| Heather’ s and Stuart’ s baby is born! | read more |
Heather - our volunteer from Australia who works on our health projects - gave birth to her baby girl at 12:30 am on 7 May! Please join us in congratulating Heather and Stuart to their new family member. We are very proud of Heather and the little baby gi... | |
| Burma migrants suffocate in lorry | read more |
| Fifty-four Burmese migrants have been found dead after suffocating in a lorry smuggling them into southern Thailand. More than 100 people were packed into a container measuring 6m by 2m. Many of the survivors are seriously ill from dehydrati... | |
| First step to a better life | read more |
| Sky Blue is a very small school located next to the rubbish dump. No one is supposed to live here, but there are around 80 pupils at the school. They are the children of rubbish pickers who live and earn their living in and around the dump. | |
| Leader of Myanmar’s ethnic Karen rebel group shot dead at home near Thai border | read more |
| The leader of the Karen National Union, one of the biggest ethnic rebel groups fighting Myanmar’s military government, was shot to death Thursday in Thailand, a dissident said. | |
| Burma/Myanmar: After the Crackdown | read more |
| A three-level approach, drawing on the respective strengths of the UN, the country’s neighbours and the wider international community, is needed to promote change in Burma/Myanmar.
After the Crackdown, the latest report from the... | |
| Myanmar military arrests more political activists, rights group says | read more |
| Myanmar’s ruling military has imprisoned nearly 100 more political activists, despite its promise to the United Nations that it would halt arrests following last September’s pro-democracy demonstrations, a human rights group said Friday. | |
| Gates donates $20M to help rice farmers | read more |
| MANILA, Philippines - Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, is to donate nearly $20 million for research into helping rice farmers deal with global warming, the International Rice Research Institute said Monday. | |
| MoU to be inked on eradication of opium crops | read more |
| Thailand and Burma will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate in opium eradication to pave the way for an introduction of a Thai-initiated crop substitution project in the military-ruled country. Deputy secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Contro... | |
| An Ounce Of Prevention | read more |
It was still early in the morning, but a large crowd of people were already waiting to see doctors at a local hospital in Phangnga province, Win Win (not her real name) and her husband were among the crowd. They could feel the st... | |
| Army readies onslaught against Karen | read more |
| Burma’s army has moved reinforcements into remote ethnic minority areas for the probable renewal of an offensive that — unlike the crackdown on urban protesters last fall — has largely escaped the world’s attention, aid and rebel groups say. | |
| An ugly trade in human misery | read more |
| A new and highly credible report on the worldwide problem of human trafficking was published recently. The author is the US State Department, which has pulled no punches in trying to protect the guilty, including Americans and the United States. It is a depressing 236-page ... | |
| No borders to education | read more |
Every morning, it is quite common to see Hiang Kunti, an eight-year-old girl, along with her schoolmates, enter Cambodia through a border checkpoint at Ban Klong Luek in Aranyaprathet district. ... | |
| Let the children play | read more |
| It’s 6am and the Thai-Cambodian border gate is already crowded with people. Scores of migrant workers, including children as young as 10, have thronged the gate, waiting for it to be unlocked and pushed open by border guards.
T... | |
| World ’ must do more’ for children | read more |
| More must be done more quickly to make the world fit for children by 2015, the UN children’ s agency, Unicef, has said. In a new report it noted considerable strides had been made to meet pledges in education and areas of health care. | |
| Myanmar woes raise fears of new migration to Thailand | read more |
| SAMUT SAKHON, Thailand — Peeling shrimp for 14 hours a day can break the most weathered of workers, but not Som, a Myanmar migrant toiling in a Thai factory side-by-side with her family.
She processes more seafood with her nimbl... | |
| Violence against Women Serious Problem in Burma | read more |
| Burmese authorities keep a careful watch on the home of Tar Tar and monitor her daily activities when she leaves her house. Pro-junta supporters stand around on the street corners of her neighborhood.
Tar Tar, who asked not to b... | |
| Burma’ s displaced | read more |
| According to the latest report from he Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), a charity organisation registered in England working along the Thai-Burma border, there are at least half a million internally displaced persons (IDP) now in Burma, many of them residing in area... | |
| Suu Kyi Unwell - Gambari Meeting Uncertain | read more |
| Burma’s detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was visited twice by a doctor at the weekend in an unusual break from the regime-ordained routine, which allows her only two medical calls a month. Nyan Win, spokesman of her National League for Democracy, said it wasn’t... | |
| Egat urged to assess impact of Burma dams | read more |
| Mae Hong Son - The National Human Rights Commission has completed an initial environmental and social impact study of a controversial hydro-power dam project on the Salween river.
The report is the first of its kind as the Elec... | |
| Burma army ’ recruiting children’ | read more |
| The Burmese army is forcibly recruiting children to cover gaps left by a lack of adult recruits, says a report by a US-based human rights organisation.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says children as ... | |
| Rise in severe diarrhoea cases hits 633, kills two since January | read more |
| More than 630 people in 23 provinces across the country have been treated this year for severe diarrhoea caused by a minor cholera bacteria called El Tor Ogawa, the Public Health Ministry said.
Two people had died of dehydratio... | |
| Myanmar junta rallies forces, arrests top dissident | read more |
| Myanmar’s junta staged a massive pro-government rally in its main city on Saturday and arrested a top dissident as its relentless and ruthless response to last month’s pro-democracy uprising showed no signs of easing.
Htay Kywe... | |
| Production of opium doubles over two years | read more |
| Opium poppy cultivation in Thailand doubled from 2004-2006, with teenagers increasingly getting involved in the trade, a narcotics official said yesterday.
The finding is in line with the latest report from the UN Office on Dru... | |
| EXILES STILL CLING TO HOPE | read more |
| When asked about his life-long dream, Wunna, a Burmese student studying at Rangsit University, replied without any hesitation: ’To return home and teach.’ Education is like a passport. If you have it, you can go around and you can do everything. And the topic is none other ... | |
| UN Envoy Meets Top Generals amid More Arrests by Soldiers | read more |
| The UN’s special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, met separately with the junta’s top generals in the remote capital of Naypyidaw on Tuesday in a bid to help solve the current political crisis. On the way back to Rangoon, Gambari held a second meeting with the detained pro-... | |
| Saffron revolt could be ’ tipping point’ | read more |
| Nearly 20 years after mass pro-democracy demonstrations forced the former dictator General Ne Win to resign, thousands of people have been taking to the streets again to protest against the country’s military rulers. In the past two days, more than 10,000 people have joined... | |
| Burmese monks’ protests escalate | read more |
| In the western port city of Sittwe, nearly 2,000 monks demanded the release of four monks arrested on Tuesday. About 1,000 monks marched through Mandalay, and several hundred more in Rangoon, the former capital. | |
| Karen relocation project to go ahead | read more |
| Provincial authorities insist they will go ahead with the relocation of long-necked Karen tribespeople to prevent them from becoming slaves of influential figures who use them as stars to cash in on tourists. Mae Hong Son governor Direk Klonkleep said the relocation scheme ... | |
| Burmese Monks in Revolt | read more |
| The underground monks’ union warned that if the authorities refuse to come up with a formal apology, they will hold “patam nikkujjana kamma”—meaning a boycott of alms from members of the military regime or simply overturning their bowls instead of collecting food. | |
| Justice sought for lost victims of drugs war | read more |
| The associations reported to the commission that 28 Lisu people had disappeared and two others had been shot dead. Another group of seven Mien hilltribe people had disappeared.
The victims’ families are in trouble, they said. T... | |
| Burma completes charter outline | read more |
Burma’s leaders have declared 14 years of constitutional talks complete and formally closed the country’s National Convention, delegates say. Acting PM Lt-Gen Thein Sein said an outline for detailed principles fo... | |
| Charter approved | read more |
| Despite the close vote in the referendum on the draft charter, which met surprisingly fierce resistance from northern and northeastern voters, yesterday’s result still cleared the way for a general election in December.
It was ... | |
| Hmong begin jail hunger strike | read more |
| A group of 149 Hmong refugees who have been detained in a two-room immigration jail in northern Thailand for the past nine months went on hunger strike Friday to protest their ’inhumane’ living conditions and uncertain future, sources said. | |
| Hmong caught in limbo between Laos and Thailand | read more |
| It was the fear of persecution that drove Yang Pahua to flee her native Laos, twice.
Yang, 17, is one of 21 girls and five boys whose stories have drawn new attention to the plight of the Hmong, an ethnic minority. Their famili... | |
| Charity finds that U.S. food aid for Africa hurts instead of helps | read more |
| CARE, one of the world’s biggest charities, is walking away from about $45 million a year in federal funding, saying American food aid is not only plagued with inefficiencies, but may hurt some of the very poor people it aims to help. | |
| Too much crime on no-man’ s island | read more |
| A 10-rai ’no-man’s island’ underneath the Thai-Burmese Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot district is in highly troubled waters as the place now not only serves as a dump site and a slum settlement, but also as a breeding ground for crime. Sitting... | |
| Wealth gap ’ spreads across Asia’ | read more |
| The gap between rich and poor has widened sharply in China and many other Asian countries as their economies have boomed, research has suggested. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) found that relative inequ... | |
| New Cholera Outbreak at Mae La Camp | read more |
| August 06, 2007—A further 20 refugees in Thailand’s Mae La camp have been struck down by cholera, an official reported on Monday.
Akkaraphan Phusiri, an official of the Thasongyang district administration, told The Irrawaddy<... | |
| Red alert for cholera outbreak | read more |
| Tak - Public health officials are on red alert for a possible cholera outbreak along the Thai-Burmese border in Tak as nearly 500 people, mostly migrant workers, have been treated with severe diarrhoea in the past two months. | |
| Resettlement Program Hits Refugee Education Standards | read more |
| The resettlement program for the Burmese refugee community along Thailand’s border with Burma is having a negative effect o n education in the camps, according to an official of the Karen Refugee Committee.
Schools were lo... | |
| More action urged against slave labour | read more |
| Labour advocates are demanding more action to safeguard job seekers against being lured into virtual slavery on fishing trawlers. Ekkaluck Lumchumkhae, chief of the Mirror Foundation’s missing persons information centre, said human trafficking gangs were still active in the... | |
| Alarm as dengue cases rise in SE Asia | read more |
| Vietnam and Malaysia have raised concerns over the spread of dengue fever, which has killed hundreds in Southeast Asia and infected tens of thousands this year. Warmer weather and heavy rains have helped the mosquito-borne virus spread through the region, with a Malaysi... | |
| Karenni reject call to return home | read more |
| Long-necked Karenni refugees living in northern Mae Hong Son province have turned down Burma’s latest call for them to return to their motherland, saying it is not safe because of the continuing fighting there. During a recent Thai-Burma Township Border Committee meeting in... | |
| Red Cross condemns Burma ’abuses’ | read more |
| The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has publicly denounced what it says are major human rights abuses by Burma’ s military government.
In a highly unusual departure from its normally neutral stance, the ICRC... | |
| Malaria infections soar in Tak | read more |
| Tak: A total of 12,784 malaria patients were admitted to hospitals in Tak in the first four months of the year - more than any other province. Provincial health official Patchuban Hemhongsa said the admission figures are from hospitals in five districts, Jan 1 to the... | |
| Discovery of drug-resistant TB in two men causes alarm | read more |
| The discovery of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB) in two Burmese migrants in the northern province of Tak has set alarms bells ringing at the health ministry.
Thawat Sundarachan, chief of the Disease Control Department, said one patient was bei... | |
| Myanmar’s political prisoner | read more |
| The junta extends the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi
On May 25th Myanmar’’s military rulers extended for another year the house arrest of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Not only was the junt... | |
| Storms Ravage Karenni Refugee Camps | read more |
| More than 20 houses were destroyed by torrential rain that hit two Karenni refugee camps in northern Thailand’s Mae Hong Son province on Monday, according to residents. Four people were seriously injured, they said.
Three elderly people... | |
| Course to save hilltribe girls from flesh trade | read more |
| Human trafficking has been inducted as course in the school curriculum in some schools in the northern province of Chiang Rai to prevent hilltribe girls from being lured into the flesh trade. The pilot project was launched with the support of the International Labour Organi... | |
| Clashes kill 17, hundreds flee across border | read more |
| Clashes near the border between Burmese government troops and an ethnic rebel group are reported to have left at least 17 people dead, wounded 19 and caused hundreds to flee to Thailand.
Burmese government troops and its allied ... | |
| Burma shuts checkpoint at Mae Sot | read more |
| Thai officials on the border with Burma yesterday put on a brave face after the junta abruptly shut the Mae Sot-Myawaddy crossing. Tak Governor Chumporn Ponrak, who visited the crossing yesterday, told reporters his office requested a formal e... | |
| ICRC shuts down operation in Burma | read more |
| After nearly two decades of presence in Burma, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has decided to shut down its operation due to the lack of cooperation. ’The ICRC’’s humanitarian work in Myanmar (Burma) ha... | |
| 300 Karen flee to Thailand after Myanmar offensive | read more |
Clashes between the Myanmar military and ethnic Karen rebels killed 14 people and forced at least 300 civilians to flee into neighboring Thailand, a rebel spokesman and a Thai military official said Saturday.
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| Beggar kings are the real choosers | read more |
| Highly organised business has tentacles abroad Before you give beggars spare change do you stop to think if you are helping or hindering?
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| Misery Spirals in Burma As Junta Targets Minorities | read more |
| CAMP EITUTA, Burma -- In a burgeoning encampment here on Burma’s eastern frontier, Hay Nay Tha, a 30-year-old mother of three, awakens in the darkness most nights to the sound of her children’s screams.
’They keep having nightm... | |
| Shan warn of flood of heroin from Burma | read more |
| Thai authorities have been warned to prepare for an influx of illicit drugs as traffickers in Burma are anxious to rush top-grade heroin to international markets offering record-high prices, a Shan rebel leader said. Lt-Col Kornchuen, leader of the Shan State Army’s Kengtun... | |
| UN chief calls on Burma to release political prisoners | read more |
| The new UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the reports that the Burmese junta had released almost 3,000 inmates including up to 40 political prisoners.
But he urged the Burmese authorities to ’go beyond this first ... | |
| Burma: Thai diplomacy’s biggest travesty | read more |
| The Thai government’’s current position regarding Burma is humiliating. It is hard to believe that the so-called new "ethical diplomacy" (khunna dharma), which was pronounced by Prime Minister Surayud Chulanond, will include helping Burma to withstand increasing... | |
| Malaysian FM Pushes for Burma Visit | read more |
| Malaysia’’s foreign minister has urged Burma’’s military junta to let him visit the country before April to monitor the progress of democratic reforms, which critics have slammed as snail-paced.
"They ha... | |
| New Program will enhance Burmese Refugee Education | read more |
| Thai authorities have agreed to provide a Thai language program for Burmese refugee children in nine camps along the Thai-Burma border.
Bunchuay Samak, an official from the Department of Non-Formal Education, told The Irrawa... | |
| Burma makes Thaksin ‘uncomfortable’ | read more |
| Thai PM says Rangoon never informed neighbours of political developments. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday expressed concern over the situation in Burma, saying the junta had never discussed any aspect of political reform with its Asean colleagues. | |
| States must act to save hundreds of millions of abused Children, UN Report urges | read more |
| Hundreds of millions of children suffer from severe exploitation, becoming virtually invisible to the world – millions of them victims of trafficking and domestic servitude – and governments must step up remedial measures with legislation and funding, according to a new Uni... | |
| Human Rights Groups campaign for Freedom of Expression in Cambodia | read more |
| Cambodian human rights groups launched a nationwide campaign on Wednesday demanding that the government end restrictions on freedom of expression.
The 19 private groups announced the formation of the Alliance for Freedom of Exp... | |
| Junta again extends Suu Kyi’s det | read more |
| The political party of Burma’’s detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday confirmed the military government has extended her house arrest.
A statement from the National League for Democracy (NLD) said ... | |
| Thailand steps up Cambodian Border Controls | read more |
| Thai border officials have intensified screening of Cambodian Muslims seeking to enter the country because of violent unrest in Thailand’’s predominantly Muslim southernmost provinces, a Cambodian provincial official said on Monday. Thai border guards held some ... | |
| Japan donates $ 3.8 Million to fight HIV/AIDS and Malaria in Burma | read more |
| Japan has agreed to donate US $3.8 million to UNICEF to help in the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and immunization programs, it was announced today. Although it was not acknowledged whether the aid comes in response to the lo... | |
| Burmese Refugees Interview with UNHCR for Resettlement | read more |
| More than 600 Burmese refugees along the Thai-Burma border have begun interviewing today for possible resettlement in the US, Finland, New Zealand and Norway, said the head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees office in Mae Hong Son, northern Thailand. ... | |
| Kicking the Habit | read more |
| The struggle to combat the twin threats of HIV/AIDS and drug use in Burma is an uphill battle.
With an estimated 500,000 drug users, half of whom are categorized as injecting drug users, or IDUs, Burma has a serious drug problem... | |
| UN Agency Loan to Laos will help thousands of poor Women to increase Farm Incomes | read more |
| A new $17 million loan from the United Nations Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will help nearly 27,000 Laotians, mainly rural women and food insecure families, increase their incomes through better use of social services and natural resources a... | |
| UN refugee officials accompany Vietnamese returnees home from Cambodia | read more |
| In what they called "an unprecedented monitoring visit" in Viet Nam, United Nations refugee officials have accompanied a group of returning Montagnards from Cambodia to the homes which they fled over the past year, claiming religious persecution and land disputes. &nbs... | |
| Thai Foreign Minister criticizes US Policy on Burma | read more |
| HIV/AIDS funding in Burma cut | read more |
| Global Fund, the world’s single largest funding body, today announced that it has terminated its US $98.4 million allocation to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Burma.
The UN Development Program in Rangoon today recei... | |
| Karenni refugees register for resettlement | read more |
| More than 20,000 Karenni internally displaced persons based at two refugee camps on the Thai side of the Burma border are in the process of registering with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the hope of being allowed to resettle in other countries. <... | |
| Top UN food official calls on Myanmar to do more to help its hungry millions | read more |
| With one out of every three young children in Myanmar chronically malnourished or physically stunted, and 15 per cent of the population of 53 million food-insecure, a senior United Nations official today called on the Government to reform policies impeding humanitarian effo... | |
| UN warns of humanitarian crisis in Burma | read more |
| A top UN official warned on Friday that Burma is threatened with a humanitarian crisis, charging that the junta has failed to address the burgeoning problem by imposing restrictions on international aid agencies in the country.
... | |
| Cambodia loses 100 mln US dollars annually due to HIV/AIDS | read more |
| Around 100 million US dollars is lost every year because of HIV/AIDS and its impact on the country’’s economy and population, according to Cambodia’’s National Aids Authority (NAA).
"Although the HIV/AID... | |
| 500 Migrant Workers Arrested in Malaysia | read more |
| More than 500 migrant workers, mostly Burmese, were arrested in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Sunday for crossing the border illegally and overstaying their visa, according to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia.
Commissioner ... | |
| Clashes between Burma troops and armed groups on the increase again | read more |
| Clashes between Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) troops and Shan State Army – South (SSA-S) and Karen National Union (KNU) are on the increase in eastern Burma, with heavy losses for the Burmese army. During a clash on 13 July at Mong Phyat... | |
| Myanmar: UN rights expert welcomes release of political prisoners | read more |
| The United Nations expert dealing with human rights in Myanmar today welcomed the news of the release yesterday of 249 political prisoners – including politicians, an editor and political party members – from various prisons throughout the South Asian country. | |
| More than 1.5 million Asian children have been orphaned by AIDS, UN says | read more |
| More than 1.5 million children in Asia and the Pacific have been orphaned by AIDS and many more are living with ill and dying parents, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has told an international congress on AIDS that wound up its sessions in Kobe, Japan, this week... | |
| Asia must act to end violence against children, experts say | read more |
| Asian governments must enact laws to prohibit all forms of violence against children, including corporal punishment at schools and at home, because such abuse causes damage to the individual and to society, social activists told a regional conference Tuesday. | |
| More government ministries and media to leave rangoon | read more |
| The Burmese government will move at least five of its ministries and almost all state media north from Rangoon to Pyinmana, in Mandalay Division, according to sources in Rangoon. The army headquarters are already widely believed to be moving there.
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| Thailand: Abuses and exploitation of migrant workers exposed | read more |
| Burmese migrant workers in Thailand are routinely paid well below the Thai minimum wage, work long hours in unhealthy conditions and are at risk of arbitrary arrest and deportation, said Amnesty International today in a new report. | |
| Secretary-General welcomes humane treatment of ethnic minorities in Laos | read more |
| Secretary-General Kofi Annan today welcomed the humane treatment extended by the Lao Government to the ethnic minorities who emerged from remote areas over the weekend, and he stressed the readiness of the United Nations to provide humanitarian assistance to such group... | |
| Drugs stashed near border | read more |
| Large quantities of amphetamines have been stashed along the Thai-Burmese border ready for being smuggled into Thailand via northern border provinces, a senior government official said yesterday.
Narcotics Control Board secretar... | |
| The First Free and Independent Burmese-language TV channel | read more |
| The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) will start broadcasting satellite TV into Burma from 28th May, 2005. This will be the first ever free and independent Burmese-language TV channel. The Burmese people will finally be able to watch television programmes ... | |
| More Shan refugees flee to Thailand | read more |
| Some 500 people have abandoned their homes and fields in Southern Shan State’’s Lai-Hka Township and fled to Thailand following the Burma Army’’s sweeping crackdown on supporters of the Interim Shan Government (ISG). Shan refugees including 10 Buddhi... | |
| Burma Launches UN-sponsored HIV-AIDS Program | read more |
| The United Nations and the Burmese government have launched a program to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV-AIDS, UNICEF said Tuesday.
The program began Monday at Burma’s 10 largest hospitals and will gradually be exten... | |
| Human trafficking in Chiang Rai | read more |
| The chauffeur of an interprovincial bus was arrested and charged with human trafficking yesterday, after highway police found five Burmese teenagers hiding in a false compartment.
A search of the Mae Sai - Bangkok coach at a che... | |
| Shan elders’ independence declaration shunned by others | read more |
| Surprised announcement by Shan elders is not being welcomed by most of the groups in Burmese political sphere in and outside the country.
"I declare and affirm the Independence of the Federated Shan States by the Will and in the... | |
| Laos will listen to Rangoon before deciding | read more |
| Vientiane - Laos will hear Rangoon’’s point of view before deciding on Burma’’s controversial chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) next year, Lao Foreign Minister Somsavad Lengsawat said yesterday.
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| Founding Meeting of the Child’s Dream Foundation Thailand | read more |
| Many felt a bit uneasy. The sheer size of Marc Faber’s mansion did not fail to stun the founding members. Almost humbled they were gazing at the extravagant interior design resembling a mixture of a museum of communism with a traditional Shanghainese lounge.&nbs... | |
| KNPP leader afraid Burmese will attack using chemical weapons | read more |
| Chief of staff of the Kayinni National Progressive Party (KNPP), Col. Pong Nai revealed that an estimated 5,000 Burmese soldiers and 1,000 soldiers of the Kayinni National People’s Liberation Front (KNPLF) and the Karenni Solidarity Organization (KNSO), and another 800 sold... | |
| Burmese death toll ’at least 2,500’ | read more |
| Ranong - At least 2,500 Burmese migrant workers were killed in Phangnga province when the tsunami struck on Dec 26, Burmese non-governmental organisations based in Thailand said yesterday.
Moe Swe, secretary-general of the Yaung... | |
| Clash between KNU and Burmese troops | read more |
| There has been a heavy clash between the fighters of Karen National Union (KNU) and the troops of Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) near the Thai-Burma border. The spokesman of KNU Phado Mahn Sha confirmed that the clash occurred at 10.50am,... | |
| Civilians used as military porters by Burma junta | read more |
| After the removal of General Khin Nyunt as the “Prime Minister” of Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the junta has been using more civilians as military porters and landmine sweepers in its increasing attacks on the Karen National Union (KN... | |
| UN welcomes Malaysia’s decision to grant temporary stay to Myanmar refugees | read more |
| The United Nations refugee agency today welcomed the recent decision of the Malaysian Government to grant temporary stay permits to the Rohingya refugee population from Myanmar.
"This demonstrates the strong humanitarian commitm... | |
| UN pfficials welcome South-East Asian agreement on human trafficking | read more |
| United Nations officials today hailed the signing of a cooperation agreement by six Southeast Asian countries to tackle the scourge of human trafficking.
At a meeting in Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, representatives from Cambo... | |
| Myanmar’s hardliners extend control after shock PM sacking | read more |
| YANGON, Oct 20 (AFP) - Hardliners in Myanmar’’s military junta consolidated control of the country Wednesday after ousting the prime minister, amid gloomy prospects for the release of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Pro-democracy activists expressed... | |
| Laos: Military atrocities against Hmong children are war crimes | read more |
| Amnesty International is horrified by recent reports, including video evidence and witness testimony, of an attack by Lao soldiers against a group of five children, four of them girls, in the Xaisomboune military zone on 19 May 2004. | |
| A Samaritan’s Quest to Save Children | read more |
| MAE SAI, Thailand, Sep 16 (IPS) - He is treated like a star when he crosses the bridge that connects this northern town in Thailand to Burma. As he walks, the street children call out his name, while frail women, with babies in their arms, come up to him and smile. ... | |
| Tak governor wants 80,000 Burmese in Mae Sot repatriated | read more |
| Tak - Provincial authorities will propose the repatriation of around 80,000 Burmese refugees during the mobile cabinet meeting in Mae Sot district on Oct 18.
Tak governor Suwat Tanprawat said problems associated with Burmese ref... | |
| Four injured in bomb explosion on Burmese border | read more |
| A bomb explosion at the Mae Sam Laep market on the Thai-Burmese border in Mae Hong Song resulted in three Burmese Army personnel being wounded and one Thai man critically injured.
The explosion occurred in the Sri Thong Restaur... | |
| Sixteen year-old boy recruited to Burma’s army twice | read more |
| A 16-year former soldier from Rangoon was recruited back to the army. Min Chan Myet from Hlaing Thaya Township, Rangoon was first forced to join the army two years ago. He managed to run back to his family a few months later. But he was recaptured and punished ... | |
| Restaurants lure students | read more |
| Chiang Rai - Local police have moved to stop the hiring of students as waiters and waitresses at restaurants in Chiang Rai because many of the places act as a front for child prostitution. Several restaurants have already been closed down, provincial police chief Pol Maj-Ge... | |
| NLD youths return UNHCR protection cards | read more |
| Seven exiled youth members of National League for Democracy (NLD) in Thailand on 19 July handed back the protection cards granted to them by the UNHCR, in protest of the Thai government and Burmese military junta’s efforts to push them out to a third country. | |
| New designer drugs, heroin replacing ya ba tablets | read more |
| The ONCB (Office of Narcotic Control Board Northern Region) is keeping a close watch on new drugs being smuggled into the country from Myanmar.
The director, Pittaya Jinawat, said that the new drugs include ‘ice’, a crystalline ... | |
| Chinese immigrants choose drug trade over chow mein | read more |
| Provincial police in Chiang Rai have raided a gang of suspected human traffickers and made 18 arrests.
Chiang Rai Governor Narin Panitchakitch said on July 3 that Wandee Luangsaen, Kaew and Saipetch (surnames unknown), and 15 Bu... | |
| HIV/AIDS PREVENTION: UNDP warns of looming disaster | read more |
| Thailand may be heading towards an HIV/Aids disaster unless it shakes off its complacency over past successes battling the disease, a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report concluded yesterday.
The report, which dea... | |
| Loas reduces opium poppy cultivation by half | read more |
| Opium cultivation in Laos fell by 45 per cent this year, and if it continues alongside a similar decline in Myanmar, could mean the end of more than 100 years of opium production in the Golden Triangle, the United Nations anti-drug agency said today. | |
| US places Thailand on Tier 2 watchlist | read more |
| The United States has placed Thailand on its Tier 2 watchlist in its annual human trafficking report, saying the country has failed to provide sufficient evidence of increased efforts to combat the global menace. Said to be the most comprehensive worldwide report on ... | |
| US seeks Myanmar democracy leader free on birthday | read more |
| WASHINGTON, June 18 (AFP) - The United States on Friday demanded Myanmar’s military rulers free Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who marks her 59th birthday on Saturday under house arrest. National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi and party c... | |
| Burmese monks defrocked in Thailand | read more |
| Burmese Buddhist monks studying and practising religious teachings at monasteries inside Thailand have been forcibly defrocked with the order of the Interior Ministry and forced to work as labourers for their survival. | |
| Crackdown in Chiang Rai | read more |
| Provincial governor Narin Panichakit has announced plans for a major crackdown on human trafficking next month, with authorities expecting a flood of illegal immigrants during the period for foreign workers to register. Mr Narin said a shelter and trafficking-suppres... | |
| Govt warned on human trafficking | read more |
| Attempts to solve human trafficking may fail if the government denies the country is the origin, transit and destination point of human trafficking rackets all rolled into one, says an activist. An 18-year-old girl recently rescued from a human trafficking gang has g... | |
| Bush extends sanctions on Myanmar for another year | read more |
| WASHINGTON, May 17 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Monday extended for another year sanctions on military-ruled Myanmar "for large-scale repression of the democratic opposition." ... | |
| Annan urges agreement on participation in Myanmar’s constitutional convention | read more |
| United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged the parties in Myanmar to try to reach agreement that would allow the party of democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to participate in next week’’s constitutional convention. | |
| Constitutional talks in Myanmar not credible without full participation - Annan | read more |
| Constitutional talks in Myanmar would not be credible without the full participation of democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’’s party and other political groups, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned today.
The Secretary-G... | |
| Australian held on sex charges | read more |
| The Australian computer expert known in Chiangmai for over 5 years as David Alexander was arrested late last month on charges of indecency with under age boys, harbouring illegal Burmese immigrant boys at his home, procuring children for prostitution and fraud involving com... | |
| PM regrets Suu Kyi not freed to attend charter convention | read more |
| Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has expressed disappointment at Burma’s refusal to free National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and go ahead with its constitutional convention despite a boycott by the main opposition party. Mr Thaksin, however, ... | |
| Child soldiers still used in Burmese army | read more |
| Although Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has been saying that no more children are being recruited into the army, a recent report shows that there are at least 400 child soldiers at Kale in northwest Burma alone. | |
| Annan urges Myanmar to allow broadest participation in constitutional convention | read more |
| With Myanmar announcing that it will convene a national convention to draft a new constitution, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged the government to lift restrictions on democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and to allow the broadest participation possi... | |
| Prospects of women and children in Laos still lag, UNICEF reports | read more |
| Children and women in Laos continue to suffer social and economic disadvantage, especially in rural areas, according to a mid-term review of a four-year assistance project run by the United Nations Children’’s Fund (UNICEF) and the country’’s Governm... | |
| Three sentenced to death in Burma for contact with the ILO | read more |
Three people have been convicted of high treason and sentenced to death by Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) for having contacts with the UN’’s International Labour Organization (ILO). | |
| Couple ’smuggled 6,000 speed tablets’ | read more |
| A Thai couple was arrested for smuggling 6,000 methamphetamine pills from Burma into Mae Sot district on Friday night amid a surge in the number of small-scale traffickers here. The Fourth Infantry Regiment Task Force’’s patrol team and border patrol poli... | |
| UN refugee arm and Myanmar strike deal to build conditions for possible returns | read more |
| The United Nations refugee agency has reached an agreement with Myanmar’’s Government to begin measures to create the necessary conditions in the country’’s east to allow the large-scale return of refugees from neighbouring Thailand.
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| Clashes between KNPP and SPDC | read more |
| There had been a clash between the fighters of Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) and the soldiers of Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) on the Thai-Burma border.
The clash occurred on 6 March near... | |
| Child rape raising | read more |
| Phnom Penh - A human rights group said on Monday most rape victims in Cambodia are under 19 with an ’’alarming’’ number who are 12 or younger. In a report, the Phnom Penh-based group Licadho said that in 78% of 177 rape cases it investigated last year the victims were 18 ye... | |
| Thailand imposes more restrictive policies on Burmese refugees | read more |
| Thailand’’s desire to forge closer political and economic ties with Burma’’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has led to new policies that could jeopardize the security of Burmese refugees, political exiles and migrant worke... | |
| HIV/AIDS festers in climate of prison, addiction and forced prostitution - UN | read more |
| Drug addiction, human trafficking and prison together form a "trilogy" of conditions contributing to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said today.
Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director of ... | |
| PM voices hope for Suu Kyi | read more |
| Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra hopes Burma will free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest before October, said government spokesman Jakrapop Penkair yesterday. Mr Thaksin raised the issue in private talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Phan Van Kh... | |
| Burma’s SPDC might release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi | read more |
| The Foreign Minister of Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) U Win Aung said that the constitution drafting ‘National Convention’ would be convened either in the first or second part of 2004 and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi could be released before tha... | |
| KNU celebrates 55th anniversary of revolution | read more |
| Karen National Union (KNU) celebrated the 55th anniversary of its revolution on 31 January at a location inside Karen State in southeast Burma.
The ceremony was attended by KNU fighters, leaders, military alliances and civilians and the... | |
| Monks arrested for not consuming SPDC’s donations | read more |
| Around 150 Buddhist monks in Rangoon were arrested, forcibly disrobed, detained and charged with ‘rebellion against the state’ for not consuming nourishments offered by the officials of Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
... | |
| KNU, junta agree on ceasefire after week of talks in Rangoon | read more |
| The KNU has fought a guerrilla war along the Thai-Burmese border since 1949.
A 21-member delegation led by Karen military leader Bo Mya flew out of Burma’’s capital Rangoon yesterday after a week of talks with senio... | |
| Army claims big drop in opium crop in the North | read more |
| The Third Army claims that the government’s anti-drug campaign has forced a sharp decline in opium farming in the North from 5,000 rai last year to just 1,000 rai this year.
Doi Tung Development Project director M.R. Disna... | |
| Myanmar: Amnesty International calls for Actions not Words | read more |
| Bangkok: 22 December 2003. Following a 17 day visit to Myanmar, an Amnesty International delegation called on the government to release all prisoners of conscience and stop arresting people for their peaceful dissent.
At a pres... | |
| Annan hails encouraging signs from Myanmar government on national reconciliation | read more |
| United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today welcomed recent encouraging signs from the Government of Myanmar on the national reconciliation process and urged that his Special Envoy be allowed to visit the country to help boost the participation of all parties concerne... | |
| Striking Burmese deported | read more |
| Security forces stormed a temple in Mae Sot district yesterday and arrested 320 Burmese workers at a garment factory who had been on strike since last Thursday.
All lost their work permits, became illegal immigrants and were de... | |
| Anti-Aids cocktails prepared for 50,000 | read more |
| The Public Health Ministry has prepared three cocktails of anti-Aids drugs for 50,000 people with HIV/Aids whose immunity falls below certain levels.
Most people who meet the criteria would get GPOVIR, a cocktail drug which com... | |
| KNU, junta in tentative ceasefire | read more |
| The anti-Rangoon Karen National Union and the Burmese junta have verbally agreed on a ceasefire.
The truce was recognised during talks between KNU representatives led by Lt-Col Saw Soe and Burmese Prime Minister Khin Nyunt. | |
| UN Agencies launch programme to treat 3 million HIV-infected people by 2005 | follow link |
| The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN's umbrella AIDS-fighting agency, UNAIDS, today unveiled a detailed plan, the 3x5 initiative, to train tens of thousands of community workers in developing and transition countries to provide anti-retroviral treat... | |
| Free Aids drugs and condoms | read more |
| The Thai government will give one million condoms and anti-Aids drugs to Rangoon to fight the disease. As Aids is a big problem at the Thai-Burmese border, Rangoon has agreed to promote the 100% condom use in its territory. The distribution of condoms and the locally-made G... | |
| Conditions in Burma worse so US may get tougher | read more |
| The United States on Monday vowed to keep in place though new economic sanctions against Burma and said it would consider additional penalties against its military leaders if human rights and other conditions did not improve.
At... | |