Khao-I-Dang
Encyclopedia
Khao-I-Dang Holding Center was a Cambodian
Khmer people
Khmer people are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon–Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...

 refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...

 camp located 20 km north of Aranyaprathet in Prachinburi
Prachinburi Province
Prachin Buri is a province of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nakhon Ratchasima, Sa Kaeo, Chachoengsao and Nakhon Nayok.-Geography:...

 (now Sa Kaeo
Sa Kaeo Province
Sa Kaeo is a province of Thailand.It is located in the east of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Chanthaburi, Chachoengsao, Prachin Buri, Nakhon Ratchasima and Buri Ram...

) Province of Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

. The most enduring refugee camp
Refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees. Hundreds of thousands of people may live in any one single camp. Usually they are built and run by a government, the United Nations, or international organizations, or NGOs.Refugee camps are generally set up in an impromptu...

 on the Thai-Cambodian border, it was established in late 1979 and administered by the Thai Ministry of the Interior and UNHCR--unlike other camps on the border, which were administered by a coalition made up of UNICEF, the World Food Program, ICRC
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...

 (briefly) and, after 1982, the United Nations Border Relief Operation (UNBRO
UNBRO
The United Nations Border Relief Operation was a donor-nation funded relief effort for Cambodian refugees and others affected by years of warfare along the Thai-Cambodian border...

).

Camp Construction

Situated on the sparsely wooded plains in eastern Thailand a few miles from the Cambodian border, the huge compound of bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

 and thatch houses was opened on November 21, 1979 after the fall of the Khmer Rouge
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...

. Following the establishment of an emergency camp for refugees at Sa Kaeo
Sa Kaeo Refugee Camp
Sa Kaeo Refugee Camp was the first organized refugee relief camp established on the Thai-Cambodian border by the Royal Thai Government with support from international relief agencies including the United Nations. It was opened in October 1979 and closed in early July 1980...

, the Thai Ministry of the Interior authorized Mark Malloch Brown
Mark Malloch Brown
George Mark Malloch Brown, Baron Malloch-Brown, KCMG, PC is a former Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the British government with responsibility for Africa, Asia and the United Nations...

 of the UNHCR to build a second camp at the foot of Khao-I-Dang Mountain.

According to Martin Barber, Chief of UNHCR’s Kampuchean Unit, “The site, covering an area of 2.3 square kilometers on a gently sloping hill, had good drainage. It opened...after just four days of preparatory work spent in establishing the overall design of the camp and developing the basic infrastructure (roads, water tanks, and latrines) of the first “chunk”. The camp was divided into sections of 10,000-12,000 people. Each section had space allocated for reasonable housing and for necessary services including supplementary feeding.

Camp Population

On October 19, 1979 Thai Prime Minister Kriangsak Chomanan
Kriangsak Chomanan
General Kriangsak Chomanan served as prime minister of Thailand from 1977 to 1980.A professional soldier, General Kriangsak fought against the communists in both the Korean War and the Vietnam War...

 enacted an "open door" policy which permitted Cambodian refugees to cross the border safely and to reside in specific locations. Khao-I-Dang (known to aid agencies as KID) was intended to serve as a temporary holding center for refugees who would either be repatriated to Cambodia or expatriated to third countries. On the first day 4,800 people arrived and by December 31 there were 84,800. Between November 1979 and the end of January 1980 an average of 1,600 refugees arrived in the camp each day. Thailand's open door policy was abruptly ended on January 24, 1980 and KID was "closed" to new arrivals.

Originally planned to hold 300,000 refugees, the population eventually reached 160,000 in March 1980. Later, as KID became the main holding center for refugees awaiting third country visas, illegal entry
Illegal entry
Illegal entry is the act of foreign nationals arriving in or crossing the borders into a country in violation of its immigration law.Migrants from nations that do not have automatic visa agreements, or who would not otherwise qualify for a visa, often cross the borders illegally in some areas like...

 to the camp became highly sought after by refugees desperate to escape from Cambodia, and smuggling, theft and violence spiraled out of control. In July and August 1980 UNHCR began transferring large numbers of refugees out of KID to Phanat Nikhom, Sa Kaeo II, Mairut, and Kap Choeng. By December 1982 the population had dropped to 40,134 as refugees were forcibly repatriated, sent to third countries, or sent back to the border camps.

Camp Residents

The presence at Khao-I-Dang of a large number of refugees with education and experience in administration, health, teaching, or technical skills reduced the language problems and allowed early involvement of refugees in all fields of activities.

Many Cambodians recall spending some time at KID, including Dr Haing S. Ngor
Haing S. Ngor
Dr. Haing Somnang Ngor was a Cambodian American physician, actor and author who is best known for winning the 1985 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his debut performance in the movie The Killing Fields, in which he portrayed Cambodian journalist and refugee Dith Pran. His mother was...

 of The Killing Fields
The Killing Fields
The Killing Fields are a number of sites in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War ....

, who (as a refugee) was employed in 1979 in the 400-bed ICRC
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...

 hospital. The final scene in the movie was filmed at KID in 1983, in the surgical ward where Dr. Ngor had worked. Former refugees who have described their experiences in Khao-I-Dang include Molyda Szymusiak, Chanrithy Him, Oni Vitandham and Mohm Phat.

Camp Services

Provision of adequate food and water was a major logistical problem. Water was brought in each day by trucks from supply areas 1–2 hours away (l0-15 liters/person/day in the camp and 50-60 liters/hospitalized patient/day).

Educational and medical services were provided by Thai and international relief organizations. KID soon became the most serviced camp on the Thai-Cambodian border; indeed, it was probably the most elaborately serviced refugee camp in the world. By early 1980, thirty-seven voluntary agencies were working in the camp. Most health services were provided by ICRC
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...

, MSF
MSF
MSF may refer to:* Mail Summary File , file extension used by Earthlink, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Netscape mail clients to store folder data in Mork.* Marvel Super Heroes vs...

, the Thai Red Cross, CARE, Irish Concern
Concern Worldwide
Concern Worldwide is Ireland's largest aid and humanitarian agency. Since its foundation over 40 years ago it has worked in 50 countries and currently employs 3,200 staff in 25 countries around the world. Concern works to help those living in the world's poorest countries to achieve real and...

, Catholic Relief Services
Catholic Relief Services
Catholic Relief Services is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Founded in 1943 by the U.S. bishops, the agency provides assistance to 130 million people in more than 90 countries and territories in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and...

, the International Rescue Committee
International Rescue Committee
The International Rescue Committee is a leading nonsectarian, nongovernmental international relief and development organization based in the United States, with operations in over 40 countries...

, the American Refugee Committee
American Refugee Committee
The American Refugee Committee is an international nonprofit, nonsectarian organization that has provided humanitarian assistance and training to millions of beneficiaries over the last 30 years....

, Christian and Missionary Alliance
Christian and Missionary Alliance
The Christian and Missionary Alliance is an evangelical Protestant denomination within Christianity.Founded by Rev. Albert Benjamin Simpson in 1887, the Christian & Missionary Alliance did not start off as a denomination, but rather began as two distinct parachurch organizations: The Christian...

, OXFAM
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...

, Handicap International
Handicap International
Handicap International is a non-governmental organization created in 1982 to provide help in refugee camps in Cambodia and Thailand. Based in Belgium and France, it has since opened branches in six other countries : Switzerland, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and the United States...

, Malteser International
Malteser International
Malteser International is the worldwide relief agency of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta for humanitarian aid. The organisation covers around 200 projects in about 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas...

, and YWAM.

Camp Hospital

ICRC
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...

 chose KID for their first border surgical hospital where acute trauma
Physical trauma
Trauma refers to "a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident." It can also be described as "a physical wound or injury, such as a fracture or blow." Major trauma can result in secondary complications such as circulatory shock, respiratory failure and death...

 patients were cared for, at first mainly war wounded but later large numbers of landmine victims. Surgical equipment was donated from the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 hospital ship L'Île de Lumière. Initially two hospitals (A and B) were constructed with 900 beds each in 17 wards: four pediatric wards, including one intensive feeding center; two wards for gynecology and obstetrics
Obstetrics
Obstetrics is the medical specialty dealing with the care of all women's reproductive tracts and their children during pregnancy , childbirth and the postnatal period...

; two surgical wards, including an admission and emergency center; one tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 center; and eight general medicine wards, In addition, there was a surgical unit with two operating rooms containing four operating tables, and a post-operative unit. There also were two hospital kitchens, a warehouse, a laboratory, and an x-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...

 room. Each ward housed 70-120 patients, and the maximal capacity of the entire facility was about 1,800 patients.

The ICRC hospital began treating patients on November 27, 1979 and during its first 54 days of operation 521 surgeries were performed, 162 of these related to war injuries, including 22 amputations. Overall, 80% of operations were emergency surgery related to trauma, with the remainder performed to alleviate severe pain or bleeding. During the first two months an average of 9.5 operations per day were performed with a maximum of 16.

By late 1980 Hospital B fell into disuse and was converted into smaller buildings for other purposes, some of which were destroyed in a fire in 1981.

As of June 1984, the medical teams working at KID ICRC Hospital consisted of four surgeons, four anaesthetists and 13 nurses sent by nine National Red Cross Societies (Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

). The medical co-ordinator and the administrator of the hospital were sent by the New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 and the Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 Red Cross Societies respectively. Moreover, 120 Thai and Khmer medical staff assisted these teams in their work.

The UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim
Kurt Waldheim
Kurt Josef Waldheim was an Austrian diplomat and politician. Waldheim was the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and the ninth President of Austria, from 1986 to 1992...

 visited Khao-I-Dang Hospital on August 6, 1980, and Perez de Cuellar visited on January 27, 1985. Former President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

 and First Lady Rosalynn Carter
Rosalynn Carter
Eleanor Rosalynn Carter is the wife of the former President of the United States Jimmy Carter and in that capacity served as the First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981. As First Lady and after, she has been a leading advocate for numerous causes, perhaps most prominently for mental...

 visited on June 6, 1985.

Camp Closure

Khao-I-Dang's size steadily declined as its population was resettled in other countries. It eventually became a camp made up of persons who had been rejected for resettlement
Resettlement
Resettlement:*can refer to voluntary or involuntary human migration*can be a euphemism for forced migration*can be a euphemism for population transfer...

; many had been rejected by more than one country. With the prospects of further resettlement diminishing, Thailand declared the camp closed at the end of December 1986. Relocations to border camps of the illegal camp residents began in March 1987. In response to international pressure, selection for resettlement of the residual population was extended again in 1988, after which Thai authorities officially decreed that all remaining refugees would be transferred to the border for repatriation
Repatriation
Repatriation is the process of returning a person back to one's place of origin or citizenship. This includes the process of returning refugees or soldiers to their place of origin following a war...

 to Cambodia. The residents of KID were vocal in opposition to what they felt was a forced repatriation
Non-refoulement
Non-refoulement is a principle in international law, specifically refugee law, that concerns the protection of refugees from being returned to places where their lives or freedoms could be threatened...

 and held numerous demonstrations. By December 1989 camp population was 11,600.

The camp finally closed on 3 March 1993 during the UNTAC operation when all remaining residents were moved to Site Two Refugee Camp
Site Two Refugee Camp
Site Two Refugee Camp was the largest refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border and, for several years, the largest refugee camp in Southeast Asia...

 to await repatriation
Repatriation
Repatriation is the process of returning a person back to one's place of origin or citizenship. This includes the process of returning refugees or soldiers to their place of origin following a war...

 to Cambodia. At the closing ceremony, then UNHCR Special Envoy Sérgio Vieira de Mello
Sérgio Vieira de Mello
Sérgio Vieira de Mello was a Brazilian United Nations employee who worked for the UN for more than 34 years, earning respect and praise around the world for his efforts in the humanitarian and political programs of the UN...

called KID a "powerful and tragic symbol" of the Cambodian exodus and the international humanitarian response.

Further reading


External links



13°53′38.85"N 102°40′03.21"E
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