Myanmar troubles
Last reviewed: 15-01-2009
A SECRETIVE JUNTA WITH AN ARMED FIST
Amnesty International's Myanmar page is regularly updated with reports on political repression, torture and detentions. Human Rights Watch carries lots of very readable reports. It has one on the army's recruitment of child soldiers and another entitled: Burma's Gem Trade and Human Rights Abuses. U.S.-based advocacy group Refugees International follows policy changes in the United States, one of Myanmar's harshest critics. The U.S. State Department has a Myanmar section with general background and regular press releases. This April 2008 edition of Forced Migration Review, entitled Burma's Displaced People, has lots of fascinating reports. For more on displacement see the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre's Myanmar section. Myanmar: New Threats to Humanitarian Aid, a December 2006 briefing by Belgian-based think tank International Crisis Group, examines the restrictions on humanitarian agencies, which it says threaten efforts to halt the slide towards a humanitarian disaster. The Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma carries stories of interest to the country's diaspora and human rights workers. The intimidatingly entitled "Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics - Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy" by Gustaaf Houtman is a discussion of the opposition movement within its cultural, historical and religious context. The Karen Human Rights Group's website has photographs of villagers it says were driven from their homes and abused by the army. It documents cases of forced labour, the systematic destruction of villages and crops, arbitrary detention and summary executions. There are numerous advocacy groups. The National Council of the Union of Burma is the umbrella organisation of Burmese groups in exile. The Free Burma Coalition has reversed its long-standing policy of isolation of the country. Its website says sanctions hurt the wrong people and argues why the world should engage with the country. The U.S. Campaign for Burma is up on news and events with a special section on Aung San Suu Kyi. The Burma Campaign is a British-based advocacy group. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime reports annually on the world's biggest drug producers which include Myanmar. For a glimpse of how the government would like the country to be seen, have a look at the slightly surreal Myanmar.com.
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