Burma

A report Burma released by ethnic students and youth groups yesterday documents the lack of inclusion and consultation with local communities by Burma’s government and the developers of the country’s mega projects. The report “Excluded: Burma’s Ethnic Nationalities on the Margins of Democracy and Development launched by the Youth Congress of Burma (SYCB) and the Nationalities Youth Forum (NY-Forum) claim…

Old and unexploded landmines remain an everyday threat to the lives of civilians and restrict their ability to travel safely. In a 2011 report by the humanitarian organisation Geneva Call, it was estimated that 5.2 million people live in areas contaminated by landmines in Burma. Landmines are concentrated in the country’s east – where many of Burma’s major ethnic people…

The Thai government is refusing to extend its deadline for migrant workers to complete the Nationality Verification (NV) process needed to work in Thailand legally from December 14th 2012. The Thai government has said it will deport those migrant workers who failed to register in time. The Thai Labour Minister, Padermchai Sasomsap, was quoted in The Bangkok Post as saying…

Migrant workers from Burma sit on benches in and outside an labor ‘agents’ office on a small dusty road in the back blocks of the Thai border town of Mae Sot. Tiredness is etched on the workers faces as they wait for their names to be called out. Conversations overlap – delays in getting a temporary passport and the various…

Hsa Keh village is a small fishing community – nothing more than a line of small bamboo houses with leaf roofing. Under a clear sky, three small wooden fishing boats glide onto the beach. A peaceful scene that now has a dark development cloud hanging over the villagers. Hsa Keh village is in Na Bu Le area, west of Dawei…

More than a 1,000 well-wishers turned up at the Child Development Center, a migrant school based in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, to celebrate Dr. Cynthia Maung’s 53rd birthday on the 6th December. Despite her Mae Tao Clinic facing a severe funding shortfall of US$320,000, Dr Cynthia Maung, continues to provide health care to refugees and migrant workers…

President Obama, honored in a speech, people working for community based organizations. President Obama praised the community workers when he spoke to member of the CBO’s in the Rangoon University compound on his historic first visit to Burma. Naw Susana Hla Hla Soe, director of the Karen Woman Alliance Group, told Karen News. “We have been working under many forms…

Parents of high school graduates in Three Pagoda Pass Town in Kyain Seikgyi Township, Karen State allege the headmistress of the school is demanding excessive fees for the university entrance exam application form. A parent of a high school graduate, said the going rate in Kyain Seikgyi Township is 2,500kyat a student, Daw Khin Hla Wai, the headmistress of Three…

Organizers of a peaceful protest in Rangoon last week said at the time that they were willing to test the law, now that authorities have arrested them. Today nine of the demonstrators that took part in last week’s protests held during the United Nation’s International Peace Day march in Rangoon have been charged by police and could face up to…

Positive political changes in Burma – including the release of 1,500 political prisoners – have unfolded rapidly since a flawed election saw ex-general Thein Sein come into power in 2011. But reform is “still at a tentative and early stage” according to a leading NGO of activist scholars, the Transnational Institute (TNI). The entry of the NLD into parliament, the…