Burma

Villagers in Doo Tha Htoo District Karen State are demanding to be paid full compensation for their lands they allege were illegally taken by one of Burma’s largest companies. Residents of Shwe Yaung Pya village and surrounding villages in Thaton Township have made it clear that they want to get paid full compensation for 5,000 acres of land near Shwe…

Three people were wounded when a landmine exploded as they were sightseeing in Northern Burma on Tuesday 26 April. The three people were two German tourists and their local guide. The area where the explosion took place is close to where the Burma Army is fighting with an ethnic Shan armed group. AFP reported that the three injured people were…

Across Myanmar landmines pose a daily threat of death and disability, but five years after the transition to democracy began, an official clearance programme has yet to get underway. KYAUKKYI, Myanmar (Myanmar Now) – Two years ago, Kyar Yin was in the forest near his village collecting bamboo to sell when he stepped on a landmine. Alone and his left…

Burma Campaign UK, a human rights advocacy group has called for the release of U Gambira, a prominent political activist arrested in January, and “all the remaining political prisoners in Burma. U Gambira was arrested on January 19th this year while visiting Burma from his home in Thailand to obtain a new passport. U Gambira is in Obo prison while…

Human Rights Watch praised Burma’s newly elected government for quickly putting into action the release of the country’s political prisoners. In a statement to the media Human Rights Watch said that “the new Burmese government, led by the National League for Democracy (NLD), has taken a major step in releasing approximately 200 political prisoners and detainees, Human Rights Watch said…

The European Burma Network has called on the newly elected NLD government of Burma to “act swiftly” in addressing the humanitarian crisis confronting the country’s Muslim Rohingya population. “The past five years have seen a dramatic escalation of human rights abuses, repression, discrimination and violence against the Rohingya,” the EBN statement said. The Rohingya have faced mounting repression since violence…

A Burmese court on Friday released 69 political prisoners on Friday. The jailed student activists were freed following Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s promise on Thursday that a priority of her National League of Democracy government would be the release of activists and political prisoners. A large crowd outside the Tharrawaddy courthouse celebrated the release of the 69 students with…

SNLD lawmaker Sai Thiha Kyaw shares his thoughts on what the NLD government could achieve for Shan State and what issues he will address. NAYPYITAW (Myanmar Now) – Sai Thiha Kyaw is a two-term lawmaker in the Lower House representing Mongyai Township in northern Shan State. He became an MP in 2011 as a member of Shan Nationalities Democratic Party…

A report by Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian organisation, has found evidence of opium growing in areas of Chin State, Burma’s Westernmost State. Chin State is one of Burma’s poorest states and is not known as an area for large opium production, which is more closely associated with Eastern Shan and Kachin States, that form part of the notorious ‘Golden…

A four-year-long state of emergency has been lifted in Arakan State the day before Burma’s new government took power, leading to calls for restrictions on ethnic Rohingya to also be lifted. On 29 March 2016, the last day of President U Thein Sein’s administration, emergency rule was lifted from Arakan State which had been the site of inter-communal violence between…