PRESS RELEASE, 29 OCTOBER 2009
RISING INSTABILITY IN EASTERN BURMA
Bangkok - During this sixtieth anniversary year of the Geneva Conventions, Israel’s military assault on Gaza
and Sri Lanka’s refusal to distinguish between Tamil combatants and civilians have been high profile
challenges to the relevance of international humanitarian law. Out of the media spotlight, the Burmese Army
similarly persists in breaking the rules of war by indiscriminately attacking civilians and causing massive
displacement. Indeed, aid agencies report that threats to human security in eastern Burma are increasing.
“After 25 years of responding to the consequences of conflict in eastern Burma, it is tragic to see the causes
remain unaddressed and the situation is likely to further deteriorate during the next twelve months. A recent
influx of refugees into Thailand and monitoring reports from internally displaced communities indicate that
violence and abuse in eastern Burma are increasing”, said Jack Dunford, Executive Director of the Thailand
Burma Border Consortium (TBBC).
TBBC is an alliance of twelve aid agencies from ten countries working to provide food, shelter, non-food
items and capacity building support to Burmese refugees and displaced persons. The humanitarian agency
has just released findings from field surveys about conflict and displacement conducted with over 3,100
households during the past 5 years in rural areas of eastern Burma.
The main threats to human security in eastern Burma are related to militarisation. Military patrols and
landmines are the most significant and fastest growing threat to civilian safety and security, while forced
labour and restrictions on movement are the most pervasive threats to livelihoods. Trend analysis suggests
that the threats to both security and livelihoods have increased during the past five years.
Over 3,500 villages and hiding sites in eastern Burma have been destroyed or forcibly relocated since 1996,
including 120 communities between August 2008 and July 2009. The scale of displaced villages is
comparable to the situation in Darfur and has been recognised as the strongest single indicator of crimes
against humanity in eastern Burma. At least 75,000 people were forced to leave their homes during this past
year, and more than half a million people remain internally displaced.
The highest rates of recent displacement were reported in northern Karen areas and southern Shan State.
Almost 60,000 Karen villagers are hiding in the mountains of Kyaukgyi, Thandaung and Papun Townships,
and a third of these civilians fled from artillery attacks or the threat of Burmese Army patrols during the past
year. Similarly, nearly 20,000 civilians from 30 Shan villages were forcibly relocated by the Burmese Army in
retaliation for Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) operations in Laikha, Mong Kung and Keh Si Townships.
Thailand’s National Security Council recently acknowledged it was preparing for another mass influx of
refugees due to conflict in Burma’s border areas leading up to the proposed elections in 2010. Conflict has
already intensified in Karen State with over 4,000 Karen refugees fleeing into Thailand during June. The
increased instability is related to demands that ethnic ceasefire groups transform into Border Guard Forces
under Burmese Army command. Such pressure has already resulted in the resumption of hostilities in the
Kokang region which caused 37,000 civilians to flee into China.
“The breakdown of 20 year old ceasefire agreements reflects how the Burmese junta’s ‘road map to
democracy’ offers no political settlement for the ethnic minority groups. Whether next year’s elections
provide a small window of opportunity or merely entrench military rule, there is an urgent need to address
ethnic grievances in order to promote national reconciliation and solutions for displaced persons”, said Mr
Dunford.
ENDS
Enquiries (in Thailand) : Sally Thompson (+66) 022385027, or (+66) 0898508457
“Protracted Displacement and Militarisation in Eastern Burma” is available from
www.tbbc.org/resources/resources.htm
http://www.tbbc.org/announcements/2009-10-29-media-release.pdf
Friday, December 11, 2009
Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) Press Release, 29 October 2009, Rising Instability in Eastern Burma
Hatoyama Cabinet E-mail Magazine No. 10 (December 11, 2009)
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Hatoyama Cabinet E-mail Magazine No. 10 (December 11, 2009)
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Yukio Hatoyama's "Yu-Ai"
-- Message from the Prime Minister (Provisional Translation)
"Emergency Economic Countermeasures for Future Growth and Security"
I am sure that many of you in Japan have been turning a skeptical
eye toward news reports that claim, "Economic recovery is underway,"
saying to yourselves, "Really? It does not feel that way."
The government feels exactly the same way. To be sure, the numbers
appear to show that the worst of the economic downturn is behind us,
but that is only because of the external demand generated by
economic growth in China and other Asian nations. In fact, the
nominal growth rate, which better reflects our sense of reality,
has been negative for some time; there is far too much supply
chasing too little demand.
In addition to this deflationary -- albeit mild -- environment, the
yen's recent rise in the currency markets is also worrisome. This
is why the government has put together the Emergency Economic
Countermeasures for Future Growth and Security as the first
economic package of the new regime.
First and foremost, we need to reinforce employment countermeasures.
At the top of the list comes easing conditions for the employment
adjustment subsidies. Under the employment adjustment subsidies
system, the government provides a firm with subsidies to make up
for the deficiency in wages when it only has enough work, for
example, for three days a week instead of the normal five for its
employees. The firm will thus be able to keep them on the payroll
and will not have to conduct lay offs. We have decided to ease
requirements so that a firm operating at a loss will be able to
receive the subsidies regardless of the size of the firm if its
production volume is down 10 percent or more from the year before
the previous year.
Next, we will strengthen support for students graduating next
spring who have not yet been able to line up a job. We will deploy
job-search advisors in universities and colleges, and increase the
number of high school and college graduate vocational supporters.
We will also identify firms that are eager to take on new hires,
support internships in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),
and request business associations to increase job offers.
We will do our utmost to secure financing, including offering more
flexible repayment extensions, so that SMEs in severe business
conditions can tide over the year's end safely. We will remodel the
emergency credit guarantee system as a counter-recessionary
emergency credit guarantee system, making it more accessible so
that SMEs in all industrial sectors in principle can use it.
Moreover, we will raise the guarantee limit by six trillion yen and
extend the deadline to March 2011. Safety-net lending will also be
expanded by four trillion yen and its deadline similarly extended.
We will also seek to simultaneously achieve global-warming
countermeasures and economic recovery. First, as the three pillars
of eco-consumption, the home appliances eco-point system will be
extended until the end of December 2010 with improvements that lead
to increased use of LED light bulbs; the eco-car subsidy will also
be extended to the end of September 2010; and an eco-point system
for housing shall be newly created, giving eco-points for
eco-housing construction and retrofitting.
With this new set of countermeasures, in addition to emergency
responses, we take laying the foundations of a growth strategy into
account for the middle and long term. For example, in the
environmental field, we will encourage the regeneration of Japanese
forests and forestry, and aggressively promote green innovation --
the accelerated development of revolutionary environmental/energy
technology such as the development of materials indispensible to
the realization of a low-carbon society.
We will swiftly move forward with the formation of the
supplementary budget so that we will be able to implement these
measures quickly. In addition, the entire government will be
devoted to the formation of the budget for the next fiscal year and
tax reforms. In our determination not to allow a double dip to
occur, we will devote ourselves to managing the Japanese economy so
that the lives of the people of Japan are put first and foremost,
by maintaining the economy and employment and, at the same time,
laying the foundations of our future growth strategy.
General Editor : Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama
Chief Editor : Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yorihisa Matsuno
Publication : Cabinet Public Relations Office
1-6-1 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8968, Japan
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