An NIU graduate student told the plight of refugees in Thailand Wednesday.

Phillip Albano, an NIU graduate, spoke to students about what a refugee is, the human rights of refugees and the refugees in Thailand. The purpose of the speech was “to effectively understand reasons behind the national government’s point of view that causes abuses to happen,” Albano said.

About 11 people attended the Amnesty International-sponsored event.

Albano stressed that there are refugees on all continents. He referred to refugees as “the greatest growth industry in the world.

“Most refugees meld in with third country populations,” Albano said. Asia holds the most refugees, he said.

“A refugee is a person owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted,” Albano said. The overwhelming population of refugees, 75 percent, is women and children, he said.

The Thai government sees refugees as “illegal people in the country or a temporary phenomena” and refers to the refugees as “displaced persons,” Albano said. Refugees come to Thailand from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, he said.

Tension in the Thai government occurs because the refugees live in better conditions than the Thai citizens, Albano said.

“Areas that people flee to are so desolate, the government leaves them alone,” he said. “Refugees are almost always unwanted in host countries.”

Thailand harbors 800,000 refugees, Albano said. Between 500,000 and one million Cambodian refugees came to Thailand since 1975, he said.

The Thai refugees live in nine border camps, which are run by three resistance groups, he said.

Albano ended his speech with the recent developments in the Thailand situation. “Every Indochinese refugee still in southeast Asia will be resettled in three years. Those who are left will be forced to go back to their country,” he said.

One audience member asked if Albano thought Afghanistan refugees would return to the country because the Soviet occupation is over.

“There is still a great deal of turmoil going on. I don’t think the war is over,” Albano said.

Albano was asked to speak because the Amnesty International campaign this year is focused on refugees, said AI-NIU President Donna Lundstrom.