Sa Kaeo Refugee Camp
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Sa Kaeo Refugee Camp (also referred to as Sa Kaeo I or Ban Kaeng) was the first organized
refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.
relief camp established on the Thai-Cambodian border. It was built by the
Royal Thai Government The Government of Thailand, or formally the Royal Thai Government ( Abrv: RTG; th, รัฐบาลไทย, , ), is the unitary government of the Kingdom of Thailand. The country emerged as a modern nation state after the foundation of t ...
with support from international relief agencies including the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
. It opened in October 1979 and closed in early-July 1980. At its peak the population exceeded 30,000 refugees; no formal
census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...
was ever conducted.


Origins of the Cambodian refugee crisis

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...
invaded
Democratic Kampuchea Kampuchea ( km, កម្ពុជា ), officially known as Democratic Kampuchea (DK; km, កម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ ) from 5 January 1976, was a one-party totalitarian state which encompassed modern-day Camb ...
in December 1978 and by early-1979 thousands of Cambodians had crossed the Thai-Cambodian border seeking safety and food. By May 1979 large numbers of refugees had set up improvised camps at Kampot, Mairut, Lumpuk, Khao Larn, and Ban Thai Samart, near Aranyaprathet. In June, 42,000 Khmer refugees were pushed back into Cambodia by the Thai Royal Army in what was known as the Dangrek genocide, which sparked international outrage and was discussed in July 1979 during an international conference on the Indochinese refugee crisis in Geneva. Then on 10 October, 60,000
Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 ...
soldiers and civilians under their control arrived at Khlong Wa and, shortly thereafter, Khlong Gai Thuen.malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues ...
, and the need for organized living arrangements was obvious.


Establishment of Sa Kaeo Refugee Camp

On 22 October 1979 Colonel Sanan Kajornklam of the Thai Supreme Command telephoned Martin Barber of
UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrat ...
to inform him that the Thai military would transport Cambodians at the border from areas south of Aranyaprathet to a location outside of the Thai town of
Sa Kaeo Sa Kaeo ( th, สระแก้ว, ) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in Thailand, about 48 kilometers from the Thai-Cambodian border and 200 km east of Bangkok. It is the capital of Sa Kaeo province Sa Kaeo ( th, :wikt: สระแก้ว, ...
, about 40 miles inside the border. UNHCR was invited to establish a holding center there that would house up to 90,000 refugees. UNHCR sent one of its newest recruits, British journalist
Mark Malloch Brown George Mark Malloch Brown, Baron Malloch-Brown (born 16 September 1953) is a British diplomat, communications consultant, journalist and former politician serving as president of Open Society Foundations since 2021, having previously served as ...
, together with his Thai assistant, Kadisis Rochanakorn, to survey the site, a 160,000-square-meter uninhabited area used for
rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...
cultivation. The Thai government requested that UNHCR make immediate emergency preparations for the Cambodians. Brown hired a bulldozer and started carving roads in the mud. A backhoe was hired to dig
latrine A latrine is a toilet or an even simpler facility that is used as a toilet within a sanitation system. For example, it can be a communal trench in the earth in a camp to be used as emergency sanitation, a hole in the ground ( pit latrine), or ...
s. Water tanks were donated by
Christian and Missionary Alliance The Alliance World Fellowship is the international governing body of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (The Alliance, also C&MA and CMA). The Alliance is an evangelical Protestant denomination within the Higher Life movement of Christiani ...
(CAMA), which also donated 100,000 pieces of
bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...
and thatch to construct a hospital, built hastily by 200 Thai workers Brown hired at US$2 a day. A crude warehouse was built.
Catholic Relief Services Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Founded in 1943 by the Bishops of the United States, the agency provides assistance to 130 million people in more than 110 ...
donated plastic rope, straw mats, and baby bottles. With less than one day's advance notice, UNHCR and other volunteer agencies hastily constructed basic camp infrastructure as thousands of malnourished Cambodians arrived. Several hundred unaccompanied children were in these first groups of refugees. On 24 October 8,000 refugees arrived by bus from settlements at the border. According to Dr. Hans Nothdurft: "Initially, the camp was no more than a fenced-off area of bushland with no housing facilities, no water, and no sewage system; approximately 2.7 square meters of space were available for each person. Part of the area was designated for the camp hospital; a bulldozer-cleared field with some bamboo-canvas construction provided primitive shelter for approximately 300 patients. When the first refugees arrived, there were only three doctors and eight other health workers present. The health status of the first refugees in Sa Kaeo was dire; for several months many of them had been starving in the mountains sandwiched between the Vietnamese to the east and the closed Thai border to the west. Nearly 2,000 severely ill or dying refugees were brought to the hospital area in the first few days. The medical personnel were assisted by volunteers from Bangkok organized by the wife of the US ambassador. As the refugees arrived, nurses sent those who appeared to be sick or starving to a makeshift hospital which Dr. Levi Roque constructed by stringing a wire from a bulldozer to a tent pole and draping it with canvas.Thompson, Larry Clinton. ''Refugee Workers in the Indochina Exodus, 1975-1982.'' Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010, p. 188.
/ref> There were no beds; refugees lay on straw mats. Khmer Rouge soldiers were mixed in with the women and children. A reporter said, "They did not look like human beings...but rather like wild animals...They slept huddled side by side like beasts in a cage." Doctors wrote instructions for care on the chests of patients with marking pens of different colors for different treatments. The US embassy volunteers were pressed into giving injections and other duties normally performed only by trained medical personnel. Reporters were persuaded to carry buckets of electrolyte fluid from patient to patient and try to get them to drink cupfuls of the liquid. In the midst of the chaos, monsoons struck and many refugees died on the cold, wet ground without being able to get to the hospital. During the camp's first 14 days of operation between 14 and 42 people died each day, according to Dr. Keith Dahlberg.
/ref> Within eight days the camp's population grew to over 30,000 people. After 8 November mortality dropped to a daily average of three or four, over half of whom died outside the hospital. There was no naturally occurring source of potable water. The Thai military trucked water in from Aranyaprathet. Drainage in the campsite was such that shortly after the refugees arrived, it flooded and a few refugees, too weak to lift their heads, drowned as they lay under tents made of plastic sheets.


Camp services

By the end of November 1979 some 15 Thai and international relief agencies were providing services at Sa Kaeo, including the Thai Red Cross,
ICRC The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
, MSF,
Christian and Missionary Alliance The Alliance World Fellowship is the international governing body of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (The Alliance, also C&MA and CMA). The Alliance is an evangelical Protestant denomination within the Higher Life movement of Christiani ...
,
World Vision In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
, and an Israeli medical team.
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
institutions provided additional volunteers as did several embassies. Numerous individuals also volunteered their services. The medical personnel at Sa Kaeo (up to 60 doctors and 170 other health workers by early-1980) represented different nationalities with different languages, cultural values, and medical training, but only a few team members had ever worked in a developing country or had seen
malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...
and severe malnutrition before—the two prevailing problems in the camp. Their repeated calls for
x-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10  nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...
facilities, for more laboratory support, and their preference for expensive drug regimens reflected medical cultural values of developed countries. Water was initially carried by truck to the camp and stored in
aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
drums. Three deep wells drilled during the second week of operation were eventually connected via a network of pipes to distribute water throughout the camp. A trench latrine was dug around the periphery of the camp. Thai provincial health authorities provided
insect control Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest; any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the damage done and will range ...
by draining stagnant water and spraying
insecticides Insecticides are substances used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and by consumers. Insecticides are claimed t ...
. A 1,200-bed hospital was initially no more than a thatched roof without walls, where patients lay on mats on the dirt floor with medical records and intravenous solutions clipped to wires above them. Within a week, however, the teams had improvised a
blood bank A blood bank is a center where blood gathered as a result of blood donation is stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusion. The term "blood bank" typically refers to a department of a hospital usually within a Clinical Pathology laborat ...
, delivery room, receiving ward, and a special
nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient ...
center.Dahlberg, K. "Medical Care of Cambodian Refugees," ''JAMA'' March 14, 1980 243:10, pp. 1062-65.


Physical condition of the refugees

Mass
starvation Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, de ...
dominated the medical picture.
Marasmus Marasmus is a form of severe malnutrition characterized by energy deficiency. It can occur in anyone with severe malnutrition but usually occurs in children. Body weight is reduced to less than 62% of the normal (expected) body weight for the a ...
,
kwashiorkor Kwashiorkor ( , ) is a form of severe protein malnutrition characterized by edema and an enlarged liver with fatty infiltrates. It is thought to be caused by sufficient calorie intake, but with insufficient protein consumption (or lack of go ...
,
beriberi Thiamine deficiency is a medical condition of low levels of thiamine (Vitamin B1). A severe and chronic form is known as beriberi. The two main types in adults are wet beriberi and dry beriberi. Wet beriberi affects the cardiovascular system, r ...
, and
anemia Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, t ...
were widespread, with many patients showing all four.
Vitamin A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its metabolism. Essential nutrie ...
deficiencies, particularly of
vitamin A Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin and an essential nutrient for humans. It is a group of organic compounds that includes retinol, retinal (also known as retinaldehyde), retinoic acid, and several provitamin A carotenoids (most notably ...
and vitamin B1 were common.
Hookworm Hookworms are intestinal, blood-feeding, parasitic roundworms that cause types of infection known as helminthiases. Hookworm infection is found in many parts of the world, and is common in areas with poor access to adequate water, sanitation, ...
and
ascaris ''Ascaris'' is a genus of parasitic nematode worms known as the "small intestinal roundworms", which is a type of parasitic worm. One species, '' Ascaris lumbricoides'', affects humans and causes the disease ascariasis. Another species, ''Ascar ...
infections aggravated
malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues ...
and anemia, especially in children.
Dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
, both bacillary and amebic, also complicated many patients' nutritional status.
Lice Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a resul ...
and
scabies Scabies (; also sometimes known as the seven-year itch) is a contagious skin infestation by the mite ''Sarcoptes scabiei''. The most common symptoms are severe itchiness and a pimple-like rash. Occasionally, tiny burrows may appear on the ski ...
were
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
. Most refugees were infected with
malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...
, and 55 percent of cases were diagnosed as falciparum, much of it
chloroquine Chloroquine is a medication primarily used to prevent and treat malaria in areas where malaria remains sensitive to its effects. Certain types of malaria, resistant strains, and complicated cases typically require different or additional medi ...
–resistant. Numerous cases of
cerebral malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, fatigue (medical), tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In se ...
and
blackwater fever Blackwater fever is a complication of malaria infection in which red blood cells burst in the bloodstream (hemolysis), releasing hemoglobin directly into the blood vessels and into the urine, frequently leading to kidney failure. The disease w ...
were encountered, and a few cases of
hemorrhagic fever Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) are a diverse group of animal and human illnesses in which fever and hemorrhage are caused by a viral infection. VHFs may be caused by five distinct families of RNA viruses: the families '' Filoviridae'', '' ...
due to
dengue Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic ...
.


Composition of the camp population

A large proportion of the Cambodians in Sa Kaeo were
Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 ...
soldiers and the civilians they had forced to flee with them to the border. This was because the Khmer Rouge were eager to move some of their cadre to the
sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...
inside Thailand where they could receive food and medical attention, rest and recuperate, and regain their strength in order to fight the Vietnamese.Terry, F., ''Condemned to Repeat?: The Paradox of Humanitarian Action'', Cornell University Press 2002, p. 118.
/ref> It was also Thai policy to maintain separate camps for populations under Khmer Rouge control, since providing aid to them was politically controversial and because the Thai government considered the Khmer Rouge the only force capable of mounting any meaningful resistance to the Vietnamese. The Khmer Rouge quickly replicated their power structures in Sa Kaeo and their cadre exerted almost complete control over camp residents.


Visit by First Lady Rosalynn Carter

In an effort to show US support for the Thai response, First Lady
Rosalynn Carter Eleanor Rosalynn Carter ( ; née Smith; born August 18, 1927) is an American writer and activist who served as First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981 as the wife of President Jimmy Carter. For decades, she has been a leading advocate ...
visited
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
with
Richard Holbrooke Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke (April 24, 1941 – December 13, 2010) was an American diplomat and author. He was the only person to have held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for two different regions of the world (Asia from 1977 ...
, several members of congress and a group of journalists to tour the camp on 9 November 1979. Her visit was widely publicized and appeared on the nightly news on all major US networks. In one frequently-aired clip, a refugee died in front of Carter while an American physician protested irritably: "'This girl is about to go,' said an angry doctor, ordering the newsmen covering the visit to keep back. 'She just had a
blood transfusion Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but mo ...
, but she's not going to make it.'" Later the First Lady recalled: "I picked up a baby and put it down on a blanket on the ground. They started crying, and when I turned around the baby had died." The First Lady later told reporters, "I'm emotionally overwhelmed. It's a very difficult situation for me as a wife and a mother to visit the camp and see such poverty and misery. I'm going home as fast as I can to tell my husband about it."


Camp closing

Embarrassed by the unfavorable impression created by Sa Kaeo, the Thai government asked
Mark Malloch Brown George Mark Malloch Brown, Baron Malloch-Brown (born 16 September 1953) is a British diplomat, communications consultant, journalist and former politician serving as president of Open Society Foundations since 2021, having previously served as ...
of the UNHCR to prepare a new site with better drainage and more space. In late-November 1979
Khao-I-Dang The Khao-I-Dang (KID) Holding Center ( th, เขาอีด่าง, km, ខាវអ៊ីដាង) was a Cambodian refugee camp 20 km north of Aranyaprathet in Prachinburi (now Ta Phraya District, Sa Kaeo Province, Thailand). The ...
Holding Center was opened. The Thai Government immediately began transferring refugees from Sa Kaeo to Khao-I-Dang. Since most of the refugees were under the control of the Khmer Rouge, the Thai government encouraged them to return to areas of northwestern Cambodia under Khmer Rouge control. This was viewed as a gross violation of
human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
by many aid workers, including the
Preah Maha Ghosananda Maha Ghosananda (full title Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda - km, សម្តេចព្រះមហាឃោសានន្ទ; pi, Mahāghosānanda; May 23, 1913 – March 12, 2007) was a highly revered Cambodian Buddhist monkPeter L. Pond The Reverend Peter Lawrence Pond (1933–2000) was a New England clergyman, activist and philanthropist who worked with Cambodian orphans on the Thai-Cambodian border. He was executive director of the Providence-based Cambodian Crisis Committee a ...
, who staged a protest at the camp's Buddhist temple in June 1980 and were imprisoned by the Thai military. Another camp, Sa Kaeo II, was opened and by July 1980 all refugees had been transferred to other camps or forcibly repatriated,Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...


Impact of Sa Kaeo

Images of dead and dying refugees at Sa Kaeo were broadcast around the world and international aid began to flow into Thailand to assist the refugees. This also engendered the belief that famine was general in Cambodia. A front-page article in ''The New York Times'' said, "2.25 Million Cambodians Are Said to Face Starvation."
Seymour Hersh Seymour Myron "Sy" Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American Investigative journalism, investigative journalist and political writer. Hersh first gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam Wa ...
, "2.25 Million Cambodians Are Said to Face Starvation; Plight Held Worse Than Refugees'" ''The New York Times'', August 08, 1979, Page A1. The international community responded with large amounts of food aid that was delivered to Cambodians by the "land bridge" at Nong Chan Refugee Camp.


See also

* Cambodian humanitarian crisis * Indochina refugee crisis * Nong Chan Refugee Camp *
Nong Samet Refugee Camp Nong Samet Refugee Camp ( th, ค่ายผู้อพยพหนองเสม็ด, also known as 007, Rithisen or Rithysen), in Nong Samet Village, Khok Sung District, Sa Kaeo Province, Thailand, was a refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian ...
*
Site Two Refugee Camp Site Two Refugee Camp (also known as Site II or Site 2) was the largest refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border and, for several years, the largest refugee camp in Southeast Asia. The camp was established in January 1985 during the 1984-1985 V ...
*
Khao-I-Dang The Khao-I-Dang (KID) Holding Center ( th, เขาอีด่าง, km, ខាវអ៊ីដាង) was a Cambodian refugee camp 20 km north of Aranyaprathet in Prachinburi (now Ta Phraya District, Sa Kaeo Province, Thailand). The ...


References


Further reading

*
Levy, B. S. and D. C. Susott (1987). ''Years of Horror, Days of Hope: Responding to the Cambodian Refugee Crisis.'' Millwood, N.Y., Associated Faculty Press.


* ttps://www.amazon.com/dp/0939526247 Isaacs A. R. ''Pawns of War: Cambodia and Laos.'' Boston, MA: Boston Pub. Co., 1987.* Carney T. M. ''Kampuchea, Balance of Survival.'' Bangkok: Distributed in Asia by DD Books, 1981.
Dahlberg, Keith: "Cambodian Refugee Camp 1979," an excerpt from ''Flame Tree: a Novel of Modern Burma.'' Orchid Press, Thailand, 2004

Thompson, Larry Clinton. ''Refugee Workers in the Indochina Exodus, 1975-1982.'' Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010.
{{coord missing, Thailand Former refugee camps in Thailand Khmer Rouge Populated places established in 1979 Cambodia–Thailand border 1980 disestablishments 1979 establishments in Thailand Refugee camps in Asia