Join our mailing list for latest news and information about Burma.
Posts Tagged ‘Census’ (13 found)
Dispatches: What Burma’s Census Missed
The preliminary results of Burma’s first nationwide census since 1983 were released in Rangoon last Saturday, providing an answer to the vexing question of the actual population, estimates of which varied between 44 to 59 million for a decade. The new tally (minus some low-population areas of northern Karen State and Kachin State not included because of security concerns) is 51.4 million […]
• • •Calls for DFID Burma Census Inquiry Top 1,000
More than a thousand people have written to Justine Greening, Secretary of State for International Development, calling for an inquiry into why the Department for International Development (DFID) spent 10m on Burma’s disastrous census earlier this year. DFID has not yet responded to these calls […]
• • •Burma Army Makes a Mockery of the Census and its Backers
———— We would like to dedicate our Weekly Highlights today to U Win Tin, Co-founder and patron of the National League for Democracy, for always standing up for the oppressed and voiceless. We are deeply saddened Ba Ba passed away this morning. Although he is no longer physically with us, his unwavering righteous mind and courage will continue to be the guiding light and the inspiration for us and for all who continue in their fight for genuine democracy and freedom of speech in Burma.
Just 48 hours after peace talks in Rangoon concluded on 8 April between the government and ethnic non-state armed groups, including the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the Burma Army launched another round of offensives in southern Kachin State against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Fighting has been on-going since, forcing thousands of Kachin, Shan, and Palaung villagers to flee, many of whom had already been displaced in this conflict.
Burma Army soldiers originally used the nationwide census as a pretext to accompany enumerators into KIA territory and launch attacks on various KIA outposts. State media has reported 22 dead due to the resulting clashes but the true figure is probably much higher. Meanwhile, according to a statement released by a coalition of humanitarian groups working in the conflict-affected areas, over three thousand villagers have been forced to flee, many of whom had to leave an internally displaced people (IDP) camp, from which they had settled after previous attacks. Several local news sources have stated the figure of those displaced maybe as high as ten thousand people […]
• • •DFID Should Conduct Inquiry Into Burma Census Funding
Burma Campaign UK is calling on Justine Greening, Secretary of State for International Development, to conduct an inquiry into the decision making process which led to the Department for International Development (DFID) giving the government of Burma £10m ($16m) of British aid money for Burma’s controversial census […]
• • •Department of State: Statement by Marie Harf, Deputy Spokesperson: United States Concern Over Events in Rakhine State
The United States remains deeply concerned by the humanitarian crisis in Burma’s Rakhine State. Violent mob attacks on United Nations and nongovernmental organization offices worsened an already troubling situation stemming from restriction of the operations of a major humanitarian organization that provided health care services to 140,000 internally displaced persons and hundreds of thousands of additional individuals in need. Currently, large segments of the population do not have access to adequate medical services, water, sanitation, and food. The government has so far failed to provide adequate security and the travel authorizations necessary for the humanitarian aid workers to resume their life-saving services […]
• • •UNFPA, DFID & Other Donors Should Withdraw Burma Census Support
Burma Campaign UK today called on the United Nations, the Department for International Development (DFID) and other donors to Burma’s census to withdraw their political, technical and financial support in order to avoid further endorsement of discriminatory policies against the Rohingya being applied in the census […]
• • •Facilitating Hate from the Highest Levels of Power
The situation in Arakan State is deteriorating rapidly as extremist monks continue to spread hate speech and incite violence against the Muslim community with impunity. With the upcoming census set to inflame tensions over the issue of Rohingya, Arakanese nationalists have been exacerbating these tensions by campaigning for the census to be changed. Such protests descended into violence as United Nations (UN) and non-governmental organizations’ (NGO) offices were ransacked and aid workers forced to flee. Meanwhile, at the national level, highly discriminatory laws are being drafted by certain ministries to be presented to Parliament.
The leader of the extremist Buddhist 969 movement, Wirathu, has been whipping up anti-Muslim fervor among the local Arakanese Buddhist population, demanding that the UN-planned census be changed. The All Rakhine Committee for the Census (ARCC) had threatened a state-wide boycott of the census due to the option for Rohingya to identify themselves as Rohingya. Adding to the tension has been the antagonism towards international relief and UN agencies for allegedly favouring Rohingya Muslims in their work. This is, of course, a preposterous claim given that such organizations engage in service provision for those who need it most, regardless of their ethnicity, religion or political affiliation, with the majority of such victims happening to be Rohingya. This fervor came to a head as mobs descended on UN and NGO offices in the state capital, Sittwe, late last week […]
• • •Burma: Postpone Flawed Census to Avert Violence
(New York) – Burma’s national government should postpone the planned nationwide census to prevent growing communal violence and attacks on the aid community, Human Rights Watch said today. At greatest risk are vulnerable Muslim communities and aid workers from international organizations […]
• • •Burma Census Should Be Postponed – European Burma Network
Members of the European Burma Network call upon the government of Burma, the United Nations Population Fund, and international donors, to postpone the upcoming census on Burma. We believe that carrying out the census at the current time will exacerbate ethnic and religious tensions in the country […]
• • •Karen Worldwide Call for Burma’s Census to be Postponed
28 Karen community organisations from 11 countries are writing to the United Nations Population Fund and their respective governments, expressing deep concern over Burma’s upcoming census, and calling for it to be postponed […]
• • •
All posts