Burma

Villagers in the Three Pagoda Pass area say government immigration officials issuing identity cards to residents from villages from around the Karen State border town in record time. Residents say township immigration officials are providing ID cards and household registrations to all civilians, both urban and rural, who apply for the documentation. Individuals and families are turning up in droves…

Burma Community Based Organizations from inside Burma and along the border urged the international community to continue cross border aid even if there are ‘peace talks’ between the government and ethnic armed groups. The CBO’s said it is not the time to cut aid to Burma’s most vulnerable people and where the most need is. As many as 36 CBOs…

ASEAN leaders and members disagree on the question of easing economic and politics restrictions in strife riven country. Easing economic restrictions in Burma could see a business bonanza for foreign corporations at the cost of local communities. The ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) welcomed signs of political reform in Burma but warned that lifting international sanctions could pose a…

Burma’s national journalism awards will be awarded for the first time in decades. The awards will be given to honor individual journalists by the country’s National Press Award Committee on 18th of March. The National Press Award Committee – a selection committee representing members of the Myanmar Writers and Journalists Association (MWJA), independent journalists and officials from the state Press…

After 60 years of military rule, Burma has become one of the least developed countries in the world. Military rule has denied civilians their basic human rights. Militarisation by the Burma Army (Tamadaw) in ethnic areas such as Karen, Shan and Kachin States continues to cause severe humanitarian problems in Burma. Forced displacement, forced relocation, forced labor, extortion, are all…

Access to education for Karen children is compromised by lack of schools, poverty, conflict, displacement, and low or no wages for teachers. Makeshift schools on the Thai Burma border often offer the only chance for young Karen to get an education. The sound of teenagers chanting in English and Karen echoes off the tin roof as teachers point to symbols…

Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Burma, released a statement last week that highlighted the challenges facing the impoverished country. He cautiously stated that the West should be encouraged by recent gestures of reform “there has been a continuing wave of reforms in Myanmar, the speed and breadth of which has surprised many international observers…

As Burma’s Parliament prepares for its next session, the London based pro-democracy advocates, ‘Burma Campaign UK’, called on the international community to scrutinize Burma’s upcoming annual budget as a sign of its commitment to implement reforms that benefit the people. Last year’s, President Thein Sein’s government allocated just 1.3 percent of the government budget to health, and just over 4…

Thousands of well-wishers turned up at the Children Development Center, a migrant school based in the border town of Mae Sot to celebrated Dr. Cynthia Maung’s 52nd birthday on the 6th December. Dr Cynthia founded the Mae Tao Clinic in 1989 to treat refugees and migrant workers from Burma. The Clinic is located in the Thai-Burma border town of Mae…

It was on the full moon night of – Thidingyut – a night where Buddhists light candles and pray at temples or in their homes. I was wandering around a temple it’s lights shining bright. I was in Mae Sot, a Thai border town with the River Moei separating it from Myawaddy, a border town on the Burma side. I…