100 Days of Burma’s Parliament: Strengthening the Status Quo

The 11th of May marks one hundred days since the convening of Burma’s Parliament on 31 January. The laws governing the proceedings of the first parliamentary session in 22 years gagged MPs and restrict civilian access to the Parliament. Many MPs complained about being subjected to detention-like living conditions. The regime also barred domestic journalists and foreign correspondents from covering the session […]

Statement of the 2011 Asean Civil Society Conference/Asean Peoples’ Forum

During the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum 2011 (ACSC/APF) in Jakarta, Indonesia, the 1,300 delegates gathered to discuss key concerns confronting the peoples of ASEAN, and produced the statement linked within.[…]

Burma Briefing No. 12: Crisis in Shan State

On 13th March 2011 the dictatorship in Burma broke a 22 year long ceasefire agreement with the Shan State Army – North. Sixty-five clashes were reported in the first three weeks of the dictatorship breaking the ceasefire. Civilians are being targeted in the military offensive […]

Locked in, Tied up: Burma’s Disciplined Democracy

On 30 March 2011, the military regime’s long-running play ‘roadmap to democracy’ concluded almost eight years after its release. In the military stronghold of Naypyidaw, President-elect Thein Sein was sworn […]

Human Rights Violations in Burma’s 2010 Elections

Despite restrictive conditions, human rights groups, political organizations, media and ethnic groups from both inside and outside of Burma (including ND- Burma) managed to collect information on violations related to the 2010 elections. As a human rights network, ND-Burma monitored the elections primarily in terms of human rights violations. The findings of this report demonstrate the elections-related human rights violations are consistent with the ongoing violations committed by the military personnel and their proxies as they carry out military campaigns, as they secure areas for development projects, and whenever and wherever civilians dare to challenge the military’s illegitimate authority […]

The ADB in Burma: Behind the Scenes

This paper recommends that until the people of Burma can meaningfully participate in development decisions, preconditions for responsible investment are in place, and adverse impacts can be mitigated, then the ADB should refrain from any form of new engagement with Burma. If they do engage (i.e., fund, facilitate, administer) in Burma, the ADB must follow the International Financial Corporation’s “Sustainability Framework” and adhere to their own safeguard policies, including safeguards on Involuntary Resettlement, Environment and Indigenous People, as well as the ADB’s Accountability Mechanism and Public Communications Policy […]

The Burma-China Pipelines: Human Rights Violations, Applicable Law, and Revenue Secrecy

EarthRights International (ERI) today issued a damning report linking major Chinese and Korean companies to widespread land confiscation, and cases of forced labor, arbitrary arrest, detention and torture, and violations of indigenous rights connected to the Shwe natural gas project and oil transport projects in Burma (Myanmar). The publication, The Burma-China Pipelines: Human Rights Violations, Applicable Law, and Revenue Secrecy, draws primarily on two years of clandestine interviews with affected populations from Arakan State, Magway Division, and Mandalay Division, as well as leaked documents that provide new insight into secretive payments between the oil companies and the military regime, controversial security arrangements, and inadequate corporate due diligence […]

Q & A on an International Commission of Inquiry

In March 2010, the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, called on the UN to consider the possibility of establishing a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into crimes in violation of international law committed in Burma. Thus far, 16 states have endorsed this call to address systematic, widespread, and serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Such abuses include war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by the Burmese armed forces and non-state armed groups.

Human Rights Watch calls on relevant UN bodies to establish a Commission of Inquiry to investigate reports of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Burma by all parties, and to identify the perpetrators of such violations with a view to ensuring that those responsible are held accountable […]

Burma Briefer No. 10: Political Prisoners in Burma – A Crime Against Humanity

[…] Most attention on possible war crimes and crimes against humanity taking place in Burma has focused on attacks and persecution on ethnic minorities, particularly crimes committed against the ethnic Karen, Karenni and Shan in Eastern Burma, and against the Rohingya in Western Burma, and the Chin in the Northwest. This briefing looks at an area which has so far not received much attention, the detention and treatment of political prisoners […]

Burma Issues & Concerns Vol. 6: The 2010 Generals’ Elections

The report provides an incisive analysis of Burma’s 2010 elections and documents the extent to which the SPDC orchestrated and controlled every aspect of the election process. The report analyzes the conduct of the election process using key indicators based on commonly accepted standards for election monitoring (i.e. UN, OSCE, and EU guidelines) to demonstrate that the polls were not free and fair […]