Since the military coup in Myanmar, a new generation of refugees has joined earlier exiles in Thailand, rebuilding their lives in cities like Chiang Mai. But the new legal framework, designed by Thai authorities to "administer deportation issues speedily and effectively" in the absence of previous concrete guidelines, has raised alarm among refugee advocates.
The story of two activists illustrates the dangers. Nway, 23, spent four years in prison in Myanmar before being released in April 2026. As a political activist, she became a target for conscription. Police would sit outside her home and visit her mother weekly, according to Nway, threatening: "if you don't give us money, she will be listed." Her mother paid authorities to secure her safe passage to Thailand. Nway's cousin was abducted while drinking with friends in Yangon in 2024, and later returned to say everyone else in his group had died.
Pho Thar, a photojournalist and activist who knew Nway at university, was held for years in Yangon's Insein Prison. He has been arrested four times by Burmese authorities and believes he will be killed if he returns. He now has a migrant worker's card ("pink card") granting legal residency; Nway is applying for hers.
Both refugees say they can never return to Myanmar. For Nway, an outstanding legal case ensures arrest and likely conscription. For Pho Thar, the risk is death. The new Thai deportation law threatens to undermine the limited security they have found, even as the junta, which now fully controls only around 20 percent of Myanmar's territory, intensifies its conscription campaign, reportedly using conscripts as cannon fodder and human shields.