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CONTACT: Vanessa Parra, +1-202-828-0110 x225; +1-202-904-0319 vanessa@refugeesinternational.org

Cyclone Nargis: One Month Later Burmese Regime Must Stop Forcing Cyclone Survivors to Return Home

Washington, D.C. - Nearly one month after Cyclone Nargis struck Burma, the Burmese military government has raised another hurdle to effective humanitarian response by forcibly closing camps for cyclone survivors and forcing them back home, Refugees International said today. Although access for humanitarian workers to areas affected by Cyclone Nargis has improved in recent days, and more people are receiving aid, forced relocations increase vulnerability by taking people out of relatively accessible camps and scattering them throughout isolated areas.

Recent reports indicate that the Burmese government officials have begun to forcibly move people out of camps to get people back on their land to begin tending their fields and reviving the agricultural sector. "While agricultural recovery is indeed vital, forcing people home without aid makes it harder for aid agencies to reach them with assistance," said Joel Charny, Refugees International's vice president for policy. "Internally displaced people have the right to be protected against forcible return or resettlement where their health and safety would be at risk. The Burmese military has the responsibility for the welfare of its own people."

Refugees International also reiterates concern over the fate of unaccompanied children in the delta region, either orphaned or separated from their loved ones. These children are vulnerable to recruitment for forced labor or military service, and to sexual abuse. International access to the delta region is critical to increase efforts to reunite children with their families if at all possible, or to place them with other members of their home communities rather than in orphanages.

The United Nations and aid agencies have reported steady progress in getting more international staff and emergency goods into the country and have greater access to disaster affected areas, which has increased the number of people receiving aid. A steady flow of supplies is entering Burma through the Bangkok-Rangoon air bridge, but communities in the far south of the delta remain largely unreached. The logistical hurdles are immense, and more helicopters and shallow-bottomed boats to deliver supplies are badly needed. Refugees International continues to urge increased support for the experienced agencies operating inside the country.

Since UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon's meeting with the senior generals a week ago, a tri-partite coordination structure, involving the UN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the government, has been established to oversee the relief effort. Given its political credibility with the Burmese authorities, Refugees International argues that it is critical for ASEAN's representatives in Rangoon to take the lead in continuing to push for unimpeded access and a relief effort that is commensurate with the needs, in keeping with international standards and humanitarian principles.

"Now that aid agencies are reporting increased access to cyclone-affected areas, we need to make sure that the government doesn't take steps to make their work even more difficult by forcing people home or sticking children in orphanages," Charny said. "Given its acceptance of a formal aid coordination role, ASEAN has a huge responsibility to insist that vulnerable Burmese receive adequate assistance and are protected from rights violations."

Refugees International is a Washington, DC-based organization that advocates to end refugee crises. In February and March of 2008 staff members of the organization traveled to Burma to assess the humanitarian situation inside the country. For more information, go to http://www.refugeesinternational.org/burma.