***The 17 ONLINE PETITIONS FOR BURMA HERE.***
__________________________
Right along with premonitions from one of the head leaders of September's protests, the demonstrations resumed today. While much smaller in scope, today's march sends a strong signal not only to the junta but to the international community that the opposition movement still has life left. It may be the spark needed to galvanize the Burmese for renewed protests. With the world on its toes this time, we can only wait and hope for the best, but also prepare for the worst. The AP article, linked through The Washington Post, HERE.
Other reports on today's March. (Mizzima and the Democratic Voice of Burma both reported that as many as 200 monks marched)
Mizzima
BBC
CNN
Democratic Voice of Burma
Irrawaddy
YANGON, Myanmar -- More than 100 Buddhist monks marched and chanted in northern Myanmar for nearly an hour Wednesday, the first public demonstration since the government's deadly crackdown last month on pro-democracy protesters, two monks said.
The monks in Pakokku made no political statements and shouted no slogans, but their march clearly was in defiance of the government and in solidarity with the earlier, anti-government rallies led by monks in many of Myanmar's cities in September.
Those demonstrations were crushed when troops fired on protesters Sept. 27-28 in a crackdown that left at least 20 people dead by the government's count, drawing international condemnation. Opposition groups says as many as 200 people may have been killed.
Pakokku, a center for Buddhist learning with more than 80 monasteries located about 390 miles northwest of the commercial center of Yangon, was the site of the first march last month by monks as they joined _ and then spearheaded _ the biggest anti-government protests in nearly two decades.
The protests originally started Aug. 19, when ordinary citizens took to the streets to vent anger after the government hiked fuel prices as much as 500 percent. The rallies gained momentum when Buddhist monks in Pakokku joined the protests in early September.
Reports that troops had beaten protesting monks in Pakokku on Sept. 6 rallied monks around the country to join the burgeoning marches.
On Wednesday, the monks started out at Pakokku's Shwegu Pagoda, marching for nearly an hour and chanting Buddhist prayers without incident, and then returned to their respective monasteries, two monks said in telephone interviews, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Child soldiers 'bought and sold' in Myanmar
***The 17 ONLINE PETITIONS FOR BURMA HERE.***
__________________________
Yesterday's International Herald Tribune story on the selling and forced recruitment of child soldiers. According to Human Rights Watch, while the junta is renewing efforts to recruit child soldiers, one of the main insurgent groups, the Karen National Liberation Army, has improved its record of child recruits. KNLA officers who use child soldiers are punished. The AP article HERE. Today's Reuters' article on Burma's child soldiers HERE. Irrawaddy's HERE.
__________
BANGKOK: Add to the many hardships in Myanmar today one more danger: being a boy. According to a report that was to be released Wednesday, the military, struggling to meet recruiting quotas, is buying, kidnapping and terrorizing boys as young as 10 to join its ranks.
The report by Human Rights Watch, the New York-based rights group, says military recruiters and civilian brokers scour train stations, bus stations, markets and other public places for boys and coerce them to volunteer. Some may simply disappear without their families' knowledge and spend years on the front lines of a brutal war against ethnic insurgencies.
"Clearly the military is preying upon children and using children to form a substantial proportion of its forces," said a co-author of the report, Jo Becker, the children's rights advocate for Human Rights Watch.
"In recent years the military has continued to expand while at the same time losing large numbers of soldiers to desertion," she said in an interview. "Recruiters and civilian agents are sweeping boys as young as 11 and 12 off the streets. Children are literally being bought and sold by recruiters."
These recruiters and agents receive cash payments and other incentives for new recruits even if the recruit fails to meet basic health and age requirements, said the report, which was based on interviews in Myanmar, Thailand and China.
The large number of child soldiers in Myanmar's army - and in the ranks of some 30 armed ethnic groups - has been known for years, and Human Rights Watch has published reports on it before.
The new report, coming at a moment of crisis in Myanmar, illustrates the kind of broad abuses that gave rise, along with economic hardships, to the huge anti-government protests in August and September that were crushed by the military junta a month ago.
"Even before the recent crackdown, many young adults rejected military service because of grueling conditions, low pay and mistreatment by superior officers," Becker said in the report. "After deploying its soldiers against Buddhist monks and other peaceful demonstrators, the government may find it even harder to find willing volunteers."
In response to criticism, the government formed a high-level committee in 2004 ostensibly to prevent recruitment of underage soldiers. "In fact the committee is a sham," Becker said. She said the committee has been active in denouncing outside reports of the recruitment of children.
Becker said it was impossible to say how many child soldiers are recruited in Myanmar, or even to be certain of the full strength of the armed forces, which is generally estimated at about 400,000.
But the report said that in interviews with 20 former soldiers, all but one estimated that at least 30 percent of their fellow trainees were boys under the age of 18. In some cases, particularly in newly formed units, as many as half were under age.
The legal age for military service is 18, and the report said recruiters and unit commanders often falsify the ages of their new recruits.
The report told of one boy who was recruited at the age of 11, even though he was only 1.3 meters, or 4 feet 3 inches, tall and weighed 31 kilograms, or 70 pounds. That former soldier told Human Rights Watch that his recruiter had bribed the medical officer to certify his eligibility.
The report quoted some former child soldiers as saying they and others had been detained in cells, handcuffed, beaten and sold by one recruiter or battalion to another.
Once in the ranks, the report said, child soldiers are subject to mistreatment by officers and are sometimes forced to participate in the human rights abuses that have been widely documented among the armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw. These include battlefield atrocities, the burning of villages, forcible recruitment of porters and sexual abuse of women.
Although in some cases the children are sheltered from combat, it said, others may be sent to fight within a few days of their arrival.
"One thing that is interesting is that many child soldiers say their first experience in combat is terrifying, they are scared of being shot and often would hide or shoot their gun in the air," Becker said. "But they acclimatized very quickly, so often by the second or third encounter they were no longer afraid."
Some of those interviewed went on to serve 12 or 13 years in the army, she said.
Desertion is punished with arrests and beatings, according to the report. It told the story of one boy, Maung Zaw Oo, who by the time he was 16 had been forcibly recruited into the army twice. He escaped after his first recruitment at age 14, only to be forced to join again soon afterward, the report said.
He told researchers that the corporal who brought him in received a large sum of money, a sack of rice and a big can of cooking oil as bounty. When his relatives tracked him down, they were told he would be released if they brought in five new recruits, the report said.
"I told my aunt, 'Don't do this,' " Maung Zaw Oo was quoted as saying. " 'I don't want others to face this, it's very bad here. I'll just stay and face it myself.' "
After that, he said, he volunteered for the most dangerous assignments, walking either first or last in a patrol.
"In the army my life was worthless," he was quoted as saying, "so I chose it that way."
__________________________
Yesterday's International Herald Tribune story on the selling and forced recruitment of child soldiers. According to Human Rights Watch, while the junta is renewing efforts to recruit child soldiers, one of the main insurgent groups, the Karen National Liberation Army, has improved its record of child recruits. KNLA officers who use child soldiers are punished. The AP article HERE. Today's Reuters' article on Burma's child soldiers HERE. Irrawaddy's HERE.
__________
BANGKOK: Add to the many hardships in Myanmar today one more danger: being a boy. According to a report that was to be released Wednesday, the military, struggling to meet recruiting quotas, is buying, kidnapping and terrorizing boys as young as 10 to join its ranks.
The report by Human Rights Watch, the New York-based rights group, says military recruiters and civilian brokers scour train stations, bus stations, markets and other public places for boys and coerce them to volunteer. Some may simply disappear without their families' knowledge and spend years on the front lines of a brutal war against ethnic insurgencies.
"Clearly the military is preying upon children and using children to form a substantial proportion of its forces," said a co-author of the report, Jo Becker, the children's rights advocate for Human Rights Watch.
"In recent years the military has continued to expand while at the same time losing large numbers of soldiers to desertion," she said in an interview. "Recruiters and civilian agents are sweeping boys as young as 11 and 12 off the streets. Children are literally being bought and sold by recruiters."
These recruiters and agents receive cash payments and other incentives for new recruits even if the recruit fails to meet basic health and age requirements, said the report, which was based on interviews in Myanmar, Thailand and China.
The large number of child soldiers in Myanmar's army - and in the ranks of some 30 armed ethnic groups - has been known for years, and Human Rights Watch has published reports on it before.
The new report, coming at a moment of crisis in Myanmar, illustrates the kind of broad abuses that gave rise, along with economic hardships, to the huge anti-government protests in August and September that were crushed by the military junta a month ago.
"Even before the recent crackdown, many young adults rejected military service because of grueling conditions, low pay and mistreatment by superior officers," Becker said in the report. "After deploying its soldiers against Buddhist monks and other peaceful demonstrators, the government may find it even harder to find willing volunteers."
In response to criticism, the government formed a high-level committee in 2004 ostensibly to prevent recruitment of underage soldiers. "In fact the committee is a sham," Becker said. She said the committee has been active in denouncing outside reports of the recruitment of children.
Becker said it was impossible to say how many child soldiers are recruited in Myanmar, or even to be certain of the full strength of the armed forces, which is generally estimated at about 400,000.
But the report said that in interviews with 20 former soldiers, all but one estimated that at least 30 percent of their fellow trainees were boys under the age of 18. In some cases, particularly in newly formed units, as many as half were under age.
The legal age for military service is 18, and the report said recruiters and unit commanders often falsify the ages of their new recruits.
The report told of one boy who was recruited at the age of 11, even though he was only 1.3 meters, or 4 feet 3 inches, tall and weighed 31 kilograms, or 70 pounds. That former soldier told Human Rights Watch that his recruiter had bribed the medical officer to certify his eligibility.
The report quoted some former child soldiers as saying they and others had been detained in cells, handcuffed, beaten and sold by one recruiter or battalion to another.
Once in the ranks, the report said, child soldiers are subject to mistreatment by officers and are sometimes forced to participate in the human rights abuses that have been widely documented among the armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw. These include battlefield atrocities, the burning of villages, forcible recruitment of porters and sexual abuse of women.
Although in some cases the children are sheltered from combat, it said, others may be sent to fight within a few days of their arrival.
"One thing that is interesting is that many child soldiers say their first experience in combat is terrifying, they are scared of being shot and often would hide or shoot their gun in the air," Becker said. "But they acclimatized very quickly, so often by the second or third encounter they were no longer afraid."
Some of those interviewed went on to serve 12 or 13 years in the army, she said.
Desertion is punished with arrests and beatings, according to the report. It told the story of one boy, Maung Zaw Oo, who by the time he was 16 had been forcibly recruited into the army twice. He escaped after his first recruitment at age 14, only to be forced to join again soon afterward, the report said.
He told researchers that the corporal who brought him in received a large sum of money, a sack of rice and a big can of cooking oil as bounty. When his relatives tracked him down, they were told he would be released if they brought in five new recruits, the report said.
"I told my aunt, 'Don't do this,' " Maung Zaw Oo was quoted as saying. " 'I don't want others to face this, it's very bad here. I'll just stay and face it myself.' "
After that, he said, he volunteered for the most dangerous assignments, walking either first or last in a patrol.
"In the army my life was worthless," he was quoted as saying, "so I chose it that way."
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Break the Burmese Blackout
***The 17 ONLINE PETITIONS FOR BURMA HERE.***
__________________________
Donate to help Burmese opposition groups bypass the junta's media blackout. From AVAAZ.org:
The Burmese military has seen the power of global solidarity for the demonstrators--and has moved to shut down all communications with the outside world. As the images and stories have slowed, global media coverage of the Burmese crisis has lost its urgency.
But people power can beat the blackout.
***DONATE***HERE to HELP BREAK THE BURMESE BLACKOUT.
__________________________
Donate to help Burmese opposition groups bypass the junta's media blackout. From AVAAZ.org:
The Burmese military has seen the power of global solidarity for the demonstrators--and has moved to shut down all communications with the outside world. As the images and stories have slowed, global media coverage of the Burmese crisis has lost its urgency.
But people power can beat the blackout.
Donate below to send crucial technical support and equipment to Burmese civil society groups, and help return Burma's voice to its people. 100% of funds donated will go to Burmese groupsAvaaz will keep no portion.
***DONATE***HERE to HELP BREAK THE BURMESE BLACKOUT.
Inside Burma: Land of Fear
***The 15 ONLINE PETITIONS FOR BURMA HERE.***
__________________________
Here's a 8 minute clip of John Pilger's 1996 Interview, "Inside Burma: Land of Fear", with Aung San Suu Kyi. It contains a lot of scenes from the carnage and bloodshed from the 1988 crackdown. The full 53 minute-long video can be viewed HERE.
'Inside Burma: Land of Fear' was first broadcast in May 1996. It was written and presented by John Pilger and produced and directed by David Munro.
The film detailed the many injustices and human rights abuses that have so badly marked the country's past and present.
Amnesty International has described Burma as a 'prison without bars' of a country which has a beauty and resources probably unequalled in Asia.
Yet it is also a secret country. Isolated for the past 34 years since a brutal military dictatorship seized power in Rangoon, this rich country has been relegated to one of the world's poorest with the suffering of its people mostly unseen.
The generals who crushed democracy in Burma have ruled with a regime so harsh, bloody and uncompromising that the parallels with Cambodia under Pol Pot and East Timor under Suharto are striking.
A junta sign in Rangoon after the 1988 revolt
According to the United Nations, untold thousands have been forced from their homes, massacred, tortured and subjected to a modern form of slavery.
How was this country allowed to descend in such dramatic fashion and, after the pro-democracy uprisings of 1988, are its people any closer to being granted their rights to a vote and an economic system which will reward their labour?
Click HERE for John Pilger's articles on Burma.
__________________________
Here's a 8 minute clip of John Pilger's 1996 Interview, "Inside Burma: Land of Fear", with Aung San Suu Kyi. It contains a lot of scenes from the carnage and bloodshed from the 1988 crackdown. The full 53 minute-long video can be viewed HERE.
'Inside Burma: Land of Fear' was first broadcast in May 1996. It was written and presented by John Pilger and produced and directed by David Munro.
The film detailed the many injustices and human rights abuses that have so badly marked the country's past and present.
Amnesty International has described Burma as a 'prison without bars' of a country which has a beauty and resources probably unequalled in Asia.
Yet it is also a secret country. Isolated for the past 34 years since a brutal military dictatorship seized power in Rangoon, this rich country has been relegated to one of the world's poorest with the suffering of its people mostly unseen.
The generals who crushed democracy in Burma have ruled with a regime so harsh, bloody and uncompromising that the parallels with Cambodia under Pol Pot and East Timor under Suharto are striking.
A junta sign in Rangoon after the 1988 revolt
According to the United Nations, untold thousands have been forced from their homes, massacred, tortured and subjected to a modern form of slavery.
How was this country allowed to descend in such dramatic fashion and, after the pro-democracy uprisings of 1988, are its people any closer to being granted their rights to a vote and an economic system which will reward their labour?
Click HERE for John Pilger's articles on Burma.
Burmese Exile Media on Alert after Crackdown Warning
***The 14 ONLINE PETITIONS FOR BURMA HERE.***
_______________
Yesterday's Irrawaddy articleon the Thai Government's schedule crackdown on Burmese opposition groups based in Thailand. More information on the crackdown HERE.
A Burmese exile media organization in Bangkok has dropped its Web site news service “temporarily,” amid reports of a crackdown on such operations on Thai territory that carry material critical of Burma’s junta.
The reports surfaced last week and caused other exile media groups in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Mae Sot to lower their profile. There were warnings of possible raids by Thai police and immigration authorities.
The Bangkok-based media organization that dropped its Web site news said it had been asked by Thai authorities to close its office “temporarily” starting from last Friday. A spokesman for the organization asked The Irrawaddy not to identify it.
Since Friday, the organization’s Web site has been carrying a message saying that “due to security and technical changes we are temporarily stopping our internet page.” The organization is reported to be still working on its printed edition.
The unnamed organization and several other Web sites and publications run by Burmese exiles have played a key role in reporting on the brutal suppression of September’s demonstrations.
They have come in for constant attack by the Burmese junta, along with overseas-based targets such as the Burmese service of the BBC and the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma.
Zin Lin, spokesman of Burma’s democratic government in exile, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, told The Irrawaddy that its office in Bangkok had been warned by Thai authorities to adopt a “low profile.”
The NCGUB office in Bangkok was still functioning, he said. The headquarters of the government in exile are located in Washington DC.
“The Burmese state-media blamed the exile groups in Thailand for recent mass protests,” said Zin Lin.
Myint Wai, of the Bangkok-based Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that his group is also vigilant in view of the reports of a possible crackdown.
The TACDB’s operations are mainly focused on Burmese migrant workers, many of whom have no legal documents.
Reports of a possible crackdown have also been circulating since Friday among the several Burmese organizations and NGOs working in northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai province.
Burmese officials are rumored to have asked Thai authorities to close some offices linked to the September demonstrations in Burma. In the past, the Burmese government has usually used a friendly channel to pressure Thai authorities close to Burma to harass exiled Burmese.
A source at the Democratic Voice of Burma said the DVB’s office in Chiang Mai was still operating but was taking a low profile.
Previously, some Thai officials occasionally acted in cooperation with the Burmese regime, who complain that Thailand allows opposition groups to operate and demand they take action against Burmese pro-democracy activists in the country.
In November 1995, Khit Pyaing, a Burmese-language news operation also known as New Era was raided by Thai police, and a veteran journalist, Ye Khaung, and his wife were arrested.
In October 2006, a Burmese stringer working for the Oslo-based DVB was forced to leave his home in Ranong province, southern Thailand, after voicing concern about his safety.
Previously, prominent human rights organizations, politicians and US congressmen have reacted promptly when Thai officials raided Burmese offices operating in Thailand.
During the administration of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, several offices in Sangklaburi were forced to shut down by Thai officials. The crackdown prompted international outcry and condemnation.
The Irrawaddy has learned that US and western diplomats have also been closely monitoring the situation and the safety of Burmese groups living in Thailand.
_______________
Yesterday's Irrawaddy articleon the Thai Government's schedule crackdown on Burmese opposition groups based in Thailand. More information on the crackdown HERE.
A Burmese exile media organization in Bangkok has dropped its Web site news service “temporarily,” amid reports of a crackdown on such operations on Thai territory that carry material critical of Burma’s junta.
The reports surfaced last week and caused other exile media groups in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Mae Sot to lower their profile. There were warnings of possible raids by Thai police and immigration authorities.
The Bangkok-based media organization that dropped its Web site news said it had been asked by Thai authorities to close its office “temporarily” starting from last Friday. A spokesman for the organization asked The Irrawaddy not to identify it.
Since Friday, the organization’s Web site has been carrying a message saying that “due to security and technical changes we are temporarily stopping our internet page.” The organization is reported to be still working on its printed edition.
The unnamed organization and several other Web sites and publications run by Burmese exiles have played a key role in reporting on the brutal suppression of September’s demonstrations.
They have come in for constant attack by the Burmese junta, along with overseas-based targets such as the Burmese service of the BBC and the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma.
Zin Lin, spokesman of Burma’s democratic government in exile, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, told The Irrawaddy that its office in Bangkok had been warned by Thai authorities to adopt a “low profile.”
The NCGUB office in Bangkok was still functioning, he said. The headquarters of the government in exile are located in Washington DC.
“The Burmese state-media blamed the exile groups in Thailand for recent mass protests,” said Zin Lin.
Myint Wai, of the Bangkok-based Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that his group is also vigilant in view of the reports of a possible crackdown.
The TACDB’s operations are mainly focused on Burmese migrant workers, many of whom have no legal documents.
Reports of a possible crackdown have also been circulating since Friday among the several Burmese organizations and NGOs working in northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai province.
Burmese officials are rumored to have asked Thai authorities to close some offices linked to the September demonstrations in Burma. In the past, the Burmese government has usually used a friendly channel to pressure Thai authorities close to Burma to harass exiled Burmese.
A source at the Democratic Voice of Burma said the DVB’s office in Chiang Mai was still operating but was taking a low profile.
Previously, some Thai officials occasionally acted in cooperation with the Burmese regime, who complain that Thailand allows opposition groups to operate and demand they take action against Burmese pro-democracy activists in the country.
In November 1995, Khit Pyaing, a Burmese-language news operation also known as New Era was raided by Thai police, and a veteran journalist, Ye Khaung, and his wife were arrested.
In October 2006, a Burmese stringer working for the Oslo-based DVB was forced to leave his home in Ranong province, southern Thailand, after voicing concern about his safety.
Previously, prominent human rights organizations, politicians and US congressmen have reacted promptly when Thai officials raided Burmese offices operating in Thailand.
During the administration of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, several offices in Sangklaburi were forced to shut down by Thai officials. The crackdown prompted international outcry and condemnation.
The Irrawaddy has learned that US and western diplomats have also been closely monitoring the situation and the safety of Burmese groups living in Thailand.
Human Rights Watch asks for intervention of international community
***The 14 ONLINE PETITIONS FOR BURMA HERE.***
__________________________
New York-based Human Rights Watch has just released the following plea (linked through The Hindu HERE) for international intervention in Burma. It reports on army abuses and the new wave of IDPs/refugees. (Again, their estimates of 500,000 IDPs are conservative. According to Partners Relief and Development, an organization that assists in IDP relief missions, put this number at 2 million. I have heard of estimates as high as 4 million. More of HRW's reporting on human rights abuses in Burma HERE.
_____________
New York (PTI): Asking not to ignore human rights violations by the army in rural Myanmar, a US-based rights group has sought the intervention of international community into the dire humanitarian situation there.
"The international community must not ignore the dire humanitarian situation fuelled by army abuses in rural Myanmar," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said in a just released report.
"Besides, attacking monks and democracy protestors in Rangoon, Burma's military junta is forcing ethnic minority villagers to flee their homes in the country's border areas," Adams said.
Hundreds flee to India
Hundreds of Chin people from western Myanmar have fled to India in the aftermath of the government's recent crackdown on protesters and threats and pressure by local officials in Chin State to attend mass rallies in support of military rule.
The army, the report said, continues to destroy civilian villages in its counter-insurgency operations.
The report, which follows the release of a survey carried out by the non-governmental organizations, including Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) and its local partner, said "as of mid-2007 there were 503,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in surveyed sites in eastern Myanmar."
About 99,000 IDPs were believed to be in hiding from the army patrols, 109,000 were in military- controlled relocation sites, and 295,000 people were in areas controlled by armed groups with some ceasefire arrangements with the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the HRW report said.
The TBBC surveyed IDPs in Tennasserim Division, Mon State, Karen State and Pegu Division, Karenni State and southeastern Shan State.
Rest of the article HERE.
The BBC's article on the ethnic Chin's flee to India HERE. Because they refuse to participate in pro-government rallies, they are heavily fined. To avoid these fines and getting arrested, they escape to India.
__________________________
New York-based Human Rights Watch has just released the following plea (linked through The Hindu HERE) for international intervention in Burma. It reports on army abuses and the new wave of IDPs/refugees. (Again, their estimates of 500,000 IDPs are conservative. According to Partners Relief and Development, an organization that assists in IDP relief missions, put this number at 2 million. I have heard of estimates as high as 4 million. More of HRW's reporting on human rights abuses in Burma HERE.
_____________
New York (PTI): Asking not to ignore human rights violations by the army in rural Myanmar, a US-based rights group has sought the intervention of international community into the dire humanitarian situation there.
"The international community must not ignore the dire humanitarian situation fuelled by army abuses in rural Myanmar," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said in a just released report.
"Besides, attacking monks and democracy protestors in Rangoon, Burma's military junta is forcing ethnic minority villagers to flee their homes in the country's border areas," Adams said.
Hundreds flee to India
Hundreds of Chin people from western Myanmar have fled to India in the aftermath of the government's recent crackdown on protesters and threats and pressure by local officials in Chin State to attend mass rallies in support of military rule.
The army, the report said, continues to destroy civilian villages in its counter-insurgency operations.
The report, which follows the release of a survey carried out by the non-governmental organizations, including Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) and its local partner, said "as of mid-2007 there were 503,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in surveyed sites in eastern Myanmar."
About 99,000 IDPs were believed to be in hiding from the army patrols, 109,000 were in military- controlled relocation sites, and 295,000 people were in areas controlled by armed groups with some ceasefire arrangements with the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the HRW report said.
The TBBC surveyed IDPs in Tennasserim Division, Mon State, Karen State and Pegu Division, Karenni State and southeastern Shan State.
Rest of the article HERE.
The BBC's article on the ethnic Chin's flee to India HERE. Because they refuse to participate in pro-government rallies, they are heavily fined. To avoid these fines and getting arrested, they escape to India.
Monday, October 29, 2007
What's It like to live like a Refugee or IDP?
***The 14 ONLINE PETITIONS FOR BURMA HERE.***
__________________________
There are more than 1 million refugees from Burma living in Thailand, India, and Bangladesh, but at least 2 million internally displaced peoples (IDPs), mainly ethnic minorities, who are fleeing from the attacking Burma Army. IDPs are basically refugees in their own countries. As they remain on territory under sovereign national jurisdiction, they are not given refugee status and are not protected by international law. They do not have the same access to basic humanitarian aid that is available to recognized refugees, so their situation is all that much more dire. In the jungle, they not only have to avoid soldiers, but landmines, tropical diseases, hunger, and the elements as well.
The most important concern that IDPs have is basic survival. Here are the everyday worries of IDPs (and refugees):
* Will I be safe?
* What will I eat?
* How do I find water?
* Can I get medical care?
* Where will I live?
Medicins San Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) has an interactive refugee camp that gives further insight into the hardships and situations that refugees and IDPs face on a daily basis. It is not Burma-specific, but does touch on general challenges that is representative of the refugee/IDP experience. Scroll down to the bottom of this page, and towards the bottom, click on "interactive guide"
A backgrounder on the global refugee/IDP situation HERE.
You can help refugees and IDPs from Burma by DONATING:
- DONATE to Partners Relief and Development's 5 Alive Program. $50 can help keep a family of 5 IDPs alive for one month. Read more HERE.
- DONATE: The Mae Tao Clinic (MTC), founded and directed by Dr. Cynthia Maung, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, provides free health care for refugees, migrant workers, and other individuals who cross the border from Burma to Thailand. People of all ethnicities and religions are welcome at the Clinic. Its origins go back to the student pro-democracy movement in Burma in 1988 and the brutal repression by the Burmese regime of that movement. The fleeing students who needed medical attention were attended in a small house in Mae Sot.
You can help the clinic continue its work by either DONATINGor VOLUNTEERING.
__________________________
There are more than 1 million refugees from Burma living in Thailand, India, and Bangladesh, but at least 2 million internally displaced peoples (IDPs), mainly ethnic minorities, who are fleeing from the attacking Burma Army. IDPs are basically refugees in their own countries. As they remain on territory under sovereign national jurisdiction, they are not given refugee status and are not protected by international law. They do not have the same access to basic humanitarian aid that is available to recognized refugees, so their situation is all that much more dire. In the jungle, they not only have to avoid soldiers, but landmines, tropical diseases, hunger, and the elements as well.
The most important concern that IDPs have is basic survival. Here are the everyday worries of IDPs (and refugees):* Will I be safe?
* What will I eat?
* How do I find water?
* Can I get medical care?
* Where will I live?
Medicins San Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) has an interactive refugee camp that gives further insight into the hardships and situations that refugees and IDPs face on a daily basis. It is not Burma-specific, but does touch on general challenges that is representative of the refugee/IDP experience. Scroll down to the bottom of this page, and towards the bottom, click on "interactive guide"
A backgrounder on the global refugee/IDP situation HERE.
You can help refugees and IDPs from Burma by DONATING:
- DONATE to Partners Relief and Development's 5 Alive Program. $50 can help keep a family of 5 IDPs alive for one month. Read more HERE.
- DONATE: The Mae Tao Clinic (MTC), founded and directed by Dr. Cynthia Maung, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, provides free health care for refugees, migrant workers, and other individuals who cross the border from Burma to Thailand. People of all ethnicities and religions are welcome at the Clinic. Its origins go back to the student pro-democracy movement in Burma in 1988 and the brutal repression by the Burmese regime of that movement. The fleeing students who needed medical attention were attended in a small house in Mae Sot.
You can help the clinic continue its work by either DONATINGor VOLUNTEERING.
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