Jesuit Refugee Service

The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is an international Catholic organization with a mission to accompany, serve and defend the rights of refugees and forcibly displaced people. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1980 and now working in over 50 countries, the priority of JRS is to be where the need is greatest or where no other organization is present.

JRS has been working in Asia and the Pacific since 1980, when the plight of the Indochinese boat people inspired Fr Pedro Arrupe to found the JRS. JRS responded to the crisis by working in the camps in Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Philippines. Today, the work of JRS has evolved from emergency response to a longer term commitment as refugee camps along the Thai border developed into quasi-permanent settlements. This is in part due to political instability and human rights violations in neighbouring Burma, which led to a string of exodus of refugees beginning in the late 1980s. Hundreds of thousands more are internally displaced inside Burma or living precariously as undocumented migrant workers in neighbouring countries.

JRS Thailand implements six programmes at different locations in the country. Our work is guided by our mission to go where the need is greatest. We work with Burmese refugees living in camps, community-based organizations, migrant workers, urban refugees and asylum seekers, the Shan and Lahu people, persons held inside immigration detention centres, and so on. Our main areas of work are in education, counseling, legal aid, social services and community development, and emergency medical services. Advocacy forms an integral part of all programmes.