1. This submission focuses on Burma’s compliance with international human rights obligations in relation to Burma’s refugees and displaced persons safe, dignified and voluntary return. It draws on interviews conducted with a mixture of semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups with refugees from Mae La, Umpiem Mai, Ban Nai Soi, and Mae Ra Ma Luang refugee camps including women, youth and religious minority groups, Mon, Karenni, and Karen civil society groups, ethnic armed groups (EAGs), refugee committees, and international non-governmental organizations […]
• • •The situation in Burma is changing, in some case for the better and in others for the worse. In the midst of this FBR continues its mission of giving help, hope and love and putting a light on the situation. In areas where there have been improvements, such as parts of Karen State, some of […]
• • •MYITKYINA, Kachin State — Being forced to flee their burned out homes after fighting flared in Kachin State in June 2011 put incredible strain on the families of Lashi Lu and her fellow villager Hkawn Nan, who along with many of their neighbors took shelter in a Myitkyina camp for internally displaces persons (IDPs). But things got far worse for both women a year later, when soldiers from Infantry Battalion 37 arrested their husbands while they were working as cattle hands […]
• • •More than 1,000 displaced civilians from five villages in northern Burma have been trapped for over a week without food and other assistance amid clashes between ethnic rebels and government troops in Kachin State, according to a religious group that provides aid for the displaced […]
• • •The Joint Strategy Team (JST) is raising our concern over the recent mortar shelling by the Myanmar Army that exploded very close to Alen Bum IDPs Boarding School, Laiza, Kachin State. On 25 June 2015, at approximately 5:30 pm, a mortar shell exploded about 200 meters from the dormitory and the headmaster’s house. Alen Bum Boarding School is a residence of 986 students and 95 teachers […]
• • •Every year on 20 June, many refugees who have fled Burma due to ongoing conflict, persecution, and human rights abuses, mark World Refugee Day with a sense of uncertainty and anxiety towards their future. This year, as the rainy season begins, refugees along the Thailand-Burma border and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Kachin, Chin, Arakan and northern Shan States, as well as other conflict-ridden areas, face severe shortages in aid. Over 220,000 IDPs are in camps in northern Burma, while a further 110,000 refugees live in a protracted refugee situation along the Thailand-Burma border. If Burma hopes to make a genuine transition towards democracy it must recognize, respect, and protect the rights of refugees and IDPs […]
• • •On 9 June 2015, the latest summit of ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) concluded in Law Khee Lar, Karen State. On the very same day four years ago, Burma Army broke its 17-year-old ceasefire agreement with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and launched a relentless offensive in Kachin and northern Shan State. As EAOs, including the KIA, were reaffirming their unity, organizations around the world displayed solidarity with those suffering from this four year war, calling for conflict to end, and humanitarian aid to be delivered to over 120,000 displaced by this bloody and ruthless war […]
• • •Despite talks of a ceasefire, heavy and escalating fighting has been occurring throughout Northern Burma in the last two months. This report is a summary of this fighting; a more detailed daily analysis of events is available on request. Because this report uses only FBR reports and not those of other sources, it does not represent a totality of events; actual totals may be much higher […]
• • •[Chiang Mai, Thailand] The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) today condemned both the Arakan Army (AA) and the Burma Army for human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, in the context of recent outbreaks of conflict between the two sides in Paletwa, southern Chin State […]
• • •[Chiang Mai, Thailand] The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) today condemned both the Arakan Army (AA) and the Burma Army for human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, in the context of recent outbreaks of conflict between the two sides in Paletwa, southern Chin State […]
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