http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=14975
Remembering U Thant and His Achievements
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By SAW YAN NAING Thursday, January 22, 2009
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The 100th birthday of the late UN Secretary General U Thant is being observed on Thursday—and nowhere with more reverence than in his native country, Burma.
Family members, friends, former colleagues and foreign diplomats were gathering for a commemoration ceremony at the Inya Lake Hotel on Thursday evening, said his son-in-law, Dr Tin Myint Oo.
U Thant, the third general secretary to run the UN since its post-war foundation, served from 1961 to 1971 and won lasting respect for his many achievements.
Multimedia (View)
He succeeded Dag Hammarskjöld when the Swedish diplomat died in an air crash in the Congo while on a mission to help end the civil war there.
U Thant was credited for completing Hammarskjöld’s work in the Congo and for helping to defuse the Cuban missile crisis shortly afterwards.
In the 10 years U Thant was in office, the UN faced many other world crises, including the Vietnam War and the 1965 conflict between India and Pakistan.
Colleagues who traveled with him to crisis zones recalled that o¬n many occasions he made bold and single-minded attempts to restore peace.
At home at the UN, U Thant established many of the world body’s development and environmental agencies, funds and programs, including the UN Development Programme, the UN University, the UN Institute for Training and Research and the UN Environmental Programme.
Veteran Burmese journalist Win Tin said in Rangoon that U Thant was a successful UN head and “different.”
“We should keep him in our memory,” Win Tin said. “We have to be proud of him.”
Veteran Burmese politician Thakin Chan Htun agreed, and said in Rangoon: “We have to be proud of him. We should not forget him and we should honor him.”
In a speech in New York in 2003, the then UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, hailed U Thant’s significant contributions in development programs, poverty alleviation, education, environmental protection and health.
Kofi Annan also praised U Thant’s treatment of the media. “It was U Thant who more than anyone before him opened up the United Nations to the media, because he understood that for the organization to earn the support of the world’s people, they must be kept fully informed and aware of its work.”
U Thant’s press secretary, Rames Nassif, once recalled: “For U Thant, the press conference was a pleasant experience. He had natural warmth towards journalists and was comfortable with them. He enjoyed thinking of himself as a former journalist, and often mentioned this.”
In his earlier years as a journalist in Burma, U Thant regularly contributed to magazines and newspapers under several pen names, including Thilawa, and translated a number of books, including one on the League of Nations.
U Thant served as secretary for Burma’s first Prime Minister U Nu, a close friend, from 1951 to 1957. He wrote speeches for U Nu, organized his overseas travel and meetings with foreign guests.
San San Nu, a daughter of U Nu, said of U Thant: “He was very clever and he was very generous, too. That’s why our father called on him to work with him.”
U Thant was born on January 22, 1909, in Pantanaw, in lower Burma’s Irrawaddy division. He was educated at the National High School in Pantanaw and at Rangoon University.
He died of lung cancer in New York on November 25, 1974, and his body was returned to Burma—but became the center of a political row.
Burma’s ruling dictator, Gen Ne Win, refused to hold a state ceremony for U Thant and also ignored his family’s request to have him interred near Rangoon’s Shwedagon Pagoda.
A group of students seized U Thant’s coffin from the airport and kept it at Rangoon University campus. Troops stormed the campus, killing at least 13 students and injuring 70 others. Around 3,000 students were arrested.
Finally, U Thant was laid to rest in a tomb near Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon. The currently UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-moon, visited the tomb during a visit to Burma in May last year.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Remembering U Thant and His Achievements
Centennial birthday of Myanmar's former UN chief marked - Summary
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/251955,centennial-birthday-of-myanmars-former-un-chief-marked--summary.html
Yangon - Relatives of Myanmar's former United Nations secretary general U Thant commemorated the centennial birthday of the controversial Burmese national hero on Thursday, amid reports that UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari will visit the country soon. The birthday anniversary celebration was organized by the U Thant Institute and Aye Aye Thant, daughter of U Thant, who is also the president of the institute.
UN representatives, foreign diplomats, a Myanmar foreign ministry representative attended the event, sources said.
Bishow Parajuli, the resident UN humanitarian coordinator, read out a message from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the ceremony.
Such events require official permission in Myanmar, which is ruled by a military junta. The permission to hold a party commemorating U Thant's centennial anniversary came amid reports that UN special envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari has planning a four-day visit to the country starting January 31.
Western diplomats at the U Thant ceremony confirmed the visit.
Gambari's last visit in August, 2008, proved a diplomatic disappointment, as he was denied meetings with both junta chief Senior General Than Shwe and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since May, 2003.
The UN has made little progress in pushing the junta towards freeing Suu Kyi and over 2,000 political prisoners and introducing democratic reforms.
U Thant, one of the few Burmese to reach international stature, remains a controversial figure in military-controlled Myanmar, also known as Burma.
U Thant served as the third secretary general of the United Nations, from 1961 to 1971. He was widely credited for his successful efforts for defusing Cuba's Missile Crisis and ending Congo's civil war during his term.
Born in Pantanaw town, in the Irrawaddy delta region, on January 22, 1909, U Thant died on November 25, 1974, while living abroad in self-imposed exile.
When his body was brought back to Yangon, then called Rangoon, for burial former military dictator General Ne Win refused it national honours.
University students snatched U Thant's coffin as it was heading for an ordinary burial on December 5, 1974, and took it to the Rangoon University Student Union grounds, turning the funeral into an anti-Ne Win uprising.
On December 11, 1974, troops stormed the university campus, dug out U Thant's coffin and reburied it at the current mausoleum at the foot of famous Shwedagon pagoda. Many students were killed in the incident, marking one of the first serious uprisings against Ne Win.
The current military regime remains loyal to the memory of Ne Win, whose coup in 1962 overthrew the country's first elected prime minister U Nu and put the country under the military's grip, where it remains today.
Copyright, respective author or news agency
Myanmar strives for development of cross-border fiber links with neighbors
http://en.ce.cn/National/Politics/200901/21/t20090121_18026625.shtml
Last Updated(Beijing Time):2009-01-21 15:15
Two cross-border fiber optic link projects, Myanmar-Thai's and Myanmar-India's, in addition to the already-established Myanmar-China's to boost information link between Myanmar and the two neighbors will be operational in the next two months as work on the two projects has almost been completed, according to the state-run Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) Wednesday.
The project has been implemented as part of the information superhighway network (ISN) project of the six-country Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS)-Economic Cooperation.
With the Myawaddy-Maesot cross-border network link as the final phase completed in last November, the Myanmar-Thai fiber optic link will be put into service in February, the MPT told media persons.
According to the MPT, the Myanmar-Thai fiber optic link, which is of 10 gigabyte and set up in cooperation with its Thai counterpart, will bring the country's total gigabyte to 20 after that with China.
The MPT also estimated that the cross-border optical fiber link between Myanmar and India will be completed and operational by March.
Under the Indian government loan, the project, which worths 7 million U.S. dollars, started in 2006 December.
The 640-kilometer-long Myanmar-India optical fiber link, which connects Indian's northeastern border town of Moreh and Myanmar's second largest city of Mandalay, passes through 6 cities of Tamu, Kampatwa, Kyi Gone, Shwebo, Monywa and Sagaing.
Along the fiber link, ADSL+2 system with 7,000 lines are being installed in 80 locations including Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw.
The project was signed between the MPT and the Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) during Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam's state visit to Myanmar in March 2006.
According to the contract, MPT and TCIL agree to implement SDH/STM 4 optical fiber link between the two cities and the ADSL system.
Earlier in March last year, fiber link between Myanmar and China, built since April 2007 and involving China Telecom and Yunnan Telecom, was set up in Myanmar's border town of Muse also as part of the regional ISN project.
The Myanmar-China fiber optic link was built across China's Kunming and Myanmar's Muse with its link further extended to reach the commercial city of Yangon.
The establishment of the fiber optic links between Myanmar and the three neighbors would not only improve the country's domestic information link system but also boost the country's information link with other GMS member countries, experts said, adding that the move would also improve Myanmar's international telephone service, internet usage and video-conferencing utilization.
There are 12 ISN fiber optic links being built across the GMS to boost information links.
With regard to the building of the fiber optic link across GMS, a memorandum of understanding was signed at the ministerial meeting of the GMS in Laos in 2004.
The ISN project covers building of a commercialized information and communication platform in order to launch basic business of chatting, data, connection of internet as well as distant education, medical treatment, e-government and e-commerce which will sharply raise the capacity of the internet to promote the socio-economic development of the sub-region.
Source:Xinhuanet
Related articles
America's Future Is Tied to Asia's Print Mail
http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.29233/pub_detail.asp
By Michael Auslin
Posted: Wednesday, January 21, 2009
ARTICLES
Far Eastern Economic Review (January 2009)
Publication Date: January 21, 2009
To mitigate consequences of an economic downturn well underway and security threats that are ever-present on the Korean Peninsula, the Taiwan Straits, and beyond, Obama and his team should boldly engage Asia by promoting free trade and reassessing the security environment, especially surrounding the Six Party Talks.
Resident Scholar
Michael Auslin
It's no surprise that U.S. President Barack Obama has said little about Asia since being elected last November. Compared to America's economic disaster and the ongoing Middle East crises, Asia may seem a veritable sea of tranquility. Yet turbulent currents are running under the surface, and the costs of either economic or political disruption in Asia could well dwarf anything else America faces. For this reason alone, the new president and his team need a bold engagement with Asia in his first days in office.
Even in this economic collapse, Asia continues to produce nearly two-thirds of global output, the majority of which is exported to the West. Yet Japan, China, and other major producers are facing a severe downturn in exports, and Japan, where manufacturing output dropped by nearly 8% in November, has already slipped into an official recession. Chinese consumer goods factories are laying off workers or shutting down, and numerous experts warn of potential social unrest if economic conditions worsen in China's less prosperous interior regions. Even recent mini-tigers, like Vietnam, are revising their growth predictions downward.
The danger in the coming years is that fragile Asian economies might look to exclusive trading arrangements or move to protect domestic markets, partly as a result of citizen demands. This would turn back decades of growth that have pulled millions in Asia out of poverty and have benefited Western business and consumers, as well. President Obama should therefore throw his support behind ratification of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and use its passage as a stepping stone to a renewed round of free trade negotiations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and Japan. Having the U.S. play a major role early on will make more likely the prospect of region-wide free-trade talks, and increase the chance that Japan and China will have confidence to work together, and not in competition, in a multilateral setting.
President Obama and his team must recognize that America's future is tied to Asia's, and that their success will in part will be viewed through an Asian prism.
Similarly, the Obama administration should consider high-level, public discussions between the U.S. and Asian nations on paths forward in the economic crisis. Pulling together Japan, Korea, China, India, Indonesia, and others for a "lessons learned" summit from the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 1990s failed pump-priming policies of the Japanese may result in a series of initiatives that have more common agreement behind them than the irrelevant G-20 summit convened by former U.S. President George W. Bush in November.
Economics are not the only landmine facing President Obama's Asian policy. Security and political issues in Asia present a mixed bag that will require a nuanced U.S. approach. The failure of the Six Party Talks means that Secretary of State Hilary Clinton will have to work from a de facto U.S. acceptance of a nuclear North Korea that appears interested only in an endless diplomatic rondeau. President Obama and Secretary Clinton must determine if there is any utility in sending U.S. officials back for another round of talks when other parties to the talks appear satisfied with the status quo.
Beyond Korea, both Washington and Beijing have an enormous stake in good Sino-American ties. However, outstanding differences over policy toward Burma and Tibet, along with the continued Chinese military buildup, may make managing relations more difficult, especially if the economic slowdown leads to nervousness among China's leaders. One way to ensure the continued development of positive relations with Beijing is for the U.S. to work as closely as possible with its allies and other friendly nations in Asia to craft common agendas for security issues, trade relations, environmental problems, and the like, thus encouraging China to play a supportive role in such innovative regional initiatives. This should be accompanied by continued high-level Sino-American discussions, but the Obama Administration should resist the temptation to place U.S.-China relations above those of our allies or Asia as a whole.
There is also the specter of democratic instability throughout Asia, from Thailand to Japan. No president wants to see democracy wobble on his watch, and a key part of Obama's Asia policy should be to support democratic governance among our allies and friends, through grass-roots and official dialogues. Finally, no U.S. role in Asia will be credible without a continued commitment to maintaining the U.S. military capability that has ensured regional stability for decades; any hint that the U.S. is wavering in its promise to defend Asia's commons or its friends could lead to unforeseen results.
President Obama faces challenges unlike any other U.S. president in recent history. It will be tempting to let U.S. policy in Asia slide, or to hope that things there stay peaceful. Regardless of the effort involved, President Obama and his team must recognize that America's future is tied to Asia's, and that their success will in part will be viewed through an Asian prism.
Michael Auslin is a resident scholar at AEI.
China Censors Obama's Speech
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=14962
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By ANITA CHANG / AP WRITER Wednesday, January 21, 2009
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BEIJING — The official Chinese translation of President Barack Obama's inauguration speech was missing his references to communism and dissent, while a live broadcast on state television Wednesday quickly cut away to the anchor when the topic was mentioned.
The comments by the newly installed US president veered into politically sensitive territory for China's ruling Communist Party, which maintains a tight grip over the Internet and the entirely state-run media. Beijing tolerates little dissent and frequently decries foreign interference in its internal affairs.
At one point, Obama said earlier generations "faced down communism and fascism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions." He later addressed "those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent—know that you are on the wrong side of history."
The Chinese translation of the speech, credited to the Web site of the official China Daily newspaper, was missing the word "communism" in the first sentence. The paragraph with the sentence on dissent had been removed entirely.
The censored version was carried by the state-run Xinhua News Agency and posted on popular online portals Sina and Sohu. Another portal, Netease, used a version without the paragraph mentioning communism, but retaining the part about dissent.
The news channel of state broadcaster China Central Television broadcast the speech live early Wednesday local time, but appeared caught off-guard by the statement about facing down communism.
The translator had no sooner said "fascism and communism" when the audio faded out from Obama's speech and cameras cut back to the studio anchor, who seemed flustered for a second before turning to ask an expert what challenges the president faces in turning around the US economy.
Wang Jianhong, deputy director of the CCTV general editing department, said he did not stay up to watch the inauguration broadcast but suggested the transition was a normal part of the program.
"There are breakaways even when broadcasting China's own meetings," he said. "Americans might care a lot about the presidential inauguration, but Chinese may not be very interested."
No one in the editing department of the China Daily Web site was immediately available to answer questions.
The full translation of Obama's speech could be viewed on the Web site of Hong Kong-based broadcaster Phoenix Satellite Television, which has a reputation as a more independent news source. The China Daily Web site posted Obama's full remarks in English only.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
Burmese refugees protest in front of UN office in Malaysia
http://www.mizzima.com/news/regional/1585-burmese-refugees-protest-in-front-of-un-office-in-malaysia.html
Burmese refugees protest in front of UN office in Malaysia
by Myint Maung
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 23:06
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Nearly three hundred Burmese refugees on Wednesday demonstrated in front of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Malaysia's capital of Kuala Lumpur, demanding recognition of refugee status and equal treatment among refugees.
The protestors, mainly Rohingyas from Burma's western Arakan state, said they were being treated differently and were not being granted equal status by the UN agency.
Nyi Nyi, a leader of the protestors, said they held a brief demonstration and submitted their demands in writing to an official from the agency.
"We are demanding recognition as refugees, equal treatment by the office and a cessation to official corruption in granting refugee recognition," Nyi Nyi said.
Nyi Nyi added that they were met by a protection officer from the UNHCR office, to whom they handed their demands.
The UNHCR, however, denied the allegation, saying they treat all refugees equally.
Yante Ismail, the UNHCR Kuala Lumpur office spokesperson, was quoted by the AFP as saying, "UNHCR's policies towards all refugee groups are nondiscriminatory. We do our utmost to assist and protect all refugees."
"The UNHCR will continue to engage different refugee communities to address their problems," she stipulated.
According to the UNHCR there are some 45,400 refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia, of whom approximately 40,000 are from Burma – with the majority of the Burmese refugees reportedly Rohingya Muslims from Burma's Arakan state.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Welcomes Burma Parliamentary Congress to Ireland
http://foreignaffairs.gov.ie/home/index.aspx?id=80905
20/01/2009
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, TD, today welcomed Members of the Parliamentary Union (MPU) of Burma, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) and its Prime Minister, Dr Sein Win, who are in Ireland to hold a Congress and consultations with other representatives of Burmese civil society and ethnic groups.
The MPU Congress will elect a new government-in-exile for the next four-year period. The Department of Foreign Affairs has provided financial support to enable this four-yearly Congress and associated meetings to be held in Ireland. Similar support was provided for a Congress here in 2000.
The Minister said: “This year’s MPU Congress is taking place against the backdrop of a country ravaged by more than 18 years of brutal military dictatorship; the detention and suppression of Aung San Suu Kyi and all those seeking justice and democracy; decades-long sentences on political opponents; flagrant infringements of human rights and fundamental freedoms; wars against the country’s many ethnic groups; the plundering of the country’s wealth and natural resources to fund their brutal regime and for their personal gain; and a deeply flawed Road Map political process, which is to culminate in elections scheduled for next year.”
Minister Martin also paid tribute to Burma Action Ireland for its long-standing support for the cause of the Burmese people and its role in preparations for the Congress.
Ends+++
20th January 2009
Press Office
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=14968
Obama’s Inauguration Attracts Big Interest in Burma
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By SAW YAN NAING Wednesday, January 21, 2009
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A Rangoon monk who watched the entire US presidential inauguration on TV summed up the feelings of countless Burmese when he said afterwards: “We’d like to see that happen in Burma, but we don’t know when.”
A young Rangoon journalist said: “We want to freely elect our leader like that, but that’s just a dream.”
Tuesday’s inauguration of Barak Obama as the 44th president of the US attracted huge interest in Burma.
The unnamed journalist said Obama’s path to the White House had been followed especially keenly by the Burmese media and intellectuals.
Burmese from all walks of life, however, watched the inauguration on satellite TV or tuned in to Burmese radios broadcasting from abroad.
Hla Oo, a resident of Mogok in upper Burma, said he believed Obama would offer more help to Burma’s democracy movement than did his predecessor, George W Bush.
A businessman in Bogalay in the Irrawaddy delta said he thought Obama was capable of solving all the problems he faced.
The popular desire for change that swept Obama to power was shared by the people of Burma, the businessman said.
“We want change,” he said. “Change from a system of military rule to democratic rule.
“We are fed up with the military regime. We have lived in fear for a long time. We also want change and liberation.”
Most Burmese opposition leaders expect US support for the pro-democracy movement to remain strong under Obama’s administration.
Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD), told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday: “We believe that the US will keep up its support for human rights and the democracy movement in Burma.”
Some dissidents, however, believe the Burmese people themselves remain the most potent force for political change.
Aye Tha Aung, chairman of the Arakan League for Democracy, said he didn’t expect greater support from the US for political change in Burma.
“The most important forces for change in Burma are the Burmese people, opposition groups and ethnic leaders,” he said.
Ludu Sein Win, a veteran Burmese journalist in Rangoon, said nothing more than condemnation of the regime could be expected from the Obama administration.
“I want to urge the Burmese people: Don’t rely on Obama and [UN Secretary-General] Ban Ki-moon,” Sein Win said. “We must rely on ourselves.”
Burmese astrologers also watched the inauguration with interest—one of the best known, San Zarni Bo, predicted that the new US president could face assassination attempts in 2009, 2010 and 2013. All attempts would fail, he said.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
Chinese teenagers kidnapped by Burma militants
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/4305315/Chinese-teenagers-kidnapped-by-Burma-militants.html
At least 50 teenagers from the northern Chinese province of Shanxi have been kidnapped by Burmese militants.
By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Last Updated: 3:46PM GMT 21 Jan 2009
According to Chinese state media, the parents of the children have reportedly been told that their children will be tortured if the ransom demands are not met.
Zhang Yunbao, a police captain from Yuncheng, told the state-run China Daily newspaper that the police had received "at least 50 reports" of kidnapped children but that the actual number could be much higher.
The teenagers are allegedly being held in the lawless Burmese city of Myitkyina after being lured south with the promise of jobs.
The first kidnapping case in Shanxi occurred last September, when 16-year-old Zhou Dawei told his parents he was travelling to the southern province of Yunnan, which borders Burma - also known as Myanmar - to take a job.
At the beginning of October, he called his father, Zhou Runsheng, to say that he had been arrested for drug-dealing and that he would be executed if a fine of 80,000 yuan (£8,000) was not paid.
Similar demands were made to the parents of other missing children over the following days. One teenager, who was released after the ransom was met, said he had been invited to a birthday party by a friend, and introduced to a man who offered him the chance to make money working for Burmese militants.
After crossing the border, however, he was thrown into a cell where several other boys were being held. Captain Zhang said the Chinese police know where the boys are being held but that it is outside their jurisdiction.
"The Myitkyina area is controlled by militants who don't even listen to the Burmese government," he said.
【訂正／再送】第55回ビルマ市民フォーラム例会のご案内：外国人労働者は今・・在日ビルマ人・外国人労働者のおかれている状況について
先ほどご案内した内容に誤りがありました。
訂正し、再送いたします。
大変申し訳ありませんでした。
ビルマ市民フォーラム事務局
【転送・転載大歓迎】
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
■第55回ビルマ市民フォーラム例会のご案内
<2月21日（土） 18時～/ 東京・池袋>
￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
外国人労働者は今・・・
在日ビルマ人・外国人労働者のおかれている状況について
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
◆日時＝2009年2月21日（土）午後6時～午後8時30分
＊午後5時45分開場
◆会場＝ 池袋・ECOとしま（豊島区立生活産業プラザ）
８階 多目的ホール
*所在： 豊島区東池袋1-20-15、Tel 03-5992-7011
*交通： 池袋駅東口徒歩5分
地図：http://www.city.toshima.lg.jp/shisetsu/shisetsu_community/005133.html
◆資料代＝ 200円（会員）・500円（非会員）
◆定 員＝ 80名 （事前申込み不要／先着順）
￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
次回、ＰＦＢ例会では、以下、２つをテーマに実施いたします。
参加申込は不要です。ぜひお越しください。
①「在日ビルマ人や外国人労働者のおかれている状況について」
…ティンウィン（在日ビルマ市民労働組合会長／PFB運営委員）
昨今の経済危機により、日本人のみならず多くの在日ビルマ人や在日
外国人も厳しい状況におかれています。昨年末には日本人の雇用など
に関する報道が大きくなされましたが、その影で、多くの在日外国人
労働者もまた、日本人よりもさらに厳しい状況におかれています。
こうした状況や在日外国人労働者の思いを多くの方に知っていただくため、
ビルマ人の労働組合の会長として日々様々な相談や対応に追われている
在日ビルマ難民ティンウィンさんに、ビルマ人のみならず、群馬県を
中心にした外国人労働者の状況について、お話ししていただきます。
②「在日ビルマ難民のおかれている現状と展望（仮題）」
…渡辺 彰悟（弁護士／ビルマ弁護団事務局長／PFB事務局長）」
2008年のビルマ人難民認定申請者の状況について報告します。
また、日本政府は昨年、紛争や弾圧を逃れて他国に避難している難民を
受け入れる「第三国定住プログラム」の開始を正式に決定し、2010年
にはタイの難民キャンプで暮らすビルマ難民30人程を日本に受け入れ
るわけですが、そういった新しい動きも含め、日本の難民認定制度に
おける今後の課題や展望を話します。
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
★PFBでは、日本人と在日ビルマ人を対象に、時々のビルマ情勢や
在日ビルマ難民の抱える問題などをテーマに、隔月で例会を実施して
おります。会員・非会員を問わず、どたなでもご参加いただけます。
初めての方でもぜひお気軽にご参加ください。
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
以上
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
◇ ビルマ市民フォーラム事務局 ◇
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
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東京都新宿区四谷一丁目18番地6 四谷1丁目ウエストビル4階
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