Burma/Myanmar
Current Situation
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2011 Global Peace Index ranking of 153 countries: 133 |
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There are an estimated 470,000 people displaced in eastern Burma-Myanmar, with more having been displaced since the general elections held in November 2010 |
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146,000 refugees live in camps along the Thai-Burma border |
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Around 5.2 million people live in townships contaminated with landmines |
For years, Burma/Myanmar was ruled by a military junta which suppressed almost all dissent and wielded absolute power in the face of international condemnation and sanctions. With the recent elections, many had hoped that the situation would improve. Unfortunately, all early indications are that the elections have done nothing to weaken military control over the country. The former military junta and its proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, have a stranglehold on parliament with a Constitution that empowers the military to resume control whenever it considers national security is under threat.
There is ongoing conflict in Burma/Myanmar between government forces and ethnic groups, as well as large scale displacement and gross human rights violations, particularly in ethnic areas and in regions where there are large infrastructure projects.
Burma/Myanmar’s military and non-state armed groups have used antipersonnel mines consistently throughout the country’s long-running civil war. These landmines are concentrated in border areas from decades-old struggles for autonomy by ethnic minorities.
Act for Peace in Burma/Myanmar
Act for Peace supports a range of partners in Burma/Myanmar and on its borders. We are a member of the Thai-Burma Border Consortium which provides food, shelter and other assistance for 146,000 refugees in 10 camps. We have received generous funding from AusAID and our supporters for many years for this work. This has now also allowed us expand support to medical, water and sanitation programs.
The camps are managed by committees of refugees elected by the refugee population. This is an effective model, though sadly it is rare in other camps around the world.
Act for Peace also supports community-based organisations in the conflict zones in eastern Burma/Myanmar providing humanitarian assistance to internally displaced people, whom no other aid agencies can reach. This assistance includes food aid and mine action to prevent further incidents and assist victims.
One part of the mine action program is a prosthetic clinic in Karen State, Burma/Myanmar, where mine-survivors have constructed the building and run the clinic on a volunteer basis. Last year, 8,513 people in villages were educated about the risks of landmines through this program.
To read the report Displacement and Poverty in South East Burma / Myanmar from the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, please click here.
Please click here to see an update on the situation in Burma.
Click here to read about how monthly giving by Act for Peace Partners is supporting a clinic which provides prosthetic limbs to victims of landmines, and educates villagers about the risks of landmines. Click here to read some stories from Burmese refugees.
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can provide a Burmese refugee with one month’s rice
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can provide a Burmese refugee with one year’s worth of nutritious food
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can feed a Burmese family of five for six months
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Video: Act for Peace Supports the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium
