There has been a notable progression to systematic aid dependency among the Myanmar refugees living in nine camps along the Thai-Myanmar border. Refugee participation shifted from self-reliance for shelter and food to the current situation in which the refugees have…
Villagers fled as whole communities, negotiated land with local Thai authorities and established themselves in camps around their traditional village leaders. The Thai government invited NGOs already providing assistance to Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese refugees to respond to this new…
With the ‘Saffron revolution’ of September 2007, Burma was catapulted into the centre of international attention. It was briefly headline news as people monitored the regime’s response and watched for hints of progress towards democracy and the restoration of rights.…
Like many other ethnic nationalities in Burma, widespread human rights abuses have caused tens of thousands of Chin from Burma’s western hills to flee Burma in search of survival elsewhere. While Thailand plays host to a majority of Burma’s refugees,…
Burma today has one of the worst forced migration crises in the world. More than 50 years of conflict and human rights violations have led to widespread forced migration: at least one million people internally and more than a million…
It is no surprise that those states in Burma/Myanmar with the most mine pollution are the highest IDP- and refugee-producing states. Antipersonnel mines planted by both government forces and ethnic armed groups injure and kill not only enemy combatants but…
During the period 1958-1960, the caretaker government of General Ne Win made Burma’s armed forces – rather than elected representatives – responsible for governing Yangon, Burma’s largest city and the country’s capital until the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)…
Burma’s rulers have divided the country into three zones: white – those areas under their total control; brown – contested areas; and black – areas over which they have no control. Black areas are designated ‘free-fire’ zones where the Burma…
Two reports researched and written by the Karen Women’s Organisation – ‘Shattering Silences’ in 2004 and ‘State of Terror’ in 2007[1] – document the wide range of human rights abuses against Burmese women and girls. The abuses were perpetrated across…
On United Nations Day, 24 October, 2007, in Yangon, in the immediate aftermath of events that had for a while put the country on the front pages of international media, the Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator of the UN system in Myanmar read…