CSW and CHRO Welcome MEP’s Letter to EU Foreign Policy Chief on Human Rights Violations in Burma

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) today warmly welcomed a letter sent by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Baroness Catherine Ashton, highlighting ongoing human rights violations in Burma […]

Kachin Organizations/Civil Society Groups Call for Investigation into Burma Army’s War Crimes in Laiza

We, the undersigned Kachin organisations, wish to express our grave concern over the widespread human rights violations being committed by the Burmese army against Kachin civilians, including the ongoing indiscriminate shelling of residential areas of Laiza, which recently led to the death of three civilians aged between 14 and 65, and injury of four others […]

Kachin Deaths A War Crime – Thousands More In Danger

Burma Campaign UK today called on the British government and United States to adopt a much more robust approach with the government of Burma in order to persuade President Thein Sein to halt Burmese Army attacks against the ethnic Kachin minority in Burma […]

CSW Calls For International Action to Pressure Burmese Government to Stop Attacks in Kachin State

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has called for international action following the Burma Army’s bombardment of Laiza, on the China-Burma border, in which three civilians, including a 76 year-old Christian pastor and a 15 year-old boy, were killed and four others injured […]

International Community Must Act to End Atrocities by Thein Sein’s Government

First use of airstrikes in twenty years brings fears of increased civilian fatalities and human rights abuses

The international community should act immediately to ensure that Thein Sein’s government stops military attacks and human rights abuses in Kachin State, the Women’s League of Burma said today. The international community should also provide humanitarian aid and impose an arms embargo on Thein Sein’s government […]

Communities Across Shan State Vent Frustration at Ongoing Abuses During Peace Process

Communities attending recent public meetings across Shan State vented frustration at ongoing abuses despite the fact that the new peace process has been underway for over a year […]

The Situation of Refugees on the Thai-Burma Border

This briefing paper looks at the current situation in Burma’s ethnic areas, the areas that refugees would be returned to, and shows how the conditions are not yet in place for their return. Furthermore, it highlights the need for the refugees to be included in these processes and lays out refugees and community-based organization’s preconditions for their return […]

Participation and Inclusion in Burma, Empty Words

Today, 10 December marks the United Nations’ Human Rights Day. This year’s theme is inclusion and the right to participate in public life, but these concepts are conspicuously absent in Burma today, as recent events have proved.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) identifies inclusion and the right to participate in public life as “essential elements in achieving the full range of human rights for all of us… the fulfillment of the right to participate is fundamental to the functioning of a democracy and an effective human rights protection system. When the right to participate and inclusion are respected, each and every one of us is offered the opportunity to join in the debate, to offer ideas and to campaign for change.”

To commemorate this day, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi joined the OHCHR’s event in Geneva as the keynote speaker via satellite, serving as both an advocate for participation in public life and an example of a person and a place where this right to participation was, and in many cases still is, absent. One of the largest challenges facing Burma today and in the future is whether the government is willing and able to provide this basic human right of inclusion and participation to all of its citizens […]

CSW Urges UK Minister to Prioritise Human Rights During Trade Mission to Burma

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) today urged the British Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Hugo Swire MP, to highlight the continuing grave human rights abuses in Burma, including violations of freedom of religion or belief, as he leads a trade delegation to the country next week […]

Take Action to Free Brang Yung and Lanpai Gam! No Political Prisoners must be Left Behind in Burma’s Jails!

Brang Yung and Lanpai Gam are two Kachin farmers who have been detained illegally and tortured brutally by the military-backed government in Burma. They were arrested in June 2012 and charged under Article 17/1 of the Unlawful Association Act. Their trials are still continuing at Myitkyina court in Kachin State.