Fear & Voting in Burma/Myanmar: 2015 Election

On 8 November, up to 32 million Burmese voters will elect representatives to fill 1,171 seats in the National and State/ Division Parliaments. Ninety one political parties will compete for 75% of seats in the legislature, while 25% remain reserved for the Tatmadaw. Despite official promises of a “free and fair” election, multiple flaws continue to undermine the credibility of the process […]

Southeast Asia: Deadly Journeys – The Refugee and Trafficking Crisis in Southeast Asia

In May 2015 three boats carrying 1,800 women, men and children landed in Aceh, Indonesia. Most of the passengers were Muslim Rohingya, a persecuted religious and ethnic minority from Myanmar […]

The Current State of Counternarcotics Policy and Drug Reform Debates in Myanmar

Are Myanmar’s current drug policies effective? How do they impact important issues such as human rights, sustainable development, ethnic conflict, and the peace process?

UN Secretary General Calls For Investigation Into Sexual Violence in Burma

As the United Nations Security Council prepares to hold a debate on sexual violence in conflict on Friday 25th April, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on the government of Burma to fully investigate crimes of sexual violence, and work with the United Nations […]

Rohingya Women and Children Raped and Killed

On 13th January 2014, in the early morning at around 3 am, a group of police, security forces, military and Rakhine entered Kiladaung village, south of Maungdaw, Arakan State. They entered a house and demanded valuables, gold and money from the Rohingya woman living there. Her husband had hidden when they saw the security forces approaching. When the woman refused to give them her jewellery, the security forces raped and killed her. When her children began shouting, many villagers came and violence started […]

Systematic Sexual Violence in Burma’s Ethnic Areas: New Report

Today marks the launch of an important new report documenting ongoing crimes of sexual violence-over 100 cases documented since 2010, including 47 gang rapes–perpetrated by the Burmese military in ethnic regions of Burma.

The Women’s League of Burma (WLB), consisting of thirteen women’s organizations representing different ethnic areas in Burma, released the report, “Same Impunity, Same Pattern: Sexual abuses by the Burma army will not stop until there is a genuine civilian government, “and is urging an immediate end to these atrocities […]

Training War Criminals? – British Training of the Burmese Army

The British government are spending £87,850 on military training for the Burmese Army without setting any preconditions on their improving human rights and supporting democratic reform.

Burma Campaign UK today publishes a new briefing paper, ‘Training War Criminals? – British Training of the Burmese Army’, examining the British government’s controversial military training to the Burmese Army […]

Ongoing Burmese Army Atrocities in Kachin State are Undermining the Peace Process

New documentation by the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT) exposes recent atrocities by Burmese government troops against Kachin civilians, despite ongoing peace negotiations.

KWAT’s new update documents abuses committed in Nhka Ga village, near Putao, northern Kachin State, in September 2013 […]

2nd Anniversary of Sumlut Roi Ja Abduction Highlights Impunity in Burma

Today marks the second anniversary of Sumlut Roi Ja, an ethnic Kachin woman, being abducted by the Burmese Army. She is still missing, presumed dead.

Sumlut Roi Ja is a 28-year-old mother who was arrested by Burmese Army soldiers on October 28th 2011 while working on a family’s farm near her village Hkai Bang, close to the China border […]

Burmese Government Troops Use Villagers as Human Shields After Attacks Against Ceasefire Group in Central Shan State

On October 13, 2013, Burmese government troops forced 18 villagers to walk between them as human shields while returning to their base, after attacking a Shan ceasefire group in Kunhing, close to the Salween River, in central Shan State.

About 80 Burmese troops from Light Infantry Battalion 150, based at Mong Zarng, 30 miles north of Kunhing, had attacked the Shan State Army-South during October 10 to 12, firing mortar shells and causing over 100 people from the village of Paeng Ner, southeast of Kunhing, to flee their homes […]