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CWS co-sponsors conference on Burma's plight and the search for solutions
Main Street in Tham Hin Camp, along the Thailand-Burma border.
Photo: Thailand Burma Border Consortium
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Washington, D.C. -- The people of Burma live under a military dictatorship, and suffer widespread human rights abuses and deteriorating humanitarian conditions. To call attention to their plight, more than 150 activists, government officials, researchers, and representatives of non-governmental organizations met in Washington, D.C., Oct. 26 and resolved to keep working for solutions.
The "Burma: Looking Forward" conference was held at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and was co-sponsored by the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, the National Endowment for Democracy and the global humanitarian agency Church World Service.
It was part of the Oct. 26-30 annual meeting of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), an alliance of non-governmental organizations working together with displaced people of Burma to respond to humanitarian needs, strengthen self-reliance and promote appropriate and lasting solutions in pursuit of their dignity, justice and peace. Church World Service is a founding member of the 21-year-old Thailand Burma Border Consortium.
The 55 million people of Burma, also known as Myanmar, "live in deplorable conditions," said Morton Abramowitz of the Century Foundation as he opened the Oct. 26 conference.
Burma's military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), suppresses political and ethnic opposition to its rule through the destruction and forced relocation of entire villages, rape, arrest, detention, torture, extrajudicial killings, forced labor, and the confiscation of people's land, crops, and other possessions.
An estimated 630,000 of Burma's citizens are displaced within their own country and another 691,800 are refugees, having fled to neighboring countries. Many more, including an estimated 2 million migrant workers in Thailand, have fled Burma but have not registered as refugees. 1,100 people, including 1991 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of the National League for Democracy, are political prisoners.
Dr. Thaung Htun, representing the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, said, "The military is denying the transition to democracy and trying to annihilate the National League for Democracy," denied a seat in government despite legitimately winning the 1990 elections. And the National Convention is "not transparent, inclusive or democratic as the regime proposes."
The regime claims a ceasefire with 17 ethnic groups, but their leaders and members have been arrested and federalism denied, Htun said, describing pressure on the Shan and Mon parties.
Burma's economy, education system, infrastructure, health sector, and human rights are in shambles. Many young women are trafficked to neighboring countries as sex workers. HIV, tuberculosis and malaria rates are increasing. Crime is on the rise; so are prices for basic commodities, including food and fuel. Food insecurity and forced relocation are associated with severe malnutrition and a high infant mortality rate.
Located at the crossroads of Southeast Asia, Burma in its current state is contributing to the spread of weapons; illegal drugs, including opiates and methamphetamines; tuberculosis, and HIV infection, including new forms of HIV, in the region. In addition, Burma’s natural resources are being exploited and exported illegally.
Burma's government "has a roadmap to democracy, but there's no timeline and the road signs keep shifting," said Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, concluding a six-year term as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar.
Asked what he would advise his successor, Pinheiro said, "To name a new special rapporteur with all the restrictions I had to work under would not be very useful." He was unable to visit Burma since 2003 because the regime wouldn’t give him a visa, and said other U.N. member states need to press Burma to give his successor access to the country.
TBBC releases latest documentation on internal displacement in eastern Burma
In a new report, released at the Oct. 26 conference, the Thailand Burma Border Consortium said more than 2,800 villages in eastern Burma were destroyed, relocated or abandoned and nearly 1.25 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes by war or human rights abuses from 1996 to May 2005 – 87,000 of them in the past year alone.
An estimated 540,000 of those displaced in eastern Burma over the past decade have not been able to return home or resettle or reintegrate into society – an increase of about 14,000 since late 2004. This population includes 92,000 civilians estimated to be in hiding from the Burma Army in areas most affected by armed conflict.
"The survey conclusively found that not only are soldiers from the Burma Army the primary perpetrators of abuse, but also that the Government of Burma is generally unable or unwilling to strengthen local coping strategies and protect civilians from harm," the TBBC reported.
 "Burma: Looking Forward" participants confer between plenary presentations Photo: Carol Fouke-Mpoyo
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"Although unable to stop or prevent violence or abuse, internally displaced and conflict-affected villagers have developed a range of coping strategies to resist threats and mitigate the worst consequences," the TBBC said. "Other civilians are the main source of early warning signals about approaching troops, which stresses the importance of building social capital, or networks of trust, within and between local communities for the development of a more protective environment.
"Hiding food supplies and preparing alternative hiding sites in case counter-insurgency patrols induce an emergency evacuation were the main approaches to coping with threats amongst households in hiding sites. Conversely, the main method of minimizing risks in relocation sites and mixed administration areas is reportedly to pay fines and follow orders," the report said, findings that suggest abuses against civilians are motivated not only by retaliation against armed opposition patrols but also by greed.
The TBBC has been surveying the scale and distribution of internal displacement in eastern Burma since 2002. This year's surveys were designed in partnership with ethnic community based organizations and conducted from April through June 2005 in 37 townships across the six states and divisions of eastern Burma.
1,044 questionnaires with conflict-affected households were completed, spread evenly between hiding sites, government controlled relocation areas, ethnic administered ceasefire areas and mixed administration areas. These responses have been complemented by semi-structured interviews with internally displaced persons, the four main non-state actors in eastern Burma and 10 humanitarian agencies based in Rangoon.
Copies of the TBBC's new report, "Internal Displacement and Protection in Eastern Burma," are available from Church World Service. Contact Erol Kekic at 212-870-2153; ekekic@churchworldservice.org
Johns Hopkins University, Tutu/Havel reports are shared with conferees
Another new study documents health and human rights measures in Karen, Karenni and Mon states. Dr. Chris Beyrer of The Bloomberg School of Public Health at The Johns Hopkins University shared a preliminary report of not-yet-published findings of 70 Backpack Health Worker teams, which crisscrossed these three states on foot.
The teams found a striking absence of men ages 15-45 in internally displaced persons' zones, Beyrer said. "In IDP zones, there are 89-90 men for every 100 women," he said. "Only in Angola and among Mujahadeen families in Afghanistan are there so few men in this age group."
Other findings included high child mortality, with 291 of every 1,000 children dying before age five. The study found a clear correlation between forced relocation and child mortality, and between forced relocation and landmine injuries.
Many forcibly relocated people report that government troops have stolen their animals or rice stores, leading to widespread food insecurity, Beyrer continued. Food insecurity is associated with severe malnutrition, malaria, and landmine injuries – all of which contribute to a high death rate among both children and adults.
Also shared with – and much discussed by – conferees was another new report, commissioned by Vaclav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic, and Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa, 1984 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. The report, "Threat to the Peace: A Call for the U.N. Security Council to Act in Burma," was prepared by DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, Washington, D.C., and released Sept. 30, 2005.
This report offers background on the situation in Burma, examines Burma's threat to peace and security in the region, and reviews the response of the United Nations, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, European Union, and United States.
It considers the factors that led to U.N. Security Council intervention in Sierra Leone in 1997, Afghanistan in 1996, Haiti in 1993, Yemen in 1994, Rwanda in 1993, Liberia in 1992, and Cambodia in 1990, then argues that the situation in Burma "represents a clear threat to the peace" and that "Security Council action is both justified and warranted."
The Havel/Tutu report identifies five "determining factors" for past interventions: the overthrow of a democratically elected government, conflict among governmental bodies and insurgent armies or armed ethnic groups, widespread internal humanitarian/human rights violations, substantial outflow of refugees, and other cross-border problems.
While between one and four factors were cited in each of the past interventions, Burma "exhibits each and every one of these determining factors," according to the report. Moreover, "additional distinguishing facts and circumstances exist in Burma that increase the overall magnitude of this threat. Such factors include forced labor, forced relocation, the use of child soldiers by the regime’s military, and rape of village women by soldiers; the government’s ineffectiveness at curbing the flow of drugs from its borders, and the government’s unwillingness to cooperate with the international community to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS."
The search for political and humanitarian solutions
 Camp along the Thailand-Burma border. Photo: J. Isbister
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The Havel/Tutu report also presses the Council to urge the Government of Burma "to ensure the immediate, safe and unhindered access to all parts of the country for the United Nations and international humanitarian organizations to provide humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable groups of the population, including internally displaced persons" and to immediately and unconditionally release Aung San Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience in Burma.
"I wish the United Nations could be as creative as Tutu and Havel have been," Pinheiro commented in response to a question about the effectiveness of the U.N. Security Council's 27 resolutions on the Burma crisis. Pinheiro said he got tired "after 10 years at the United Nations to have all these resolutions that no one follows up."
In her luncheon keynote address, Paula Dobriansky, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, said, "When Havel and Tutu speak, the world must listen and take heed. They not only spotlight Burma's egregious human rights violations, but also conclude that ‘Burma’s troubles are causing serious and possibly permanent problems that go well beyond human rights violations’ and are now ‘a problem for the region and international community.'"
For its part, the U.S. government is working "with like-minded countries to maintain maximum international pressure on the Burmese regime through UN resolutions, robust bilateral and multilateral sanctions, public diplomacy, and democracy and human rights programs," Dobriansky said. "Our sanctions send a strong message: The United States expects Burma’s regime to take meaningful steps toward genuine national reconciliation and the establishment of democracy…. (W)e want to see a credible and transparent political process underway that allows all sectors of society to freely express their views."
Not all participants in the Oct. 26 conference were pro-sanctions; some argued that engaging with the regime and sending humanitarian aid would provide better leverage for winning change. But there was consensus that Burma needs to be higher on the agenda of both the United States and the United Nations, and that both political and humanitarian issues need to be addressed.
Said Thaung Htun, the international community can press for constitutional dialogue and "a comprehensive approach, not just a political process or humanitarian (response) in isolation from each other. A several-stage process leading to democracy is our hope."
Humanitarian situation requires ongoing response
Especially since the SPDC ousted Prime Minister Kyin Nyunt in October 2004 and replaced him with Lieutenant General Soe Win, Burma’s regime has been viewing the U.N. Development Program and other humanitarian organizations operating inside Burma with increasing suspicion. The TBBC commented, "Unless the government is willing to engage in policy-level dialogue about protection concerns, it is recognized that the humanitarian space will contract further."
Erin Mooney, Deputy Director of the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, moderating a panel on "Displaced Persons," urged that humanitarian organizations look for new ways to support people's coping strategies, institute early warning/prevention strategies and a protection-oriented humanitarian presence. Chris Beyrer stressed the importance of "cross-border approaches into conflict zones."
The Thailand Burma Border Consortium and other groups have been able to work with border communities. Charm Tong, among founders of the Shan Women's Action Network, described the network's programs of elementary education, health, women’s empowerment and crisis support, income generation, and research to publicize sexual violence by the regime’s troops.
The network's "Stop the License to Rape" campaign has "given women the strength to fight back," Tong said.
The Church World Service-supported Thailand Burma Border Consortium and UNHCR, the United Nations' refugee agency, work together to assist and protect the 145,000 refugees from Burma who are living in camps along the Thailand-Burma border. Some have been in these so-called "temporary" camps for more than 20 years.
The border camps are becoming increasingly crowded and are places of prolonged idleness, frustration, dependence, alcohol and drug abuse and psychological disorders, said Sally Thompson, Deputy Executive Director of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium.
The TBBC is working to "invest in (these) people's potential right now, so they can lead fulfilling lives whatever their future may hold," she said. She described how nongovernmental organizations and the UNHCR are advocating for opportunities for refugees to access vocational training, higher education, health care and employment outside the camps, and showing how refugees' contributions can benefit Thailand's economy and society as a whole even as they are enabled to provide for themselves.
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