US puts Singapore, Thailand on human trafficking watch list
by Shaun Tandon – Mon Jun 14, 4:03 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Monday put allies Singapore and Thailand as well as Vietnam on a human trafficking watch list, accusing them of failing to prevent women from being forced into prostitution.
The move opens the way for the United States to cut off some civilian assistance, although it usually functions as a symbolic means to pressure countries to take action.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has made women's and children's rights a signature issue, called human trafficking a "terrible crime" as she presented the State Department's annual report.
"All of us have a responsibility to bring this practice to an end," she said.
The report estimated that 12.3 million people were the victims of trafficking in 2009-2010, although it said there has been progress in the past decade.
The State Department added a number of Asian nations to its watch list -- Afghanistan, Brunei, Laos, Maldives, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Bangladesh, China, India, Micronesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka remained on the list, unchanged from a year earlier.
North Korea, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea remained at the bottom level of countries that do not even meet the minimum standards on human trafficking.
Explaining the downgrade for Singapore, the report said that some women from China, the Philippines and Thailand are tricked into coming to the city-state with promises of legitimate employment and coerced into the sex trade.
The report said that while Singapore launched "some significant new steps" against trafficking, there were no "quantifiable indicators" that the government was identifying more victims or prosecuting more culprits.
The State Department said that Thailand was a source, destination and transit point for trafficking, with ethnic minorities and citizens of neighboring countries at particular risk of sexual abuse or forced labor.
Senator Jim Webb, who heads the Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asia, had made an unusually open appeal not to place Thailand on the watch list.
Webb visited Bangkok this month and said US embassy staff disagreed with the intended downgrade as it could curb assistance for democracy and human rights programs in the wake of the kingdom's political violence.
The downgrade occurs "at a time when this type of aide is desperately needed to bolster political reforms in Thailand and to promote political stability," Webb said last week in a letter to Clinton.
The State Department recognized improvements in Pakistan, which was taken off the watch list, and Malaysia, which was on the list but removed from the lowest category of countries that do not meet minimum standards.
Pakistan "has dramatically increased the number of convictions and prosecutions for human trafficking, undertaking creative efforts to prevent bonded labor," Luis CdeBaca, the US envoy on human trafficking, told reporters.
Malaysian authorities "have acknowledged and begun to tackle their serious human trafficking problem, including intensified engagement with foreign governments," CdeBaca said.
From other regions, Cuba, Iran and Saudi Arabia remained in the rock-bottom category and the Dominican Republic was newly added.
Representative Christopher Smith, a Republican who authored the law that requires the human trafficking report, said that more countries should have been assigned the lowest rank.
"If we are willing to hold the Dominican Republic to account, as we should, it's outrageous that China, Vietnam and India get a free pass," Smith said.
Taiwan was upgraded and listed as fully compliant in efforts against human trafficking after starting new services for victims, CdeBaca said.
Australia, New Zealand and South Korea were also listed as fully compliant.
For the first time, the United States included itself in the report. It ranked itself in compliance.
by Shaun Tandon – Mon Jun 14, 4:03 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Monday put allies Singapore and Thailand as well as Vietnam on a human trafficking watch list, accusing them of failing to prevent women from being forced into prostitution.
The move opens the way for the United States to cut off some civilian assistance, although it usually functions as a symbolic means to pressure countries to take action.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has made women's and children's rights a signature issue, called human trafficking a "terrible crime" as she presented the State Department's annual report.
"All of us have a responsibility to bring this practice to an end," she said.
The report estimated that 12.3 million people were the victims of trafficking in 2009-2010, although it said there has been progress in the past decade.
The State Department added a number of Asian nations to its watch list -- Afghanistan, Brunei, Laos, Maldives, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Bangladesh, China, India, Micronesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka remained on the list, unchanged from a year earlier.
North Korea, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea remained at the bottom level of countries that do not even meet the minimum standards on human trafficking.
Explaining the downgrade for Singapore, the report said that some women from China, the Philippines and Thailand are tricked into coming to the city-state with promises of legitimate employment and coerced into the sex trade.
The report said that while Singapore launched "some significant new steps" against trafficking, there were no "quantifiable indicators" that the government was identifying more victims or prosecuting more culprits.
The State Department said that Thailand was a source, destination and transit point for trafficking, with ethnic minorities and citizens of neighboring countries at particular risk of sexual abuse or forced labor.
Senator Jim Webb, who heads the Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asia, had made an unusually open appeal not to place Thailand on the watch list.
Webb visited Bangkok this month and said US embassy staff disagreed with the intended downgrade as it could curb assistance for democracy and human rights programs in the wake of the kingdom's political violence.
The downgrade occurs "at a time when this type of aide is desperately needed to bolster political reforms in Thailand and to promote political stability," Webb said last week in a letter to Clinton.
The State Department recognized improvements in Pakistan, which was taken off the watch list, and Malaysia, which was on the list but removed from the lowest category of countries that do not meet minimum standards.
Pakistan "has dramatically increased the number of convictions and prosecutions for human trafficking, undertaking creative efforts to prevent bonded labor," Luis CdeBaca, the US envoy on human trafficking, told reporters.
Malaysian authorities "have acknowledged and begun to tackle their serious human trafficking problem, including intensified engagement with foreign governments," CdeBaca said.
From other regions, Cuba, Iran and Saudi Arabia remained in the rock-bottom category and the Dominican Republic was newly added.
Representative Christopher Smith, a Republican who authored the law that requires the human trafficking report, said that more countries should have been assigned the lowest rank.
"If we are willing to hold the Dominican Republic to account, as we should, it's outrageous that China, Vietnam and India get a free pass," Smith said.
Taiwan was upgraded and listed as fully compliant in efforts against human trafficking after starting new services for victims, CdeBaca said.
Australia, New Zealand and South Korea were also listed as fully compliant.
For the first time, the United States included itself in the report. It ranked itself in compliance.
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'53 dead' in Bangladesh floods, landslides
by Muazzem Shakil – Tue Jun 15, 8:51 am ET
COX'S BAZAAR, Bangladesh (AFP) – At least 53 people have been killed after days of heavy rain triggered flash floods and landslides in southeastern Bangladesh, police said Tuesday.
The country's flood warning centre said most of the southeast had experienced heavy rainfall during the past 24 hours, with 24.2 centimetres (9.5 inches) falling in many areas.
"We've found 48 bodies, including six soldiers, in the Cox's Bazaar region so far," said the district police chief Nibhas Chandra Majhi.
Five more bodies have been recovered in the neighbouring hill district of Bandarban, police said.
Most of the dead were washed away by flash floods or buried alive by landslides as Cox's Bazaar was pounded on Monday by some of the heaviest rains in decades, Majhi told AFP.
"It was a huge flash flood, it washed everything in its path away," he said. "At least 20,000 people have been trapped by the flash floods. We cannot reach them as the roads are flooded or blocked with mud."
The worst affected location, Teknaf -- which is on the border with Myanmar and home to hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya refugees -- was where at least 34 of the bodies were recovered.
Rescue workers say the death toll was high because many residents live on hillsides in makeshift houses.
Around 15,000 Rohingya refugees living in camps -- both legal and illegal -- around Teknaf have also been affected by the floods, Firoz Salauddin, the government's spokesman on Rohingya issues told AFP.
Described by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities on Earth, thousands of Rohingya from Myanmar's northern Rakhine state stream across the border into Bangladesh every year.
Bangladesh recognises 28,000 Rohingya as registered refugees, who live and receive aid at an official UN camp in Kutupalong. This figure is a fraction of the 200,000 to 300,000 unofficial refugees, according to government estimates.
"I've never seen anything like it -- water was coming from everywhere, hundreds of bamboo shacks have been washed away by the rains," Mojibur Rahman, a Rohingya refugee who lives in an official refugee camp, told AFP.
The refugee camps are often set up on newly cleared forest land and are vulnerable to landslides in heavy rain, local official say.
Conditions are dire in the unofficial camps where people have been without food for two days since the heavy rain began, said Manzural Islam, an unregistered Rohingya refugee.
"Flash floods are the worst thing that could have happened to us," said Islam, who fled Myanmar last year.
"People are living under the sky and we haven't had food for two days as we can't cook in the rain with no shelter," he told AFP by telephone.
Down the coast in Cox's Bazaar, an army barracks at the foot of a hill was destroyed by a landslide, with all of the six soldiers on duty and at least 20 army vehicles buried in the mud.
Weather officials have forecast further rains due to a major depression in the Bay of Bengal.
Landslides triggered by heavy rains are common in Bangladesh's southeastern hill districts where thousands of poor people live on deforested hill slopes.
by Muazzem Shakil – Tue Jun 15, 8:51 am ET
COX'S BAZAAR, Bangladesh (AFP) – At least 53 people have been killed after days of heavy rain triggered flash floods and landslides in southeastern Bangladesh, police said Tuesday.
The country's flood warning centre said most of the southeast had experienced heavy rainfall during the past 24 hours, with 24.2 centimetres (9.5 inches) falling in many areas.
"We've found 48 bodies, including six soldiers, in the Cox's Bazaar region so far," said the district police chief Nibhas Chandra Majhi.
Five more bodies have been recovered in the neighbouring hill district of Bandarban, police said.
Most of the dead were washed away by flash floods or buried alive by landslides as Cox's Bazaar was pounded on Monday by some of the heaviest rains in decades, Majhi told AFP.
"It was a huge flash flood, it washed everything in its path away," he said. "At least 20,000 people have been trapped by the flash floods. We cannot reach them as the roads are flooded or blocked with mud."
The worst affected location, Teknaf -- which is on the border with Myanmar and home to hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya refugees -- was where at least 34 of the bodies were recovered.
Rescue workers say the death toll was high because many residents live on hillsides in makeshift houses.
Around 15,000 Rohingya refugees living in camps -- both legal and illegal -- around Teknaf have also been affected by the floods, Firoz Salauddin, the government's spokesman on Rohingya issues told AFP.
Described by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities on Earth, thousands of Rohingya from Myanmar's northern Rakhine state stream across the border into Bangladesh every year.
Bangladesh recognises 28,000 Rohingya as registered refugees, who live and receive aid at an official UN camp in Kutupalong. This figure is a fraction of the 200,000 to 300,000 unofficial refugees, according to government estimates.
"I've never seen anything like it -- water was coming from everywhere, hundreds of bamboo shacks have been washed away by the rains," Mojibur Rahman, a Rohingya refugee who lives in an official refugee camp, told AFP.
The refugee camps are often set up on newly cleared forest land and are vulnerable to landslides in heavy rain, local official say.
Conditions are dire in the unofficial camps where people have been without food for two days since the heavy rain began, said Manzural Islam, an unregistered Rohingya refugee.
"Flash floods are the worst thing that could have happened to us," said Islam, who fled Myanmar last year.
"People are living under the sky and we haven't had food for two days as we can't cook in the rain with no shelter," he told AFP by telephone.
Down the coast in Cox's Bazaar, an army barracks at the foot of a hill was destroyed by a landslide, with all of the six soldiers on duty and at least 20 army vehicles buried in the mud.
Weather officials have forecast further rains due to a major depression in the Bay of Bengal.
Landslides triggered by heavy rains are common in Bangladesh's southeastern hill districts where thousands of poor people live on deforested hill slopes.
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U.S. rates itself on human trafficking
Tue Jun 15, 12:28 am ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – More nations are fighting human trafficking, the United States said on Monday in a report that for the first time rated its own performance -- described as among the most vigilant but with room to improve.
"The United States is a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor, debt bondage, and forced prostitution," the U.S. State Department said in its annual Trafficking in Persons report.
U.S. trafficking most often occurs for labor, rather than for the sex trade, and particularly afflicts domestic workers as well as those in agriculture, manufacturing, janitorial services, construction, health and elder care, it said.
While placing the United States in the top "Tier 1" group of states that meet basic standards on trafficking, the report said it could improve by collecting better data on cases and by forming task forces like those that combat narcotics.
It also recommended better training of U.S. federal agents and prosecutors in victim protection as well as in identifying, investigating and prosecuting human trafficking cases.
"This report sends a clear message to all of our countrymen and women: human trafficking is not someone else's problem," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said as she unveiled the report. "Involuntary servitude is not something we can ignore or hope doesn't exist in our own community."
The State Department found 13 nations do not meet minimum standards on fighting trafficking and are not making significant efforts to do so, a drop from 17 nations in 2009.
The countries in this lowest "Tier 3" category were Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Iran, Kuwait, Mauritania, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
Six countries -- Chad, Fiji, Malaysia, Niger, Swaziland and Syria -- climbed out of the bottom "Tier 3" rank.
But Switzerland fell from "Tier 1" to "Tier 2" because the State Department learned of laws -- long on the books -- allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to legally engage in prostitution.
Tue Jun 15, 12:28 am ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – More nations are fighting human trafficking, the United States said on Monday in a report that for the first time rated its own performance -- described as among the most vigilant but with room to improve.
"The United States is a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor, debt bondage, and forced prostitution," the U.S. State Department said in its annual Trafficking in Persons report.
U.S. trafficking most often occurs for labor, rather than for the sex trade, and particularly afflicts domestic workers as well as those in agriculture, manufacturing, janitorial services, construction, health and elder care, it said.
While placing the United States in the top "Tier 1" group of states that meet basic standards on trafficking, the report said it could improve by collecting better data on cases and by forming task forces like those that combat narcotics.
It also recommended better training of U.S. federal agents and prosecutors in victim protection as well as in identifying, investigating and prosecuting human trafficking cases.
"This report sends a clear message to all of our countrymen and women: human trafficking is not someone else's problem," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said as she unveiled the report. "Involuntary servitude is not something we can ignore or hope doesn't exist in our own community."
The State Department found 13 nations do not meet minimum standards on fighting trafficking and are not making significant efforts to do so, a drop from 17 nations in 2009.
The countries in this lowest "Tier 3" category were Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Iran, Kuwait, Mauritania, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
Six countries -- Chad, Fiji, Malaysia, Niger, Swaziland and Syria -- climbed out of the bottom "Tier 3" rank.
But Switzerland fell from "Tier 1" to "Tier 2" because the State Department learned of laws -- long on the books -- allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to legally engage in prostitution.
*****************************************************
Korean Students go to Myanmar for its Movies and Cultural Exchange
[BUSINESS WIRE] Tues, June 15, 2010 10:45 a.m.
(Calif. ) The Korean wave made its steps into Myanmar in 2001 with the hit Korean drama, ‘Autumn in My Heart’. Since then, from 2005 Gwangju International Film Festival’s night of Myanmar film to 2009 Myanmar-Korean Film Festival, the exchange of film between the two nations is getting more and more heated up. As Myanmar’s interest in Korea is growing through Korean dramas, so is Korea’s interest for this nation of beautiful landscape and warmth of people.
On this June, ‘ASEAN Cultural Exchange Project’ organized by Seoul Youth Cultural Exchange Center or MIZY Center at Central Seoul, targets to raise awareness of different cultures of South-East Asian nations through cultural exchange programs. This year, MIZY Center selected Myanmar as the first nation for this project and intends to develop greater knowledge and interest of each other. Korea and Myanmar shares many similar parts of history, such as the Buddhist civilization and colonial experience.
During this project, which will last from June 21st to June 28th, MIZY hopes for the Korean participants who hold much interest in videos and cultural exchanges to understand and gain knowledge about Myanmar. Not only will they culturally exchange with the Myanmar students , but also partake in various activities such as visiting a historic site of the country ‘Bagan’. Within the short limited time, to efficiently learn about Myanmar and vice versa, the students are going to take the advantage of using photographs and video clips. To suit such generation we are living in, the students are bringing photographs and video clips to inform Myanmar students about Korea. Through this project, Korean participants are able to closely experience Myanmar’s culture and the local people are able to communicate with Koreans, aside from through drama and movie productions.
The group of Korean visitors is consisted of Choi Hyung-Kun, Director of MIZY, 2 of MIZY’s employees, 9 college students and Park Bo-Young, a film critic who has many experiences in Myanmar. Prior to leaving to Myanmar, the participants have underwent period of training and obtained knowledge about Myanmar’s films through lectures of a former Myanmar embassy Park Ki-Jong, film critic Park Bo-Young, film director Kim Eun-Joo, cinematographer Seo Ki-Won and movie actor Um Choon-Bae.
MIZY Center is a Youth Cultural Exchange center that was established by the City of Seoul and operating under Korean National Commission for UNESCO. It runs variety of cultural exchange programs to raise young adults’ cultural sensitivity and feeling.
[BUSINESS WIRE] Tues, June 15, 2010 10:45 a.m.
(Calif. ) The Korean wave made its steps into Myanmar in 2001 with the hit Korean drama, ‘Autumn in My Heart’. Since then, from 2005 Gwangju International Film Festival’s night of Myanmar film to 2009 Myanmar-Korean Film Festival, the exchange of film between the two nations is getting more and more heated up. As Myanmar’s interest in Korea is growing through Korean dramas, so is Korea’s interest for this nation of beautiful landscape and warmth of people.
On this June, ‘ASEAN Cultural Exchange Project’ organized by Seoul Youth Cultural Exchange Center or MIZY Center at Central Seoul, targets to raise awareness of different cultures of South-East Asian nations through cultural exchange programs. This year, MIZY Center selected Myanmar as the first nation for this project and intends to develop greater knowledge and interest of each other. Korea and Myanmar shares many similar parts of history, such as the Buddhist civilization and colonial experience.
During this project, which will last from June 21st to June 28th, MIZY hopes for the Korean participants who hold much interest in videos and cultural exchanges to understand and gain knowledge about Myanmar. Not only will they culturally exchange with the Myanmar students , but also partake in various activities such as visiting a historic site of the country ‘Bagan’. Within the short limited time, to efficiently learn about Myanmar and vice versa, the students are going to take the advantage of using photographs and video clips. To suit such generation we are living in, the students are bringing photographs and video clips to inform Myanmar students about Korea. Through this project, Korean participants are able to closely experience Myanmar’s culture and the local people are able to communicate with Koreans, aside from through drama and movie productions.
The group of Korean visitors is consisted of Choi Hyung-Kun, Director of MIZY, 2 of MIZY’s employees, 9 college students and Park Bo-Young, a film critic who has many experiences in Myanmar. Prior to leaving to Myanmar, the participants have underwent period of training and obtained knowledge about Myanmar’s films through lectures of a former Myanmar embassy Park Ki-Jong, film critic Park Bo-Young, film director Kim Eun-Joo, cinematographer Seo Ki-Won and movie actor Um Choon-Bae.
MIZY Center is a Youth Cultural Exchange center that was established by the City of Seoul and operating under Korean National Commission for UNESCO. It runs variety of cultural exchange programs to raise young adults’ cultural sensitivity and feeling.
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HydroWorld - China Guodian plans hydropower, coal plants in Myanmar
BEIJING, China 6/15/10 (PennWell) -- China Guodian Corp. has signed an initial agreement to build hydro and coal-fired power plants in Myanmar, the company said in a statement.
This agreement marks an important step in China Guodian's overseas expansion strategy, the company said.
China Guodian is engaged in development, investment, construction, operation and management of power plants and power generation for electricity supply. The company is one of the largest power producers in China.
BEIJING, China 6/15/10 (PennWell) -- China Guodian Corp. has signed an initial agreement to build hydro and coal-fired power plants in Myanmar, the company said in a statement.
This agreement marks an important step in China Guodian's overseas expansion strategy, the company said.
China Guodian is engaged in development, investment, construction, operation and management of power plants and power generation for electricity supply. The company is one of the largest power producers in China.
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Channel NewsAsia - S'porean detained in Taiwan for alleged fraud
By Christina Lo | Posted: 15 June 2010 1606 hrs
TAIWAN: A 53-year-old Singaporean has been detained in Taiwan for an alleged fraud case.
Chen Si-yuan was detained when he tried to leave the Taoyuan International Airport on Monday.
Prosecutors told Channel NewsAsia that Chen was accused of cheating two Taiwanese from 2006 to 2009.
Chen reportedly had a previous conviction in Singapore for nine cases of criminal breach of trust.
After serving a two-year jail term, he was released in 2004.
He then moved to Thailand and Myanmar where he continued to cheat.
Chen got to know the Taiwanese victims through his brother.
Chen persuaded the Taiwanese to invest about 100 million Taiwan dollars (nearly S$5m) in a mining scam in Thailand and Myanmar.
He is currently detained in Taipei's Shilin prosecutors office.
By Christina Lo | Posted: 15 June 2010 1606 hrs
TAIWAN: A 53-year-old Singaporean has been detained in Taiwan for an alleged fraud case.
Chen Si-yuan was detained when he tried to leave the Taoyuan International Airport on Monday.
Prosecutors told Channel NewsAsia that Chen was accused of cheating two Taiwanese from 2006 to 2009.
Chen reportedly had a previous conviction in Singapore for nine cases of criminal breach of trust.
After serving a two-year jail term, he was released in 2004.
He then moved to Thailand and Myanmar where he continued to cheat.
Chen got to know the Taiwanese victims through his brother.
Chen persuaded the Taiwanese to invest about 100 million Taiwan dollars (nearly S$5m) in a mining scam in Thailand and Myanmar.
He is currently detained in Taipei's Shilin prosecutors office.
*****************************************************
Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 07:30
Derby Telegraph - Letters: Forgotten victims of Burma civil war
AS Refugee Week is marked this week by local schools and communities, we would ask people to remember some of the "forgotten" refugee children.
More than one million Burmese, including more than 300,000 children, are in the most desperate need. They live in camps, shanty towns or school boarding houses on Thailand's western border. Many children are orphans whose parents may have been shot or killed by land mines.
Hsa Thoo Lei is a school for Burmese children supported by the UK-based Thai Children's Trust. At Hsa Thoo Lei the children are safe from violence, but as illegal immigrants cannot move around freely. It is too dangerous for them to return to their homes where they face conscription into the army, slavery or prostitution. The school has now swollen to 700 and it cannot afford to feed all the children.
Burma's dispossessed refugee children are the victims of the world's longest running civil war, yet we hear too little about their plight.
Each child's story is one small but precious life, needing a little help to make a proper start.
Crispian Collins,
Chairman,
Thai Children's Trust UK,
www.thaichildrenstrust. org.uk
Derby Telegraph - Letters: Forgotten victims of Burma civil war
AS Refugee Week is marked this week by local schools and communities, we would ask people to remember some of the "forgotten" refugee children.
More than one million Burmese, including more than 300,000 children, are in the most desperate need. They live in camps, shanty towns or school boarding houses on Thailand's western border. Many children are orphans whose parents may have been shot or killed by land mines.
Hsa Thoo Lei is a school for Burmese children supported by the UK-based Thai Children's Trust. At Hsa Thoo Lei the children are safe from violence, but as illegal immigrants cannot move around freely. It is too dangerous for them to return to their homes where they face conscription into the army, slavery or prostitution. The school has now swollen to 700 and it cannot afford to feed all the children.
Burma's dispossessed refugee children are the victims of the world's longest running civil war, yet we hear too little about their plight.
Each child's story is one small but precious life, needing a little help to make a proper start.
Crispian Collins,
Chairman,
Thai Children's Trust UK,
www.thaichildrenstrust. org.uk
*****************************************************
ReliefWeb- The Economy of Burma/Myanmar on the Eve of the 2010 Elections
Source: United States Institute of Peace (USIP)
Date: 01 Jun 2010
Special Report by Lex Rieffel
Summary
The government of Burma is undergoing a critical transition: Before the end of 2010, the military regime that has ruled the country since a palace coup in 1998 will hold an election based on a constitution drafted in a nondemocratic process and approved by a referendum in 2008. The referendum fell far short of global standards of credibility and the election is likely to yield a government that neither the antimilitary movement nor the international community views as legitimate. However, the constitution and election also may offer opportunities for further international involvement that began in the wake of Cyclone Nargis in 2008.
Burma's lagging economic performance--socioeconomic indicators placed it among the world's most impoverished in 2000--is due to a simmering internal conflict based on ethnic and religious differences. Successive military regimes after the failure of Burma's parliamentary government in 1962 have managed to further alienate the population and monopolize the benefits of Burma's abundant natural resources. Growth-disabling economic policies and brutal suppression of dissent since 1988 have caused an exodus of political and economic refugees estimated to be in excess of 3 million.
However, Burma occupies a strategic space in the Southeast Asian region. It is a major supplier of natural gas to Thailand and could be a major agricultural exporter, as it was before World War II. Also, Burma is arguably the greatest obstacle to the 2015 integration objectives of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and its internal conlict contributes to tension between China and India.
There is a glimmer of hope that the next government will consider economic policies conducive to sustainable economic growth, thereby improving the environment for political reconciliation. If so, the challenge for the international community will be to find ways to support economic policy changes in this direction that do not trigger a backlash from the country's military rulers. Though difficult, it may be possible to accomplish this through a patient economic strategy that involves more nuanced use of sanctions and effective collaboration with other actors in the region, particularly ASEAN.
Source: United States Institute of Peace (USIP)
Date: 01 Jun 2010
Special Report by Lex Rieffel
Summary
The government of Burma is undergoing a critical transition: Before the end of 2010, the military regime that has ruled the country since a palace coup in 1998 will hold an election based on a constitution drafted in a nondemocratic process and approved by a referendum in 2008. The referendum fell far short of global standards of credibility and the election is likely to yield a government that neither the antimilitary movement nor the international community views as legitimate. However, the constitution and election also may offer opportunities for further international involvement that began in the wake of Cyclone Nargis in 2008.
Burma's lagging economic performance--socioeconomic indicators placed it among the world's most impoverished in 2000--is due to a simmering internal conflict based on ethnic and religious differences. Successive military regimes after the failure of Burma's parliamentary government in 1962 have managed to further alienate the population and monopolize the benefits of Burma's abundant natural resources. Growth-disabling economic policies and brutal suppression of dissent since 1988 have caused an exodus of political and economic refugees estimated to be in excess of 3 million.
However, Burma occupies a strategic space in the Southeast Asian region. It is a major supplier of natural gas to Thailand and could be a major agricultural exporter, as it was before World War II. Also, Burma is arguably the greatest obstacle to the 2015 integration objectives of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and its internal conlict contributes to tension between China and India.
There is a glimmer of hope that the next government will consider economic policies conducive to sustainable economic growth, thereby improving the environment for political reconciliation. If so, the challenge for the international community will be to find ways to support economic policy changes in this direction that do not trigger a backlash from the country's military rulers. Though difficult, it may be possible to accomplish this through a patient economic strategy that involves more nuanced use of sanctions and effective collaboration with other actors in the region, particularly ASEAN.
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ReliefWeb - Malaysia: Refugees arrested, abused and denied right to work
Source: Amnesty International (AI)
Date: 14 Jun 2010
The Malaysian government should give refugees in the country the right to work, Amnesty International said today as it revealed a litany of abuses suffered by refugees in Malaysia, the vast majority of whom are from Myanmar.
Released ahead of World Refugee Day on 20 June, the report 'Abused and Abandoned: Refugees Denied Rights in Malaysia' documents the plight of refugees and asylum-seekers who have reached Malaysia, where they are refused legal recognition, protection, or the right to work.
"Refugees should be able to live with dignity while they are in Malaysia. The government should move immediately to issue refugees official ID cards and grant them the right to work," said Chris Nash, Head of Refugee and Migrant Rights at Amnesty International.
Refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia are subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention in appalling conditions, caning, extortion, human trafficking and deportation back to the persecution that they fled.
In February, Malaysian Home Secretary Hishamuddin Hussein proposed the introduction of government ID cards for UN-recognised refugees, and stated that refugees should be able to take on 'odd jobs' but not have the full right to work. However, no concrete steps have been taken to introduce the ID cards since then.
Government ID cards would give refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia some immediate protection from arbitrary detention, harassment and extortion by police and the People's Volunteer Corps (RELA), who routinely refuse to recognize cards issued by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
The Malaysian volunteer police force RELA continues to operate in a climate of impunity, despite recent government assurances that the organisation would cease to be involved in immigration enforcement.
The US Department of State 2010 'Trafficking in Persons' report confirmed this week that RELA arbitrarily detains refugees and asylum-seekers, and is involved in trafficking.
The US Department of State report also confirmed that "refugees were particularly vulnerable to trafficking" and that despite government efforts, there was limited progress in convicting traffickers.
Amnesty International acknowledges that in the last year Malaysian officials have stopped handing refugees and asylum seekers to human traffickers operating on the Thai-Malaysian border.
"There is a long way to go for Malaysia on refugee rights, but government-issued ID cards are a start. This is the right time for Malaysia to take this very simple, but concrete and positive step that will make a huge difference to the lives of tens of thousands of refugees and asylum-seekers in the country," said Chris Nash.
Amnesty International is urging the government to continue to improve refugee policies, including by building on its cooperation with the UNHCR instructing law enforcement agencies to stop detaining UNHCR card-holders.
It also urges other countries to increase their resettlement of refugees currently in Malaysia.
Resettlement provides a small number of refugees with the opportunity to rebuild their lives in countries such as Australia, Canada, the United States and in Europe. However, there has been a notable lack of resettlement of the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority from Myanmar.
Background
Malaysia has not ratified the Refugee Convention, and refugees and asylum seekers are treated as irregular or undocumented workers under Malaysian law. UNHCR is the only authority in the country that recognises refugees and offers them any assistance.
There are 84,200 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia, although the numbers of unregistered people in similar circumstances are estimated to be over twice that.
Over 90% of registered refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia are from Myanmar.
Source: Amnesty International (AI)
Date: 14 Jun 2010
The Malaysian government should give refugees in the country the right to work, Amnesty International said today as it revealed a litany of abuses suffered by refugees in Malaysia, the vast majority of whom are from Myanmar.
Released ahead of World Refugee Day on 20 June, the report 'Abused and Abandoned: Refugees Denied Rights in Malaysia' documents the plight of refugees and asylum-seekers who have reached Malaysia, where they are refused legal recognition, protection, or the right to work.
"Refugees should be able to live with dignity while they are in Malaysia. The government should move immediately to issue refugees official ID cards and grant them the right to work," said Chris Nash, Head of Refugee and Migrant Rights at Amnesty International.
Refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia are subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention in appalling conditions, caning, extortion, human trafficking and deportation back to the persecution that they fled.
In February, Malaysian Home Secretary Hishamuddin Hussein proposed the introduction of government ID cards for UN-recognised refugees, and stated that refugees should be able to take on 'odd jobs' but not have the full right to work. However, no concrete steps have been taken to introduce the ID cards since then.
Government ID cards would give refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia some immediate protection from arbitrary detention, harassment and extortion by police and the People's Volunteer Corps (RELA), who routinely refuse to recognize cards issued by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
The Malaysian volunteer police force RELA continues to operate in a climate of impunity, despite recent government assurances that the organisation would cease to be involved in immigration enforcement.
The US Department of State 2010 'Trafficking in Persons' report confirmed this week that RELA arbitrarily detains refugees and asylum-seekers, and is involved in trafficking.
The US Department of State report also confirmed that "refugees were particularly vulnerable to trafficking" and that despite government efforts, there was limited progress in convicting traffickers.
Amnesty International acknowledges that in the last year Malaysian officials have stopped handing refugees and asylum seekers to human traffickers operating on the Thai-Malaysian border.
"There is a long way to go for Malaysia on refugee rights, but government-issued ID cards are a start. This is the right time for Malaysia to take this very simple, but concrete and positive step that will make a huge difference to the lives of tens of thousands of refugees and asylum-seekers in the country," said Chris Nash.
Amnesty International is urging the government to continue to improve refugee policies, including by building on its cooperation with the UNHCR instructing law enforcement agencies to stop detaining UNHCR card-holders.
It also urges other countries to increase their resettlement of refugees currently in Malaysia.
Resettlement provides a small number of refugees with the opportunity to rebuild their lives in countries such as Australia, Canada, the United States and in Europe. However, there has been a notable lack of resettlement of the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority from Myanmar.
Background
Malaysia has not ratified the Refugee Convention, and refugees and asylum seekers are treated as irregular or undocumented workers under Malaysian law. UNHCR is the only authority in the country that recognises refugees and offers them any assistance.
There are 84,200 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia, although the numbers of unregistered people in similar circumstances are estimated to be over twice that.
Over 90% of registered refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia are from Myanmar.
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Morning Star (Britain) - Fanning the flames of Burmese democracy
Monday 14 June 2010
Five exiled dissidents staged a defiant protest at the Myanmar embassy in London on Monday to mark the 65th birthday of iconic leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ms Suu Kyi led the National League of Democracy to victory in the last elections in the country back in 1990 with just under 60 per cent of the vote. However, the ruling military junta ignored the result and she has spent 14 of the last 20 years under house arrest.
The five, joined by Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen, scaled the steps of the embassy, which are technically in the country's sovereign territory.
In Myanmar, the name given to Burma by the junta, political gatherings of five or more are illegal.
Amnesty International director Kate Allen said: "Such a small act of defiance is impossible to do in Burma without severe consequences.
"In Burma, the harsh reality is that anyone brave enough to speak up against the regime can be monitored, harassed, discriminated against, detained, imprisoned, tortured and even killed."
Monday 14 June 2010
Five exiled dissidents staged a defiant protest at the Myanmar embassy in London on Monday to mark the 65th birthday of iconic leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ms Suu Kyi led the National League of Democracy to victory in the last elections in the country back in 1990 with just under 60 per cent of the vote. However, the ruling military junta ignored the result and she has spent 14 of the last 20 years under house arrest.
The five, joined by Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen, scaled the steps of the embassy, which are technically in the country's sovereign territory.
In Myanmar, the name given to Burma by the junta, political gatherings of five or more are illegal.
Amnesty International director Kate Allen said: "Such a small act of defiance is impossible to do in Burma without severe consequences.
"In Burma, the harsh reality is that anyone brave enough to speak up against the regime can be monitored, harassed, discriminated against, detained, imprisoned, tortured and even killed."
*****************************************************
Bangkok Post - Matching initiatives boost trade
Published: 14/06/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
Trade and investment ties between businesspeople in Thailand and Burma have received a boost through a new programme aimed at matching initiatives from the two countries.
About 80 Thai delegates from four central Thai provinces - Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Suphan Buri - participated in business matching events held in Rangoon and Dawei (Tavoy) from May 13-18.
The events were aimed at strengthening cooperation between Thai and Burmese businesspeople.
The delegations from the four provinces were made up of members of provincial industrial councils and chambers of commerce and local officials.
Products from the central provinces were showcased to raise awareness of Thai goods in Burma.
Win Myint, president of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), said trade volume between the two countries has doubled from US$1.59 billion (51.6 billion baht) in the 2005-2006 period to $3.2 billion from 2008-2009.
U Win Myint said Thailand is Burma's second largest cross-border trade partner. The border trade was worth $327 million for the 2008-2009 period.
Thailand is also the largest investor in Burma's industrial sector, accounting for about 60% of the $7.42 billion total investment in the sector.
U Win Myint said the business matching programme was a significant step towards better business ties between the two countries.
He said a project to build a 130km highway from Kanchanaburi to the planned deep-sea port at Dawei will also facilitate trade and transport between the two countries.
Maung Maung Lay, secretary-general of the UMFCCI, said Burma's strength is its agro-industry sector, which has attracted many foreign investors.
Published: 14/06/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
Trade and investment ties between businesspeople in Thailand and Burma have received a boost through a new programme aimed at matching initiatives from the two countries.
About 80 Thai delegates from four central Thai provinces - Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Suphan Buri - participated in business matching events held in Rangoon and Dawei (Tavoy) from May 13-18.
The events were aimed at strengthening cooperation between Thai and Burmese businesspeople.
The delegations from the four provinces were made up of members of provincial industrial councils and chambers of commerce and local officials.
Products from the central provinces were showcased to raise awareness of Thai goods in Burma.
Win Myint, president of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), said trade volume between the two countries has doubled from US$1.59 billion (51.6 billion baht) in the 2005-2006 period to $3.2 billion from 2008-2009.
U Win Myint said Thailand is Burma's second largest cross-border trade partner. The border trade was worth $327 million for the 2008-2009 period.
Thailand is also the largest investor in Burma's industrial sector, accounting for about 60% of the $7.42 billion total investment in the sector.
U Win Myint said the business matching programme was a significant step towards better business ties between the two countries.
He said a project to build a 130km highway from Kanchanaburi to the planned deep-sea port at Dawei will also facilitate trade and transport between the two countries.
Maung Maung Lay, secretary-general of the UMFCCI, said Burma's strength is its agro-industry sector, which has attracted many foreign investors.
*****************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Chemicals and Drought Destroying Inle Lake
By LAWI WENG - Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Burmese filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi planned to shoot a documentary about the beauty of Inle Lake, but after seeing the environmental damage the once-pristine lake has incurred in recent years, he decided to use his film to educate the public about the degradation by chemical fertilizers and pesticides of one of his country's natural wonders.
Inle Lake, Burma's second largest stretch of inland water, is located in Taunggyi township, capital of Shan State. Encircled by mountains, green with trees and painted with flowers, the lake and its surroundings provide as beautiful a setting as you will find in Burma.
Inle Lake is most famous for its floating houses and gardens and its local fisherman, who stand in their wooden boats, wrap one leg around an oar, and row by swinging their leg wide and dragging the oar through the water.
But as Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi's documentary demonstrates, the livelihood of these fisherman is now in jeopardy, partly as a result of the farming practices used in the floating gardens and partly as a result of drought and deforestation in Shan State.
The 30-minute documentary, titled “Floating Tomatoes,” illustrates the impact on the lake of chemical fertilizers and pesticides used by farmers growing vegetables in the floating gardens.
The film, which includes interviews with Inle Lake tomato farmers who have experienced health problems from the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, took Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi one year to research and shoot and is the first environmental film about Inle Lake. It was shown in Rangoon on June 5 at a photo exhibition held by Burmese environmentalists, and will continue to show on state-run television station MRTV-4.
Over 100,000 people earn their livelihood by growing tomatoes in Inle Lake's floating gardens. To produce a higher yield of tomatoes, they use chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and most are unaware of the negative effect these chemicals have on their health and the negative environmental impact they have on the lake. As a result, the water from the lake can now only be used for cleaning and bathing—the people use pipe water for drinking and cooking.
“The people use the chemical fertilizers and pesticides more than what they need. They don't have any protection for their health when they use it. They spray a lot of pesticides on their tomato gardens and those pesticides drop into the water directly. Then, I see the people use the water again,” Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi told The Irrawaddy.
The chemicals have also greatly reduced the fish population in the lake. This creates a vicious circle, because when people can't fish for a living, they turn to tomato farming, resulting in even more chemicals being dumped into the lake.
And the tomatoes from Inle Lake are exported to Mandalay and Rangoon, so the use of chemicals and pesticides is “not only dangerous for the people who live in Inle Lake, but also dangerous for the customers who eat tomatoes in Burma,” Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi said.
“The documentary is good,” said U Ohn, a Rangoon environmentalist who delivered an introduction in the film, “but there is no answer how to help the people shown in the documentary. We can't force the people to stop growing tomatoes because they have no other business. Instead of using fertilizer, we need to give them education about how to grow organic.”
The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not the only causes of Inle Lake's environmental decline. Both drought and deforestation in Shan State—which increases the impact of drought by increasing the amount of silt in the lake—have also played a large role. Burmese environmentalists have found that the climate and biodiversity in the lake have changed to the point that the thousands of people who live in the floating houses and work the floating gardens may lose their way of life.
“People in Shan State don't know how to maintain the forest,” U Ohn said. “There is much logging in Shan State and it has become deforested. This impacts the people who live on Inle Lake. The water level is getting low and the lake is threatened to be extinct in the future.
I am worried that the people are going to lose their natural way of life if no one helps them.”
According to a 2007 report by the University of Tokyo's Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science, Inle Lake has decreased in size by more than one-third in the past 65 years, from 69 square km to just over 46 square km. And in the past 100 to 200 years, “the length of the lake has reportedly declined from roughly 58 km to 18 km and its maximum width has decreased from 13 km to 6.5 km.”
A 1968 report by Rangoon environmentalist Khin Thant said the average depth of the lake was then seven feet. Currently, as a result of this year's severe drought there is almost no water in the lake.
The expansion of the lake's floating gardens—which in addition to providing farming income are a popular tourist attraction—has also contributed greatly to the recent loss of water.
Nine species of fish found nowhere else in the world once swam in the then relatively unpolluted waters of Inle Lake. In her 1968 survey, Khin Thant identified just one of them, a variety of carp, among the 23 species of fish she listed.
A research paper submitted to Rangoon University in 2002 reported that even that rare species had become extinct, and local fishermen suspect several other species have died out as well.
Members of the Literature and Library Society in Taungkyi Township held an art and photo exhibition from June 8 to 13 about climate change on Inle Lake titled “Our Lovely World,” intended to raise levels of education and awareness about the lake's environment.
An elderly man attending the exhibition, said, “I remember when I was young, there were 16 marine species at that time. But all of them are gone today because there is not enough water. The water runs out each year before the summer comes.”
The climate this year has been as bad as any, with temperatures reaching 42 degrees in April, Burma experiencing rampant water shortages and the drought at Inle Lake worsening.
“There were a lot of cherry flowers along the ridge of the mountain before. But we can't see many cherry flowers now, as the weather is becoming more hot,” the old man said.
The Irrawaddy reporter Zarni Mann contributed to this article.
By LAWI WENG - Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Burmese filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi planned to shoot a documentary about the beauty of Inle Lake, but after seeing the environmental damage the once-pristine lake has incurred in recent years, he decided to use his film to educate the public about the degradation by chemical fertilizers and pesticides of one of his country's natural wonders.
Inle Lake, Burma's second largest stretch of inland water, is located in Taunggyi township, capital of Shan State. Encircled by mountains, green with trees and painted with flowers, the lake and its surroundings provide as beautiful a setting as you will find in Burma.
Inle Lake is most famous for its floating houses and gardens and its local fisherman, who stand in their wooden boats, wrap one leg around an oar, and row by swinging their leg wide and dragging the oar through the water.
But as Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi's documentary demonstrates, the livelihood of these fisherman is now in jeopardy, partly as a result of the farming practices used in the floating gardens and partly as a result of drought and deforestation in Shan State.
The 30-minute documentary, titled “Floating Tomatoes,” illustrates the impact on the lake of chemical fertilizers and pesticides used by farmers growing vegetables in the floating gardens.
The film, which includes interviews with Inle Lake tomato farmers who have experienced health problems from the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, took Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi one year to research and shoot and is the first environmental film about Inle Lake. It was shown in Rangoon on June 5 at a photo exhibition held by Burmese environmentalists, and will continue to show on state-run television station MRTV-4.
Over 100,000 people earn their livelihood by growing tomatoes in Inle Lake's floating gardens. To produce a higher yield of tomatoes, they use chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and most are unaware of the negative effect these chemicals have on their health and the negative environmental impact they have on the lake. As a result, the water from the lake can now only be used for cleaning and bathing—the people use pipe water for drinking and cooking.
“The people use the chemical fertilizers and pesticides more than what they need. They don't have any protection for their health when they use it. They spray a lot of pesticides on their tomato gardens and those pesticides drop into the water directly. Then, I see the people use the water again,” Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi told The Irrawaddy.
The chemicals have also greatly reduced the fish population in the lake. This creates a vicious circle, because when people can't fish for a living, they turn to tomato farming, resulting in even more chemicals being dumped into the lake.
And the tomatoes from Inle Lake are exported to Mandalay and Rangoon, so the use of chemicals and pesticides is “not only dangerous for the people who live in Inle Lake, but also dangerous for the customers who eat tomatoes in Burma,” Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi said.
“The documentary is good,” said U Ohn, a Rangoon environmentalist who delivered an introduction in the film, “but there is no answer how to help the people shown in the documentary. We can't force the people to stop growing tomatoes because they have no other business. Instead of using fertilizer, we need to give them education about how to grow organic.”
The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not the only causes of Inle Lake's environmental decline. Both drought and deforestation in Shan State—which increases the impact of drought by increasing the amount of silt in the lake—have also played a large role. Burmese environmentalists have found that the climate and biodiversity in the lake have changed to the point that the thousands of people who live in the floating houses and work the floating gardens may lose their way of life.
“People in Shan State don't know how to maintain the forest,” U Ohn said. “There is much logging in Shan State and it has become deforested. This impacts the people who live on Inle Lake. The water level is getting low and the lake is threatened to be extinct in the future.
I am worried that the people are going to lose their natural way of life if no one helps them.”
According to a 2007 report by the University of Tokyo's Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science, Inle Lake has decreased in size by more than one-third in the past 65 years, from 69 square km to just over 46 square km. And in the past 100 to 200 years, “the length of the lake has reportedly declined from roughly 58 km to 18 km and its maximum width has decreased from 13 km to 6.5 km.”
A 1968 report by Rangoon environmentalist Khin Thant said the average depth of the lake was then seven feet. Currently, as a result of this year's severe drought there is almost no water in the lake.
The expansion of the lake's floating gardens—which in addition to providing farming income are a popular tourist attraction—has also contributed greatly to the recent loss of water.
Nine species of fish found nowhere else in the world once swam in the then relatively unpolluted waters of Inle Lake. In her 1968 survey, Khin Thant identified just one of them, a variety of carp, among the 23 species of fish she listed.
A research paper submitted to Rangoon University in 2002 reported that even that rare species had become extinct, and local fishermen suspect several other species have died out as well.
Members of the Literature and Library Society in Taungkyi Township held an art and photo exhibition from June 8 to 13 about climate change on Inle Lake titled “Our Lovely World,” intended to raise levels of education and awareness about the lake's environment.
An elderly man attending the exhibition, said, “I remember when I was young, there were 16 marine species at that time. But all of them are gone today because there is not enough water. The water runs out each year before the summer comes.”
The climate this year has been as bad as any, with temperatures reaching 42 degrees in April, Burma experiencing rampant water shortages and the drought at Inle Lake worsening.
“There were a lot of cherry flowers along the ridge of the mountain before. But we can't see many cherry flowers now, as the weather is becoming more hot,” the old man said.
The Irrawaddy reporter Zarni Mann contributed to this article.
*****************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Sen. Webb, Regime 'Talking from Same Script'?
By BA KAUNG - Tuesday, June 15, 2010
It's now clear that the relationship between the Burmese regime and US Sen. Jim Webb is unique, and his position as a strong advocate for US engagement with the generals has not changed, in spite of recent allegations that the junta is trying to acquire nuclear weapons. Webb's relationship with the regime might even have been strengthened.
Many wondered if the relationship was damaged after the Democratic lawmaker said he would seek clarification on the report that Burma was acquiring a nuclear program—a report which compelled him to cancel his scheduled visit to Burma early this month, when he also called for the appointment of a US special envoy to Burma.
But, last week both Webb and the regime spoke out in rejecting the conclusions of the report, citing similar reasons as if they were talking from the same script.
On Thursday, Webb pointed out in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the Oslo-based Burmese exiled news service Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), which alleged that Burma had a nuclear program, is a US-funded media organization, insinuating that the US government should be held accountable for the nuclear report.
Three days later, on Friday, the Burmese Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the DVB as “a killer broadcasting station” that survives on US aid from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and that the report was issued by anti-Burma elements in collaboration with other news media for a political purpose.
The DVB deputy executive in Norway defended the station's report, saying that the organization functions independently, and, although 10 to 15 percent of the organization's funds comes from the US government, its main financial backers are European countries such as the Netherlands.
Some observers noted that while it is not uncommon for the regime to accuse Burmese exiled newsgroups in such a way, it is unusual for an American senator to make a similar point.
Also, regarding an earlier news report that Burma might have violated UN Security Resolution 1874 imposed on North Korea by receiving alleged shipments of military items from North Korea in 2009, Webb said that it was an “unsubstantiated” allegation raised by the US top diplomat for Asia, Kurt Campbell. By the same token, the regime defended itself by saying that it had only imported cement from North Korea during the alleged transaction.
While Webb said that the new nuclear allegations had “frozen any prospect of further engagement with Burma,” the regime's media noted on Friday that the “unfounded” nuclear allegations surfaced at a time of resumption of engagement between Burma and the United States.
Even though there may have been no direct discussions between Webb and Burmese government officials, informed sources said that there is regular contact between him and the regime aided by overseas Burmese who support the junta.
Based on his sources, Webb told the Asia Society last week that Burma's election, whose date is yet to be announced, would probably be held on Oct. 10, adding that the election should be viewed as a step forward for Burma.
When Webb made his first official visit to Burma in 2009 and met with the reclusive regime's chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe, opposition figures said he did not mention the more than 2,000 political prisoners languishing in prisons and human rights violations against ethnic minorities.
Since that visit, Webb has not enjoyed support among many Burmese democracy activists, who say that his primary concern is countering Chinese influence in Burma through US economic investment in the country.
Nevertheless, Webb is not mistaken in pointing out the growing Chinese influence in Burma, as seen by the recent visit by Chinese Primer Wen Jiabao, during which 15 cooperation agreements were signed covering areas such as natural gas imports, a trans-Burma gas pipeline, hydro-power dams and foreign aid.
And according to the latest reports, Chinese political influence might have been a factor in the regime's recent easing of pressure on ethnic cease-fire groups on the China-Burma border to join the regime's border guard force plan.
Given these realities, Webb's position for greater engagement with the regime to counter China's growing influence is not likely to change.
In doing so, Webb frustrates Burmese pro-democracy activists and delights the regime, which will soon probably reward him with another personal meeting with Snr-Gen. Than Shwe.
By BA KAUNG - Tuesday, June 15, 2010
It's now clear that the relationship between the Burmese regime and US Sen. Jim Webb is unique, and his position as a strong advocate for US engagement with the generals has not changed, in spite of recent allegations that the junta is trying to acquire nuclear weapons. Webb's relationship with the regime might even have been strengthened.
Many wondered if the relationship was damaged after the Democratic lawmaker said he would seek clarification on the report that Burma was acquiring a nuclear program—a report which compelled him to cancel his scheduled visit to Burma early this month, when he also called for the appointment of a US special envoy to Burma.
But, last week both Webb and the regime spoke out in rejecting the conclusions of the report, citing similar reasons as if they were talking from the same script.
On Thursday, Webb pointed out in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the Oslo-based Burmese exiled news service Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), which alleged that Burma had a nuclear program, is a US-funded media organization, insinuating that the US government should be held accountable for the nuclear report.
Three days later, on Friday, the Burmese Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the DVB as “a killer broadcasting station” that survives on US aid from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and that the report was issued by anti-Burma elements in collaboration with other news media for a political purpose.
The DVB deputy executive in Norway defended the station's report, saying that the organization functions independently, and, although 10 to 15 percent of the organization's funds comes from the US government, its main financial backers are European countries such as the Netherlands.
Some observers noted that while it is not uncommon for the regime to accuse Burmese exiled newsgroups in such a way, it is unusual for an American senator to make a similar point.
Also, regarding an earlier news report that Burma might have violated UN Security Resolution 1874 imposed on North Korea by receiving alleged shipments of military items from North Korea in 2009, Webb said that it was an “unsubstantiated” allegation raised by the US top diplomat for Asia, Kurt Campbell. By the same token, the regime defended itself by saying that it had only imported cement from North Korea during the alleged transaction.
While Webb said that the new nuclear allegations had “frozen any prospect of further engagement with Burma,” the regime's media noted on Friday that the “unfounded” nuclear allegations surfaced at a time of resumption of engagement between Burma and the United States.
Even though there may have been no direct discussions between Webb and Burmese government officials, informed sources said that there is regular contact between him and the regime aided by overseas Burmese who support the junta.
Based on his sources, Webb told the Asia Society last week that Burma's election, whose date is yet to be announced, would probably be held on Oct. 10, adding that the election should be viewed as a step forward for Burma.
When Webb made his first official visit to Burma in 2009 and met with the reclusive regime's chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe, opposition figures said he did not mention the more than 2,000 political prisoners languishing in prisons and human rights violations against ethnic minorities.
Since that visit, Webb has not enjoyed support among many Burmese democracy activists, who say that his primary concern is countering Chinese influence in Burma through US economic investment in the country.
Nevertheless, Webb is not mistaken in pointing out the growing Chinese influence in Burma, as seen by the recent visit by Chinese Primer Wen Jiabao, during which 15 cooperation agreements were signed covering areas such as natural gas imports, a trans-Burma gas pipeline, hydro-power dams and foreign aid.
And according to the latest reports, Chinese political influence might have been a factor in the regime's recent easing of pressure on ethnic cease-fire groups on the China-Burma border to join the regime's border guard force plan.
Given these realities, Webb's position for greater engagement with the regime to counter China's growing influence is not likely to change.
In doing so, Webb frustrates Burmese pro-democracy activists and delights the regime, which will soon probably reward him with another personal meeting with Snr-Gen. Than Shwe.
*****************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Burma Buys 50 Fighter Jets From China
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The Burmese air force continues to expand with the recent procurement of 50 K-8 jet trainer aircraft from China, according to sources within the air force in Meikhtila.
“Parts of the K-8 aircraft were transported by cargo ship from China and are being assembled at the Aircraft Production and Maintenance Base in Meikhtila,” said one of the sources.
The purchase of the 50 aircraft comes after Burma’s air force chief Lt-Gen Myat Hein traveled to China in November to negotiate an upgrade to the fleet of Chinese-made military aircraft already owned by Burma.
“There are two reasons to purchase K-8 trainers,” said the source. “Either for training exercises or for counter-insurgency.”
The K-8 jet trainer, sometimes called the K-8 Karakorum or the Hongdu JL-8, is a joint venture between China and Pakistan, and is fitted with air-to-air missiles and rockets.
In 1998-9, the Burmese air force bought 12 K-8 jet trainers from China, which are now stationed at Taungoo Air Base in Pegu Division.
In addition to purchasing Chinese-made fighters and trainer aircraft, Naypyidaw signed a contract in late 2009 to buy 20 MiG-29 jet fighters from Russia at a cost of nearly US $570 million.
“The parts of the MiG-29 jet fighters will arrive in July and September by cargo ship and by plane,” said an officer close to Col. Tun Aung, a key figure in the Burmese air force. He said that the 20 Russian aircraft will be assembled in Meikhtila.
Meanwhile, Burma's main air base for maintenance, the Aircraft Production and Maintenance Air Base (APMAB) in Panchangone in Mingaladon Township has been relocated to Nyaunggone, close to the regime's Flying Training Base in Shante in Meikhtila Township, according to a source from the air base.
“The APMAB got the order from Naypyidaw in January to relocate to the new location,” he said, but said he did not know why the relocation took place.
Military sources from Rangoon said that Burmese ruling military council upgraded the air force’s facilities and expanded airfields, as well as two air force bases in Bassein and Homemalin in 2006, to fulfill operational capabilities.
Burma has brought 280 aircraft from China, Russia, Yugoslavia and Poland, including trainers and fighters, since the military took power in 1988.
The Burmese air force was founded in 1947 before Burmese independence. Its main objective has since been counter campaigns against the Communist Party of Burma and several ethnic armies.
Burma has 10 air force headquarters: Bassein Air Base in Irrawaddy Division; Mingaladon Air Base in Rangoon Division; Myitkyina Air Base in Kachin State; Myike Air Base in Tenasserim Division; Namsang Air Base in Shan State; Taungoo Air Base in Pegu Division; Meikhtila (Shante) Flying Training Base; Meikthila Grounding Training Base in Mandalay Division; Magwe Air Base in Magwe Division; and Homemalin Air Base in Sagaing Division.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The Burmese air force continues to expand with the recent procurement of 50 K-8 jet trainer aircraft from China, according to sources within the air force in Meikhtila.
“Parts of the K-8 aircraft were transported by cargo ship from China and are being assembled at the Aircraft Production and Maintenance Base in Meikhtila,” said one of the sources.
The purchase of the 50 aircraft comes after Burma’s air force chief Lt-Gen Myat Hein traveled to China in November to negotiate an upgrade to the fleet of Chinese-made military aircraft already owned by Burma.
“There are two reasons to purchase K-8 trainers,” said the source. “Either for training exercises or for counter-insurgency.”
The K-8 jet trainer, sometimes called the K-8 Karakorum or the Hongdu JL-8, is a joint venture between China and Pakistan, and is fitted with air-to-air missiles and rockets.
In 1998-9, the Burmese air force bought 12 K-8 jet trainers from China, which are now stationed at Taungoo Air Base in Pegu Division.
In addition to purchasing Chinese-made fighters and trainer aircraft, Naypyidaw signed a contract in late 2009 to buy 20 MiG-29 jet fighters from Russia at a cost of nearly US $570 million.
“The parts of the MiG-29 jet fighters will arrive in July and September by cargo ship and by plane,” said an officer close to Col. Tun Aung, a key figure in the Burmese air force. He said that the 20 Russian aircraft will be assembled in Meikhtila.
Meanwhile, Burma's main air base for maintenance, the Aircraft Production and Maintenance Air Base (APMAB) in Panchangone in Mingaladon Township has been relocated to Nyaunggone, close to the regime's Flying Training Base in Shante in Meikhtila Township, according to a source from the air base.
“The APMAB got the order from Naypyidaw in January to relocate to the new location,” he said, but said he did not know why the relocation took place.
Military sources from Rangoon said that Burmese ruling military council upgraded the air force’s facilities and expanded airfields, as well as two air force bases in Bassein and Homemalin in 2006, to fulfill operational capabilities.
Burma has brought 280 aircraft from China, Russia, Yugoslavia and Poland, including trainers and fighters, since the military took power in 1988.
The Burmese air force was founded in 1947 before Burmese independence. Its main objective has since been counter campaigns against the Communist Party of Burma and several ethnic armies.
Burma has 10 air force headquarters: Bassein Air Base in Irrawaddy Division; Mingaladon Air Base in Rangoon Division; Myitkyina Air Base in Kachin State; Myike Air Base in Tenasserim Division; Namsang Air Base in Shan State; Taungoo Air Base in Pegu Division; Meikhtila (Shante) Flying Training Base; Meikthila Grounding Training Base in Mandalay Division; Magwe Air Base in Magwe Division; and Homemalin Air Base in Sagaing Division.
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Fire in Myanmar Info Tech in Rangoon
Tuesday, 15 June 2010 12:42 Mizzima News
Rangoon (Mizzima) - A fire broke out in Hall No. (1) of Myanmar Info Tech in Hlaing Township, Rangoon, on Tuesday morning, a fire brigade official said.
The fire started at 8:50 a.m. and was extinguished by 9:20 a.m. Furniture such as sofa sets and plywood furniture were destroyed.
The fire in the two-storey building started among the dumped old and damaged settees kept in the corner of the staircase leading to the upper floor, said a fire brigade personnel from the Hlaing Township Fire Department.
Tuesday, 15 June 2010 12:42 Mizzima News
Rangoon (Mizzima) - A fire broke out in Hall No. (1) of Myanmar Info Tech in Hlaing Township, Rangoon, on Tuesday morning, a fire brigade official said.
The fire started at 8:50 a.m. and was extinguished by 9:20 a.m. Furniture such as sofa sets and plywood furniture were destroyed.
The fire in the two-storey building started among the dumped old and damaged settees kept in the corner of the staircase leading to the upper floor, said a fire brigade personnel from the Hlaing Township Fire Department.
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DVB News - Military defectors reject accusations
Published: 15 June 2010
Two men who leaked information on Burma’s nuclear programme and were subsequently attacked by Burmese state media as “slanderous” frauds have defended their actions.
Sai Thein Win and Aung Lin Htut, two former majors in the Burmese army who featured prominently in DVB’s exposé of Burma’s nuclear weapons programme, were last week slammed as mere “deserters and fugitives” by the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Sai Thein Win had worked in a factory that built prototypes for nuclear missiles, and provided DVB with the bulk of information about the nuclear programme for the documentary, Burma’s Nuclear Ambitions. Aung Lin Htut, who worked in the government’s Military Intelligence Service during the Khin Nyunt era and was Burma’s ambassador to the US, spoke at length of the regime’s military projects.
Both men were accused in the article of being criminals; Aung Lin Htut “was declared a fugitive on 20 May 2005 after a lawsuit had been filed against him…for misappropriating a State budget worth $US4,525”, as well as other charges “for high treason”, the article said.
Sai Thein Win meanwhile had apparently lied about his position as major in the army. “As he is not only a deserter but also an offender having committed other crimes, plans are underway to take action against him.”
It said that DVB, which was formed in 1992 and became the first non-state television station to broadcast in Burma, “is a killer broadcasting station that is hateching [sic] evil plots and sowing hatred between Myanmar and the international community and among the Myanmar national people”.
Sai Thein Win responded to the accusation by sending DVB a document from Naypyidaw’s Defence Services office in 2009 which formalised his promotion from captain to temporary commanding officer (major rank) in the military factory near to Thabeikkyin.
Thabeikkyin has become the focus of analysis into Burma’s nuclear programme: seven miles north of the town lies the so-called Nuclear Battalion, home of the Science and Technology Regiment. Sai Thein Win claims that it was developed for the sole purpose of producing a nuclear weapon.
Aung Lin Htut similarly claims that the accusations against him are untrue. A receipt from the Burmese embassy in Washington appears to show the transfer by Aung Lin Htut of $US85,000 to Min Lwin, the new military attaché that replaced him at the embassy in 2005.
Reports from exiled Burmese media claim that intelligence officers have regularly visited Sai Thein Win’s hometown of Kyaukme in Shan state. The New Light of Myanmar article claimed however that “no authorities concerned [with the leak] have detained or arrested their family members”.
Published: 15 June 2010
Two men who leaked information on Burma’s nuclear programme and were subsequently attacked by Burmese state media as “slanderous” frauds have defended their actions.
Sai Thein Win and Aung Lin Htut, two former majors in the Burmese army who featured prominently in DVB’s exposé of Burma’s nuclear weapons programme, were last week slammed as mere “deserters and fugitives” by the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Sai Thein Win had worked in a factory that built prototypes for nuclear missiles, and provided DVB with the bulk of information about the nuclear programme for the documentary, Burma’s Nuclear Ambitions. Aung Lin Htut, who worked in the government’s Military Intelligence Service during the Khin Nyunt era and was Burma’s ambassador to the US, spoke at length of the regime’s military projects.
Both men were accused in the article of being criminals; Aung Lin Htut “was declared a fugitive on 20 May 2005 after a lawsuit had been filed against him…for misappropriating a State budget worth $US4,525”, as well as other charges “for high treason”, the article said.
Sai Thein Win meanwhile had apparently lied about his position as major in the army. “As he is not only a deserter but also an offender having committed other crimes, plans are underway to take action against him.”
It said that DVB, which was formed in 1992 and became the first non-state television station to broadcast in Burma, “is a killer broadcasting station that is hateching [sic] evil plots and sowing hatred between Myanmar and the international community and among the Myanmar national people”.
Sai Thein Win responded to the accusation by sending DVB a document from Naypyidaw’s Defence Services office in 2009 which formalised his promotion from captain to temporary commanding officer (major rank) in the military factory near to Thabeikkyin.
Thabeikkyin has become the focus of analysis into Burma’s nuclear programme: seven miles north of the town lies the so-called Nuclear Battalion, home of the Science and Technology Regiment. Sai Thein Win claims that it was developed for the sole purpose of producing a nuclear weapon.
Aung Lin Htut similarly claims that the accusations against him are untrue. A receipt from the Burmese embassy in Washington appears to show the transfer by Aung Lin Htut of $US85,000 to Min Lwin, the new military attaché that replaced him at the embassy in 2005.
Reports from exiled Burmese media claim that intelligence officers have regularly visited Sai Thein Win’s hometown of Kyaukme in Shan state. The New Light of Myanmar article claimed however that “no authorities concerned [with the leak] have detained or arrested their family members”.
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DVB News - US warns of ‘unrealistic’ refugee resettlement
Published: 14 June 2010
The situation for ethnic Karen refugees living in camps along the Thai-Burma border remains a concern for the US but third-country resettlement is unrealistic, a top US official has warned.
Eric Schwartz, assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, last week visited the Mae La refugee camp on the Thai side of the border that is home to some 40,000 Karen refugees, of a total of nearly 140,000 in camps along the border.
He told DVB that the purpose of the trip was to “look at efforts to meet the needs of vulnerable Burmese refugees” in the camps, as well as meeting with various NGOs and advocacy groups along the border.
But despite “particular concern” over the refugees that he voiced prior to the border trip, “third-country resettlement isn’t going to be the solution for the large majority of refugees here or anywhere else in the world”.
“There are around 20 million refugees around the world,” he said. “Ultimately the best answer is for conditions in their country of origin to change – but there is little indication that that situation is going to change any time soon in Burma.
His comments came after the joint-secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), Bo Kyi, said that his group would urge Schwartz to help resettle former political prisoners who “have been in the refugee camps for so many years”.
While the US already has a policy to accept refugees, Schwartz reportedly told Khin Ohmar, foreign affairs secretary for theNetwork for Democracy and Development (NDD), that third-country resettlement “is up to the Thai government…and the US can only suggest that the Thai government speeds up their procedures”.
With the Burmese government preparing for elections and aggressively attempting to transform ceasefire groups into Border Guard Forces, observers have warned that more refugees could flee Burma over the coming months.
The last major exodus by Karen into Thailand was in June last year, when around 5,000 fled after fighting erupted between Burmese troops and the opposition Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). Many of those were forced to shelter in caves and rudimentary shacks along the Thai-Burma border.
The situation in Karen state remains volatile, despite the Thai government’s attempts to repatriate the 5,000 refugees back to Burma at the beginning of this year. Landmines laid by both the Burmese army and the KNLA litter the countryside, and civilians are at risk of being forcibly recruited by government troops.
“Decisions over whether people can return have to be based on the conditions in Burma and they cannot simply be made because an election has taken place,” Schwartz said.
“Right now the preparations going on in Burma give no confidence that these elections are going to have international legitimacy, or be free and fair, so if the elections don’t change conditions in Burma then you can’t send people back.”
Published: 14 June 2010
The situation for ethnic Karen refugees living in camps along the Thai-Burma border remains a concern for the US but third-country resettlement is unrealistic, a top US official has warned.
Eric Schwartz, assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, last week visited the Mae La refugee camp on the Thai side of the border that is home to some 40,000 Karen refugees, of a total of nearly 140,000 in camps along the border.
He told DVB that the purpose of the trip was to “look at efforts to meet the needs of vulnerable Burmese refugees” in the camps, as well as meeting with various NGOs and advocacy groups along the border.
But despite “particular concern” over the refugees that he voiced prior to the border trip, “third-country resettlement isn’t going to be the solution for the large majority of refugees here or anywhere else in the world”.
“There are around 20 million refugees around the world,” he said. “Ultimately the best answer is for conditions in their country of origin to change – but there is little indication that that situation is going to change any time soon in Burma.
His comments came after the joint-secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), Bo Kyi, said that his group would urge Schwartz to help resettle former political prisoners who “have been in the refugee camps for so many years”.
While the US already has a policy to accept refugees, Schwartz reportedly told Khin Ohmar, foreign affairs secretary for theNetwork for Democracy and Development (NDD), that third-country resettlement “is up to the Thai government…and the US can only suggest that the Thai government speeds up their procedures”.
With the Burmese government preparing for elections and aggressively attempting to transform ceasefire groups into Border Guard Forces, observers have warned that more refugees could flee Burma over the coming months.
The last major exodus by Karen into Thailand was in June last year, when around 5,000 fled after fighting erupted between Burmese troops and the opposition Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). Many of those were forced to shelter in caves and rudimentary shacks along the Thai-Burma border.
The situation in Karen state remains volatile, despite the Thai government’s attempts to repatriate the 5,000 refugees back to Burma at the beginning of this year. Landmines laid by both the Burmese army and the KNLA litter the countryside, and civilians are at risk of being forcibly recruited by government troops.
“Decisions over whether people can return have to be based on the conditions in Burma and they cannot simply be made because an election has taken place,” Schwartz said.
“Right now the preparations going on in Burma give no confidence that these elections are going to have international legitimacy, or be free and fair, so if the elections don’t change conditions in Burma then you can’t send people back.”
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DVB News - Mass hunger strike in Malaysian camp
By KHIN HNIN HTET
Published: 15 June 2010
Some 800 Burmese migrants have begun a hunger strike in a Malaysian immigration camp after the UN’s refugee agency stopped interviewing detainees about potential refugee status.
One detainee on hunger strike told DVB that officials from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had also “stopped coming to pick up those who passed the interview” at the Lenggeng camp in Negeri Sembilan province.
Passing the UNHCR interview would make the detainees, which number around 1,500 in the Lenggeng camp in southwestern Malaysia, eligible for refugee status.
Estimates for the overall number of Burmese men, women and children migrants held in detention centres across Malaysia number around 5,000. They are often held in poor conditions with only sporadic access to UN officials.
The hunger strike began on the evening of 12 June. Three days earlier, the water supply to the camp had been cut off, and detainees were complaining that camp wardens had denied detainees drinking water.
“Detainees from all four [camp] wards – most of them Burmese, Indonesian and Bangladeshi – suffered from dysentery,” said the man. “The medical assistance in the camp is too weak and we want to get out of here immediately. We wrote a message [in the camp] saying: ‘We need UNHCR’.”
In February this year around one thousand detained migrants, mainly Burmese, in Lenggeng staged a hunger strike in protest at severe overcrowding and lack of UNHCR access.
And last week around 200 Burmese and Vietnamese detainees rioted in the Ajil immigration camp, with reports that they had tried to set fire to the camp’s administration office.
A report released yesterday by Amnesty International urged the Malaysian government to “give refugees in the country the right to work” after documenting “a litany of abuses suffered by refugees in Malaysia, the vast majority of whom are from Myanmar [Burma]”.
The report added that refugees in Malaysia are subjected to “arbitrary arrest, detention in appalling conditions, caning, extortion, human trafficking and deportation back to the persecution that they fled”.
And the annual US state department’s Trafficking in Persons report also released this week said that the People’s Volunteer Corps (RELA) in Malaysia continued to arbitrarily detain refugees and asylum seekers, and is involved in trafficking.
Refugees in Malaysia are “particularly vulnerable to trafficking”, the report said, adding that there had been little progress in convicting traffickers. The issue of Burmese migrants has been a sore point for the Malaysian government; last year it was revealed that senior Malaysian immigration officials had been complicit in the trafficking of Burmese nationals.
By KHIN HNIN HTET
Published: 15 June 2010
Some 800 Burmese migrants have begun a hunger strike in a Malaysian immigration camp after the UN’s refugee agency stopped interviewing detainees about potential refugee status.
One detainee on hunger strike told DVB that officials from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had also “stopped coming to pick up those who passed the interview” at the Lenggeng camp in Negeri Sembilan province.
Passing the UNHCR interview would make the detainees, which number around 1,500 in the Lenggeng camp in southwestern Malaysia, eligible for refugee status.
Estimates for the overall number of Burmese men, women and children migrants held in detention centres across Malaysia number around 5,000. They are often held in poor conditions with only sporadic access to UN officials.
The hunger strike began on the evening of 12 June. Three days earlier, the water supply to the camp had been cut off, and detainees were complaining that camp wardens had denied detainees drinking water.
“Detainees from all four [camp] wards – most of them Burmese, Indonesian and Bangladeshi – suffered from dysentery,” said the man. “The medical assistance in the camp is too weak and we want to get out of here immediately. We wrote a message [in the camp] saying: ‘We need UNHCR’.”
In February this year around one thousand detained migrants, mainly Burmese, in Lenggeng staged a hunger strike in protest at severe overcrowding and lack of UNHCR access.
And last week around 200 Burmese and Vietnamese detainees rioted in the Ajil immigration camp, with reports that they had tried to set fire to the camp’s administration office.
A report released yesterday by Amnesty International urged the Malaysian government to “give refugees in the country the right to work” after documenting “a litany of abuses suffered by refugees in Malaysia, the vast majority of whom are from Myanmar [Burma]”.
The report added that refugees in Malaysia are subjected to “arbitrary arrest, detention in appalling conditions, caning, extortion, human trafficking and deportation back to the persecution that they fled”.
And the annual US state department’s Trafficking in Persons report also released this week said that the People’s Volunteer Corps (RELA) in Malaysia continued to arbitrarily detain refugees and asylum seekers, and is involved in trafficking.
Refugees in Malaysia are “particularly vulnerable to trafficking”, the report said, adding that there had been little progress in convicting traffickers. The issue of Burmese migrants has been a sore point for the Malaysian government; last year it was revealed that senior Malaysian immigration officials had been complicit in the trafficking of Burmese nationals.
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