Joint Secretary and finally the Treasurer. This new executive committee then appoints duties to the remaining ten new members of the committee.

The KRC is based in Mae Sot with branch offices in Mae Sariang, Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi; the KnRC is based in Mae Hong Son, and the SRC in Chiang Mai province.

[Rev: Oct 07]

Camp Committees (CCs)
Camp Committees are the administrative and management bodies of the refugee camps. They coordinate the day-to-day running of the camp and its services in collaboration with local MOI offi-cials, and provide the main link between the camp population, NGOs, UNHCR and local Thai authorities.

Due to their semi-autonomous nature, camp committee structures vary from camp to camp, with differences in the number of camp committee members (although the standard complement is fifteen) and the duties assigned to them. However, they generally follow a similar pattern:

Camp committees operate at the central zone (if the camp is organised so) and section level and are made up of elected representatives from within the camp population.

The central camp-level committees consist of an executive committee (five members), administrative staff, and heads of various subcommittees. These are set up to coordinate different services and activities in the camps, the most common ones being supplies, health, education, camp affairs, and security. Various camp committees also assign members to head other sub-committees, such as transportation, judiciary, etc.

The zone- (if applicable) and section-level committees emulate the central camp-level committee structure, but with a smaller executive body (usually just a zone or section leader and a secretary) and fewer subcommittee heads. In some camps, zone and section committees are comprised of the two executive heads, the remaining assigned simply as members.

Below the section-level committee are ten-household leaders. These are individuals selected by the section leader from within each group of ten houses to act as a focus point between the section leaders and the individual house-holds. In practice, this level of administration exists in a minority of camps.

Following are the basic duties of the camp committee subcommittees and its administrative staff:

• Health: Responsible for coordinating with health NGOs and other relevant organisations in the provision of all health services, including community-based organisations (CBOs) and the health worker’s unions.
• Education: Responsible for ensuring the smooth management of all camp schools and their staff, and for coordi-nating with education NGOs and other relevant organisations in the provision of all education services, including CBOs and education worker’s unions.
• Camp Affairs: Responsible for monitoring and responding to social issues and trends, and for supervising and coordinating social activities in camp. This includes those of the women’s and youth groups. Also responsible for relations with external authorities.
• Security: Responsible for coordinating and maintaining camp security in collaboration with Thai authorities and other security personnel based outside of camp, and for supervising the management of security volunteers re-cruited from within the camp population.
• Supplies: Responsible for managing camp warehouses and their staff, and for monitoring and distribution of all supplies in cooperation with TBBC field staff.
• Judiciary: Responsible for intervening in, reconciling, and arbitrating over conflicts through a fair and due process often based on traditional customary principles, and for collaborating with UNHCR and Thai authorities in special cases.

Karen Camp Committee selections usually occur every two years (those in Karenni camps take place every three), and are organised by an election commission set up and appointed by the outgoing camp committee. The election commission usually consists of fifteen members, but may have only five or seven in a small camp. Members of the election commission are chosen for their experience in election processes and community administration. Re-spected religious or education leaders may also be included. The election commission is also responsible for explaining the rules and regulations to all sections of the community prior to the camp committee selection and for monitoring the proceedings during the actual process, and is supported and guided by the Community Elder’s Advisory Board.

The new camp committee members are selected by representatives from each section of the camp. Every person twenty years old and above has the right to vote for these section representatives as well as to nominate them-selves as a representative. Three are chosen for every hundred people of voting age in each section (the election commission confirms the number to be chosen). The section representative selections take the form of an open vote, with all those eligible voting for their first choice first, then electing their second choice, and so forth, until the quota for the section has been reached.

Once the representatives for each section have been selected, they, together with the fifteen (or otherwise) mem-bers of the outgoing camp committee, vote for fifteen members from amongst themselves. These are listed in order from one to fifteen, from the person who received the most votes down. This group of fifteen becomes the new Camp Committee.

The fifteen new members of the camp committee then choose their five new executive committee members from amongst themselves. First, they vote for the new Camp Leader, then the Vice Camp Leader, followed by the Secre-tary, the Joint Secretary and finally the Treasurer. This new executive committee then allocates administrative duties and coordination positions of the camp committee’s subcommittees to the remaining ten members of the new Camp Committee.

Once the new camp committee has been selected, it organises the selection of the camp’s zone and section lead-ers. The particular process varies from camp to camp, as the refugee committees do not offer specific guidelines for the selection of these levels of camp administration. However, the processes generally follow the principles laid out in the camp committee selections and are based on the leaders being chosen from and by the residents of that particular part of the camp. The election commission also supervises the zone- and section-level selections.

[Rev: Oct 07]

Women’s and Youth Committees
The main women and youth committees are the Karen Women's Organisation (KWO) and the Karen Youth Organisation (KYO) in the Karen camps, and the Karenni Women's Organisation (KnWO) and Karenni Youth Organisation (KnYO) in the Karenni camps. Members of other sizeable ethnic nationali-ties in the camps also often organise their own groups, such as the Muslim Women’s Organisation; however, these are not officially part of the camp administration.

These committees are set up independently of each other in each camp and aim to represent the needs, views and aspirations of the women and youth sections of the populations, through organising various activities to raise awareness and promote issues relevant to their respective target groups. These include trainings and workshops, social services, research and documentation, advocacy, publications, competitions, celebrations, etc.

Funding for these projects is often sought by themselves through a number of NGOs working in the camps and from sympathetic groups further afield via their head offices in nearby towns, for example, the women’s organisa-tions in each camp generate income through TBBC’s longyi project.

Structurally, the committees generally reflect the camp committee’s formation, comprising an executive committee, heads of various subcommittees (related to their group’s activities) and administrative staff. They are administra-tively accountable to the Camp Affairs Coordinator of the camp committee, who is responsible for informing it and the refugee committee of their activities. Often the Coordinator will assist in the preparation of activities.

Selections for the committee members are organised and chaired by the Camp Affairs Coordinator. Both organisations have their committee members chosen at the same time in each camp, following the camp committee selec-tions, normally every two years. The selections are internal, with members of the organisation electing their com-mittee members from a list of nominees. Once the new committee has been formed, its members vote amongst themselves for the executive committee members, who in turn allocate administrative duties and programme-based responsibilities to the remaining committee members, in the same way as the camp committee.

[Rev: Oct 07]