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…
For many, including authors of some of the articles which follow in this issue of FMR, anti-trafficking activities should prioritise strengthening the criminal justice response and enabling those affected to testify against those who have exploited them. Some in the…
In recent years the smuggling of human beings across international borders has grown rapidly from a small-scale cross-border activity affecting a handful of countries into a global multi-million dollar enterprise. Although information about human smuggling is patchy and often unreliable,…
On 23 January 2006 in Athens the Suzanne Mubarak Women’s International Peace Movement (SMWIPM)[1] launched the ‘End Human Trafficking Now’ initiative to rally the business sector to join the global campaign against human trafficking. Business leaders gathered at a meeting…
While there is a common understanding on what trafficking in persons is, there are still sharp divisions over the understanding of who the victims of trafficking are, with governments on one side of the divide and NGOs and international organisations…
The trafficking of people for sexual exploitation and forced labour is one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity and one that is of increasing concern to the international community. Generally, the flow of trafficking is from less…