The United Nations Border Relief Operation (UNBRO) was a donor-nation funded relief effort for Cambodian refugees and others affected by years of warfare along the Thai-Cambodian border. It functioned from 1982 until 2001.
Establishment
In January 1979, following the ouster of the Khmer Rouge from power by invading Vietnamese forces, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians sought food and shelter along the Thai-Cambodian border, triggering calls for international relief efforts. Initially a consortium of international agencies known as the "Joint Mission" and consisting of UNICEF, the ICRC, UNHCR, and the WFP took responsibility for food distribution, health care, camp construction and sanitation along with considerable support from the Royal Thai Government.Stedman SJ, Tanner F. Refugee Manipulation: War, Politics, and the Abuse of Human Suffering. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2003, p. 33.Shawcross W. The Quality of Mercy: Cambodia, Holocaust, and Modern Conscience. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984, pp. 158-159. However it soon became clear that humanitarian aid provided at camps such as Sa Kaeo would permit the Khmer Rouge to recover from their near-defeat at the hands of the Vietnamese, with a protracted civil war as the likely result. Because of this and ongoing conflicts with other aid agencies, ICRC and then UNICEF reduced their role in the management of refugee relief services on the border.WFP, Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programs, "Kampuchean Emergency Operation: An Information Note," Rome, April 1982, p. 2. UNHCR worked only with residents of holding centers such as Khao-I-Dang and Phanat Nikhom and provided no services in the border camps.Committee for the Coordination of Services to Displaced Persons in Thailand. The CCSDPT Handbook: Refugee Services in Thailand, 1983. Bangkok: Craftsman Press, 1983.
In January 1982, UNBRO was established to coordinate border relief operations under the direction of the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations for Coordination of Cambodian Humanitarian Assistance Programs (OSRSG), then headed by Sir Robert Jackson.Shawcross, pp. 404-409. Known originally as "WFP-UNBRO", its first director was the UNDP's Resident Coordinator in Bangkok, Winston R. Prattley, who also served as WFP representative. Because the operation had no staff at the beginning, UNICEF agreed to a six-month loan of its Kampuchean Emergency Unit until UNBRO could hire its own people.Robinson WC, Double Vision: A History of Cambodian Refugees in Thailand. Bangkok, Thailand: Asian Research Center for Migration, Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, 1996, p. 99.
UNBRO was a temporary agency, created by the UN General Assembly to address a specific crisis. It had a mandate but no charter or independent governing council. Nor did it have an independent budget; it had to rely on the support of donor countries from the General Assembly, solicited through pledges at donor meetings twice a year.French LC. Enduring Holocaust, Surviving History: Displaced Cambodians on the Thai-Cambodian Border, 1989-1991. Harvard University, 1994, p. 25. UNBRO received its monetary and in-kind donations primarily from the United States, the European Commission, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.
Scope of operations
Guiding principles
UNBRO operated on the basis of five working principles, laid out in an internal memo on policy guidelines dated July 1982.UNBRO Report for July 1982, pp. 9-11, quoted in Robinson, 1996, pp. 102-103. These principles were revised and updated in an internal memo on policy guidelines dated 2 August 1989 .
First, UNBRO was a humanitarian operation which remained neutral in areas of religion, politics and nationalistic alignment. This meant that assistance was to be provided equally to all full-time residents of UNBRO-assisted camps, regardless of their political affiliation.
Second, UNBRO camps were to be managed by the Khmers as much as circumstances on the border allowed. UNBRO recognized a civilian administration consisting of a chief administrator and his deputies, the Khmer Women's Association, section leaders, and various administrative committees.
Third, the Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were to be used as much as possible as a guideline for all aspects of camp life. This meant that no one was to be removed by force from an UNBRO camp for any reason; free thought, free speech and free access to education and information should be guaranteed for all; the camps should be free of political or any other kind of coercion; and protection and justice for camp residents should be provided by the Khmer Police and an internal justice system.
Fourth, UNBRO assisted civilians only. This meant that UNBRO expected the camps to be free of military influence of any kind, and that no military activity was to take place in or through UNBRO camps at any time.
The fifth principle concerned UNBRO's equal commitment to upholding operational efficiency as well as humanitarian principles.French 1994, p. 84.
Services
In its first few years of operation UNBRO was essentially a logistics organization but, over time, it took on other activities as well:
Distribution of basic humanitarian relief supplies: Documented residents of the camps received a daily water ration and a weekly food and firewood ration. Mosquito nets, mats, blankets, buckets, and basic cooking utensils were provided upon registration with the camp administration, in addition to a limited amount of bamboo, thatch, wire, and nails with which to build a small house;French 1994, p. 91. Maintenance of a central border pharmacy Primary level education Information on human rights, landmines awareness and repatriation information Assistance to affected Thai villages Material support for Cambodian-run social service facilities for needy families and for community-based programs such as adult literacy, early childhood development, Buddhist education and youth activities and sportsUNBRO Assisted Encampments on the Thai-Cambodian Border (Briefing Paper). Bangkok: United Nations, 1992, p. 3.
Protection and Security
The concept of protection was central to UNBRO's purpose in Thailand, as it was the victimization by war of Cambodian civilians that motivated the establishment of the border relief operation in the first place. While acknowledging that "physical safety is impossible to ensure and constantly at risk" in the border camps, UNBRO nevertheless outlined a broad definition of protection as a goal toward which all its activities would be oriented. This included protection from persecution by any military source, physical or political coercion, criminal victimization, extortion and/or the threat of violent revenge, as well as protection from the negative effects of severe overcrowding, unemployment, limited educational opportunities, etc.French 1994, p. 101. Quotation from an internal memo on UNBRO's Protection Mandate, dated November 1988.
UNBRO oversaw the internal security of the camps, although theft and violence plagued camps that were not under the control of the Khmer Rouge.Maat RB. "The Weight of These Sad Times: End of Mission Report on the Thai-Kampuchean Border, December 8th, 1979 – April 30th, 1989." Bangkok: UNBRO, 1989. UNBRO coordinated the different organizations providing protection on the border: ICRC was specifically concerned with war crimes, political crimes, and human rights violations, and the Khmer Police took care of traditional police functions within the camps. Between 1980 and 1987 security in the camps was the responsibility of a special Thai Rangers unit known as Task Force 80, however this unit violated human rights so extensively that it was disbanded and replaced by the DPPU (the Displaced Persons Protection Unit, a specially trained paramilitary unit created in 1987 expressly to provide security for the border camps). It was responsible for protecting camp boundaries and preventing bandits from entering the camps.French 1994, p. 104.
UNBRO also maintained a small team of Protection Officers, whose job it was to monitor the human rights situation in the camps, follow up cases in which people were victimized either deliberately or through poverty, neglect, or "system failure", and encourage people to come to them when they felt their human rights had been abused.French 1994, p. 97. UNBRO assumed responsibility for field communications and security coordination for UN and voluntary agency personnel officially working at the border (i.e. working on programs under agreement with UNBRO).
Food distribution and health care
UNBRO took charge of food distribution to refugees along the border, where previously there had been widespread diversion of supplies to the Thai military and to Khmer resistance units.Mason, Linda and Brown, Roger, Rice, Rivalry and Politics: Managing Cambodian Relief. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1983. By the late 1980s UNBRO had standardized its basic weekly food ration so as to provide adequate daily caloric intake established by the World Health Organization. On a per person basis rice, canned or dried fish, one egg and a vegetable were distributed weekly; dried beans, oil, salt, and wheat flour were given once a month. Exact amounts for the weekly and monthly rations in 1990 were as follows: Rice: 3.4 kilograms/week Eggs: 100 grams/week Vegetables: 500 grams/week Fish products: 210 grams/week Dry beans: 500 grams/month Oil: 700 grams/month Salt: 280 grams/month Wheat flour: 700 grams/monthFrench, 1994, pp. 134-140.
This ration was designed to meet a minimum daily average of 2457 calories per person, the emergency caloric requirement set by the UN according to a 1985 WHO report on protein and energy requirements."Energy and Protein Requirements: Report of a Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation.'" World Health Organization, Geneva 1985. When the direct distribution system was initiated in 1987, the energy supplied by a basic UNBRO ration was 2237 calories per person per day. In 1991 budgetary constraints forced UNBRO to reduce this basic ration to 2027 calories per person per day.Reynell J., Political Pawns: Refugees on the Thai-Kampuchean Border. Oxford: Refugee Studies Programme, 1989, pp.75-76. Food distributions included 120 grams a month of soap.
UNBRO also supervised the provision of water in the border camps, few of which had access to natural sources of potable water. Each week trucks supplied by the Thai government transported 650,000 liters of chlorinated water to storage tanks in the camps.Burrows, R. United Nations Border Relief Operation for Cambodians in Thailand: Displacement and Survival. Bangkok, Thailand: United Nations Border Relief Operation, 1994. In addition, UNBRO supplied building materials to refugees and implemented an agricultural program to produce fresh vegetables in the camps.Rogge J. Return to Cambodia: The Significance and Implications of Past, Present, and Future Spontaneous Repatriations. Dallas: Intertect Institute, 1990, p. 122.
UNBRO delegated responsibility for basic medical services, sanitation, public and environmental health programs, supplementary feeding and other services to numerous nongovernmental aid agencies operating on the border at that time.Robinson WC. Terms of Refuge: The Indochinese Exodus & the International Response. London; New York, New York: Zed Books; Distributed in the USA exclusively by St. Martin's Press, 1998, pp. 82-90.
Education