Burma Census

Censuses are a starting point to order society. Benedict Anderson writes in his iconic essay Census, Map, Museum, that British colonial census-makers were known to ‘agglomerate, disaggregate, recombine and intermix identity categories’, and that ‘the politically powerful identity categories always lead the list’. The real innovation was ‘not in the construction of ethnic-racial classifications, but rather in their systematic quantification’.…

A human rights advocacy group calls for investigation into Britain’s decision to give millions in aid money to assist the Burma government’s census as international criticism mounts over the census process. Burma Campaign UK, a human rights advocacy group based in Britain, has called for an official inquiry into the “decision making process” that saw Britain’s government decide to give…

Burma’s census discriminates against ethnic Rohingya Muslims by refusing to recognise their existence, according to international rights groups, with even the UN agency tasked with carrying out the census expressing deep concerns. A man picks at a bruised piece of fruit, takes a bite and sets it down on a bench in a small shop on the Thai Burma border.…

The European Burma Network has added its voice to a large and growing coalition of political, humanitarian and community organisations calling on Burma’s government to postpone the country’s national census that is set to start on March 30. “We believe that carrying out the census at the current time will exacerbate ethnic and religious tensions in the country,” the European…

An international coalition of Karen community-based-organizations (CBOs) has sent a letter to the United Nations Population Fund expressing “deep concern” with Burma’s approaching national census – urging it be postponed. The letter argues that the census is being carried out prematurely citing issues with the categorization of ethnic nationalities, and that the census forms would only be in Burmese language.…

Fortify Rights, an international human rights organization based in South East Asia, raised concerns regarding Burma’s upcoming national census, citizenship law and national ID card scheme, arguing that in their current form they entrenched ethnic rifts and threatened peace. The Burma Government’s census, National ID card scheme and citizenship law are adding to ethnic discrimination, Matthew Smith, executive director and…

The Karen Women Organization (KWO) has called for the postponement of Burma’s nationwide census, scheduled to run this month, until the data classifications are deemed appropriate to ethnic groups and the political situation in the country is stable. Naw K’nyaw Paw, general secretary of KWO told Karen News that all its senior representatives attended the KWO annual meeting agreed and…

Karen National Union officials have proposed the government use local based teachers as data collectors when the planned census is conducted in KNU control areas. KNU officials in Dooplaya district told Karen News that they have proposed to the Karen State Census Committee to use local teachers in Dooplaya district for the census. The proposal was made during a meeting…

Experts warn that Burma’s coming census could sow mistrust among ethnic groups and be used by the government to cement its political position. Mark Farmaner, the director of Burma Campaign UK, said that Burma’s proposed census in March could undermine the political and civil rights of ethnic minority groups, and that troubling signs of misuse have already appeared in the…

The Geba ethnic group currently incorrectly classified as a Karenni ethnic sub-group by the government has called on the government and relevant officials to correct their identity in the coming 2014 census, as the group recognized itself as Karen. The call was made in a statement released by representatives of the Geba ethnic group after a conference held on February…