News & Articles on Burma-Monday, 08 August, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Monday, 08 August, 2011
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Suu Kyi Calls for Unity on Anniversary of 88 Uprising
Myanmar's Suu Kyi to make 'political' trip
Aung San Suu Kyi’s first political tour: A test for Burmese government?
Myanmar opposition leader defies military on uprising anniversary
More Progress Needed to Lift US Sanctions: Lawmaker
Myanmar marks 1988 uprising anniversary
US puts a new man in Myanmar
Refugees in Northern Thailand Need Aid to Rebuild Homes
Burmese Baited into Thai Fishing Slavery
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Suu Kyi Calls for Unity on Anniversary of 88 Uprising
By BA KAUNG Monday, August 8, 2011

Hundreds of Burmese people led by pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi gathered at a monastery in Rangoon on Monday to commemorate the anniversary of the failed popular 88 uprising which demanded democratic change.

During the ceremony, Suu Kyi called for unity within opposition groups in the country dominated by the new nominally civilian government under the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.

Popularly known as the 88 uprising as it took place on Aug. 8, 1988, the nationwide student-led protests challenged the ruling Socialist government to bring about economic and political reforms.

From August to September 1988, the country saw three leadership changes but the army staged a coup in the final week of September and responded to peaceful demonstrations by slaughtering at least 3,000 people.

Slide Show (View)
During Monday's anniversary ceremony at a Buddhist monastery in Kyeemyindaing Township in Rangoon, Suu Kyi, who made her first political appearance during the 88 uprising, said that unity and concerted efforts within opposition groups would be crucial in reaching the common goal of democratic reforms in the country.

One of the participants, Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein, a leader of the opposition Democratic Party (Myanmar), agreed: “Without democracy in our country, we will work on together under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi.”

Despite meeting with a Burmese government minister last week, Suu Kyi said she is still against the 2008 military-drafted Constitution. However, she also confirmed that she is planning to make her first political tour since her release from house arrest last year to the town of Pegu a few kilometers outside Rangoon on Aug. 14, and received a positive response when she informed the authorities.

Hundreds of democracy activists, including officials from political parties which took part in last year's general elections, joined Suu Kyi for one minute's silence in honor of protesters killed in the 88 uprising. Plainclothes security officers and anti-riot police trucks were seen near the monastery, but participants said that no disturbance was made to the occasion.

“I would like you all to think about what has happened and not forget,” Suu Kyi wrote in a guestbook, according to a report by international news agency AFP.

While it has been more than two decades since this major uprising took place, prominent student leaders of the movement together with over 2,000 political prisoners remain incarcerated throughout Burma.

And the political deadlock remains between the democratic opposition and Burmese military which last year handed power to a nominally civilian government led by former junta generals through a flawed election.

A middle-aged English teacher from Upper Burma, who was a student dentist during the 88 uprising, said that the lack of strong leadership during the protests damaged the success of the movement.

“The 88 gave us opportunities to uproot the dictatorship and establish democracy, but we could not grab those opportunities in time because of some weaknesses in leadership,” he said. “Now the military dictators are leading the [political] game and still in a position to control the opposition.”

May Zin, a resident of Rangoon born in the year 1988, said that although she did not witness the uprising first hand, it is still a significant event for her generation which has not been consigned to the history books for Burma.

“I would have participated in it if I was there at that time,” she said.

Marking the anniversary of the uprising, Burmese exiled groups called for the new government in Naypyidaw to release all political prisoners in a joint statement today. They also demanded an end to military attacks against ethnic minority and opposition groups as well as political dialogue with all stakeholders.
Opposition groups also called for a review of the 2008 military-drafted Constitution, which caused Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party to boycott last November's parliamentary elections in protest. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21854
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Myanmar's Suu Kyi to make 'political' trip
Posted: 08 August 2011 0238 hrs

YANGON: Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is to make her first overtly political trip outside her home city since she was freed from house arrest, her spokesman said on Sunday, defying authorities' warnings.

Suu Kyi will visit the Bago region, about 80 kilometres north of Yangon, on August 14 to attend a library opening and meet members of a youth forum, Nyan Win of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party told AFP.

He described the visit as "political" but only a day-trip out of Yangon.

"She will leave at 6:00am and return in the evening," he said. "After this trip she will try to make another trip," outside Yangon, he added.

In June Myanmar's regime told Suu Kyi, who was released from seven years of house arrest in November, to halt all political activities and warned that a political tour could spark chaos and riots.

In a subsequent tentative test of her freedom, Suu Kyi visited an ancient temple city in central Myanmar with her son for a few days in July, but the trip was describe as private, with politics not officially on the agenda.

She drew large crowds and was trailed by plain clothes police, but they allowed her to travel unhindered as she avoided making public speeches.

The democracy champion was freed shortly after elections that were won overwhelmingly by the military's political proxies, amid claims of cheating and the exclusion of Suu Kyi from the process.

The 66-year-old has spent much of the last two decades in detention, and some observers believe the government would be quick to restrict her freedom again if she is perceived to threaten their rule.

Security is also a major concern because her convoy was attacked in 2003 during a political trip, in an ambush apparently organised by a regime frightened by her popularity.

Late last month she held her first talks with a member of the new government, labour minister Aung Kyi, in contacts that have raised hopes for an ongoing dialogue between the two sides.

Her party, which won a landslide election victory two decades ago that was never recognised by the junta, was disbanded by the military regime last year because it boycotted the latest vote, saying the rules were unfair.

- AFP/de http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1145660/1/.html
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Aung San Suu Kyi’s first political tour: A test for Burmese government?
By Zin Linn Aug 08, 2011 2:09AM UTC

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Burma’s democracy icon and Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Ky,i plans to make her first visible political tour outside Rangoon. This trip will be the first political excursion since she was unchained from house arrest, National League for Democracy (NLD)’s spokesperson Nyan Win told the media on Sunday.

Suu Kyi is going to visit the Pegu division which is 50 miles (80 kilometres) away from north of Rangoon on 14 August. She has a plan to attend the opening ceremony of a library at resident of U Myat Hla (MP 1990).She will also attend a youth forum, Nyan Win told AFP.

He explained the Lady’s Pegu-trip has a political intention and it will be just a one-day round-trip, outbound of Rangoon.

“She will leave at 6:00 a.m. in the morning and will come back in the evening,” Nyan Win said.

“After this political outing she will try to make another trip outside Rangoon”, he added.

In June, Burma’s regime told Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest in November, not to join all political activities as there were concerns that her political expedition could ignite turmoil and demonstrations.

To test her freedom, Suu Kyi visited Pagan, an ancient temple city of Burma, together with her younger son for a few days in July. However, the Pagan-trip was expressed as private ahead of the journey, stayingy away from politics on the schedule. Anyhow, she had faced large crowds along with plain clothed police. Nevertheless, the security personnel allowed her to travel without interference since she kept from making public speeches.

The democracy defender was released soon after the last November elections that were overpoweringly won by the military-backed parties amid claims of vote-rigging and the exclusion of Aung San Suu Kyi from the procedure.

Recently, Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy has been calling for meaningful dialogue with the President Thein Sein Government, as it is the party’s longtime policy towards national reconciliation.

“As the NLD mainly works for national reconciliation, we expect to start a dialogue with the new government,” said NLD spokesman Nyan Win.

Suu Kyi made an appeal on 28 July for political talk and an urgent ceasefire between major ethnic rebel groups – Kachin Independence Organization, Karen National Union, New Mon State Party, Shan State Army – and government troops.

In her open letter dispatched to the country’s military-backed new President Thein Sein, Suu Kyi offered to act as a mediator between the government and the ethnic rebels, and said the constant fighting has been damaging the national reconciliation which is so important for the nation that composed mainly of ethnic population.

The open letter pointed out that the prevailing ethnic aggression can be sprawling into the neighboring counties. It said that currently there are armed conflicts between Burma Army and the ethnic armed groups especially in Kachin, Shan, Karen and Mon states.

The 66-year-old democracy icon has spent most of the last twenty years in custody, and several Burma observers suppose the government would limit her freedom again if she became a threat to the new namesake civilian government.

The NLD, led by Suu Kyi, has long been a key opponent of the existing authorities who have run the country since a 1962 coup. Her latest comments are likely to infuriate the new nominally civilian government, despite signs of softening of ties.

In last December, Burmese junta’s two mouthpiece newspapers criticized dissident politicians who believe genuine national reconciliation and support Aung San Suu Kyi. Burma’s military rulers dismissed the actions of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who tries to revive the spirit of Panglong Agreement providing self-reliance to ethnic nationalities, as a “cheap political stunt”.

Aung San Suu Kyi has met with Burma’s Labor and Social Welfare Minister Aung Kyi of the new government on 25 July, the first such meeting since her release from house arrest.

The meeting raises hopes for a standard dialogue between her and the military-dominated government. But, there is skepticism whether the talks will go ahead to authentic political reforms. http://asiancorrespondent.com/61890/aung-san-suu-kyis-first-political-tour-a-test-for-burmese-government/
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Myanmar opposition leader defies military on uprising anniversary
Aug 8, 2011, 7:26 GMT

Yangon - Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi rejected the military-promulgated constitution Monday, after attending a ceremony marking the country's 1988 uprising.

'We still do not accept the 2008 constitution,' said Suu Kyi, who gave robes and food to over 100 Buddhist monks at Sadu monastery in Yangon, to commemorate the anniversary of the democracy uprising that began on August 8, 1988, which is remembered in Myanmar as 'the 8888 uprising.'

The 2008 charter cemented the military's control over any elected government by reserving a quarter of all seats in parliament to military-appointees, sufficient to veto any legislation.

Yangon's 1988 mass protests led to the resignation of former military strongman Ne Win and put an end to his disastrous 'Burmese Way to Socialism.'

But the uprising did not lead to the end of military rule. The army cracked down on the pro-democracy movement on September 9, 1988, in a bloodbath that left an estimated 3,000 dead.

All Western and multilateral aid to Myanmar, also called Burma, was severed after the crackdown, forcing the military to hold an election in 1990 that was won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) in a landslide victory.

'We cannot forget the result of the 1990 election,' Suu Kyi said. 'The people's aspirations can never be eliminated,' she told reporters after attending the 8888 anniversary ceremony.

Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar independence leader Aung San, has spent 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest.

She was released from a seven-year house detention term on November 13, days after the November 7 election that brought to power a pro-military government.

Neither Suu Kyi nor her NLD party contested the election, which most Western democracies labelled a sham.

Suu Kyi has threatened to start making political tours of the countryside, an initiative that has spooked the new government.

'Daw (Madam) Aung San Suu Kyi will go to Bago division, 80 kilometres north-east of Yangon on August 14 for a one-day political trip,' opposition spokesman Nyan Win said.

She will attend the opening of two libraries in Bago and meet with 'political network' groups from 30 townships, he said.

Myanmar's state-run media has warned that there might be a repeat of the incident of May 2003, in which Suu Kyi and her followers were attacked in central Myanmar by pro-military thugs while on a politcal tour of the countryside, leaving 19 dead and Suu Kyi slightly injured.

Suu Kyi is seen as the chief threat to the military establishment that has ruled Myanmar since 1962.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1655586.php/Myanmar-opposition-leader-defies-military-on-uprising-anniversary
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More Progress Needed to Lift US Sanctions: Lawmaker
By LALIT K JHA Monday, August 8, 2011

WASHINGTON — Even after the formation of a new government following last year's general election, further reform in Burma is needed before the US can lift sanctions on the country, a key US lawmaker has said.

“Sadly, Mr. Speaker, the regime in Burma has not made the necessary progress to justify lifting the restriction,” Californian Congresswoman Laura Richardson said in her speech on the floor of the US House of Representatives on Friday.

Speaking in favor of House Resolution No 66, which if passed would extend US sanctions on Burma for another year, Richardson argued that in light of continuing human rights abuses in the country, lifting economic sanctions at this time would send the wrong signal to the Burmese regime, the international community, and, most importantly, to dissidents working to bring real democratic change to their country.

Introduced by Congressman Joseph Crowley, the resolution is co-sponsored by as many as 11 lawmakers. Similar legislation is also being considered in the Senate. “I support this resolution because it is consistent with our humanitarian and democratic values against forced labor,” said Richardson.

“As Americans, we must not only sustain these values in our country, but we must act globally and deter other countries from tolerating or employing practices that have no place in a civilized society, such as forcing innocent men, women, and children to work under harsh and slave-like labor conditions,” she argued.

“For this reason, it is critical that we renew the import restrictions contained in the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003,” she said.

Reviewing the reasons for the sanctions, Richardson noted that in 1990, the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won the overwhelming number of parliamentary seats (82 percent) in a multiparty election held by the Burmese junta.

However, she said, the military regime refused to honor the election results, and imprisoned both democracy activists and elected members of parliament, including Suu Kyi.

No further elections took place for the next 20 years, until the regime held a vote last year on Nov 7 as part of its “road map to democracy,” said Richardson.

The NLD “refused to participate over concerns that the electoral process was fraudulent, concerns that were confirmed by the United Nations and most Western countries, which noted widespread fraud, voter intimidation and cheating throughout the country,” she said.

Since then, the congresswoman argued, the Burmese regime has continued its campaign of suppression and persecution against political opponents, dissidents and other minority populations.

“This shameful conduct has resulted in the internal displacement of more than 600,000 people and forced more than 130,000 persons to live in refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border. Additionally, during this time the [Burmese] regime has been protecting drug traffickers and forcing residents into slave labor,” she said.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees recently listed Burma as the fifth largest source country of refugees in 2010, with 415,700 refugees. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21851
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SA Time: Monday, August 08, 2011 6:06:30 PM
Myanmar marks 1988 uprising anniversary
REUTERS

Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi signs in a guestbook while attending a religious ceremony to mark the 23th anniversary of the "8888" event at a monastery in Yangon.

Yangon, Myanmar - Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has joined other activists marking the anniversary of the anti-military uprising that inspired their still uncompleted crusade to bring democracy to Myanmar.

Suu Kyi, her colleagues and 350 followers gathered Monday at a monastery in western Yangon to recall how about 1 million people rose up on August 8, 1988 to protest an entrenched military-backed regime that had wiped out the savings of many by a sudden demonetisation of the currency.

An estimated 3 000 people were killed before the demonstrations were crushed the next month.

Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar independence hero Gen Aung San, rose to prominence during the uprising. Myanmar this year installed an elected civilian government but remains under military domination. - Sapa-AP http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/myanmar-marks-1988-uprising-anniversary-1.1113927
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ASIA TIMES ONLINE: Aug 9, 2011
US puts a new man in Myanmar
By Brian McCartan

CHIANG MAI - The appointment last week of the United States' first special envoy to Myanmar, Derek Mitchell, promises to refocus US policy towards the isolated country after previous engagement overtures failed to gain diplomatic traction. The US has maintained punitive economic sanctions against the military regime for over two decades.

President Barack Obama chose Mitchell to fill the position in April, around 18 months after the State Department announced its new Myanmar policy and almost three years after the position was mandated by the 2008 JADE Act. The new position, which is charged with developing a cohesive international approach to US policy and liaising directly with the Myanmar government, carries ambassadorial rank.

A well-respected Asia hand, Mitchell was formerly the Defense

Department's deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security and prior to that a policy wonk with different Washington-based think-tanks. He first visited Myanmar in 1995 while with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, where he met with both senior government officials and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

United States policy on Myanmar took a turn in September 2009 after a policy review was concluded by the State Department. The review concluded that a heavy reliance on sanctions and isolation had been counter-productive. Instead of changing the military junta's attitude, the assessment concluded, Washington's public support for Suu Kyi and focus on the regime's human-rights record only fueled the ruling generals' paranoia of a US invasion and further isolated the country.

Under the new policy, Washington opted for a more flexible policy approach that integrated both sanctions and engagement. The new approach was in line with Obama's stated dual-track approach of "principled engagement" to deal with what Washington considers unsavory nations.

In Myanmar's case, benchmarks for the removal of sanctions and normalization of diplomatic and commercial ties have centered on the release of over 2,000 political prisoners, reconciliation with the democratic opposition and ethnic minorities, increased respect for human-rights norms and adherence to United Nations nonproliferation agreements.

The policy has motivated several high-level visits by US statesmen and diplomats but so far has made little if any progress. US deputy assistant secretary of state Joseph Yun met in May with Suu Kyi and senior government officials including foreign minister Wanna Maung Lwin.

This was followed by a visit from prominent senator John McCain at the beginning of June. McCain was able to meet in Naypyidaw with first vice president Tin Aung Myint Oo and speaker of the upper house of parliament Shwe Mann. Both officials are former generals and key junta leaders. In Yangon, McCain met with opposition leaders Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated the policy during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum (ARF) meet held last month in Bali, Indonesia. There, she called for the release of some 2,200 political prisoners, dialogue with the opposition and ethnic minority leaders, and compliance with UN Security Council resolutions, a reference to a suspected nuclear program Myanmar is developing with North Korean assistance.

Clinton also put ASEAN on notice that Washington was not in favor of granting Myanmar the chairmanship of the regional grouping in 2014 unless significant reforms were carried out. Mitchell echoed these concerns during his senate confirmation hearings last week.

Many analysts perceive the US's public concerns about human rights and democracy as cover for a harder security agenda. While human rights and democracy garner popular support domestically and in the international arena, Washington's concerns lie more with a desire to blunt China's influence and impair Naypyidaw's potentially regionally destabilizing relations with North Korea.

Beijing has made huge investments in Myanmar's natural resources to power its burgeoning economy. Additionally, Myanmar's geographic position provides China with a trade route for its landlocked Yunnan province as well as a strategic route for oil and gas imports that avoids the easily blocked Malacca Straits. To this end, China is helping to construct a deep-sea port on Myanmar's western coast and building dual gas and oil pipelines to connect the port with its southwestern city of Kunming.

In recent years, the US has bid to improve relations with various Southeast Asian nations to counterbalance China's rising influence in a region some felt Washington overlooked in its singular pursuit of its global "war on terror". Recent efforts have seen the US improve bilateral ties with Cambodia and Laos, both countries widely viewed as falling into China's regional sphere of influence.

Another major US strategic concern is Myanmar's growing ties with North Korea, especially in regards to missile and nuclear technology. Mitchell said in his hearing that it is "absolutely critical" for Myanmar to abide by UN nonproliferation sanctions banning trade in military hardware with Pyongyang. Last year, American naval units shadowed a North Korean freighter suspected to be carrying weapons en route to Myanmar. The ship was eventually forced to turn around.

New policy momentum
Myanmar watchers believe that Mitchell's confirmation will provide full-time US commitment to Myanmar issues and a momentum behind policy that has been lacking since September 2009. Until now, Myanmar policy has been spearheaded by assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, Kurt Campbell, who has made strong efforts towards Myanmar but must also deal with the entire region.

Mitchell's position will be decidedly difficult. Initially, he will likely be charged with assessing recent developments in Myanmar, including last year's general elections, this year's formation of a nominally civilian government, the release of Suu Kyi from house arrest, continued detention of political prisoners, human-rights abuses and ongoing military offensives against minority groups.

Mitchell will have to contend with the already substantial support Myanmar receives from China and India at a time the US's economic clout is in doubt. Both China and India covet Myanmar's resources and value its geostrategic position and are engaged in a competition for influence to gain advantage in a struggle more about their own mutual insecurities than Myanmar as a security risk.

In a 2007 article in Foreign Affairs co-written by Asia expert Michael Green, Mitchell expressed the necessity of developing an approach to Myanmar in conjunction with ASEAN, Japan and non-Asian actors such as the European Union in order to produce a multilateral approach that cannot be ignored by China and India. The article argued such an approach would put China and India in a position of choosing to join and perhaps lead rather than be seen as obstructionist in an issue of importance to their regional neighbors.

In line with this thinking, Mitchell said during his senate confirmation hearing that he would seek to coordinate with international partners including ASEAN, China, India and Europe to develop a more coherent approach to Myanmar. He noted that previous efforts were undermined by a lack of effective coordination among key members of the international community.
As Mitchell pursues Washington's engagement policy he will simultaneously have to work on encouraging democratic reform and respect for human rights inside Myanmar's new nominally civilian government. He stated during his confirmation hearing that he will attempt to carry this out through seeking "direct and candid dialogue" with Myanmar's government and responding "flexibly" to evolving conditions.

One stated element of US policy is that Myanmar's rulers must provide proof of progress in reforming its political system and respect for human rights in order for increased engagement. This leaves the ball largely in Naypyidaw's court. So far, the US has voiced almost consistent disappointment in Naypyidaw since the policy shift, including in the November 2010 elections which the US referred to as "fatally flawed".

Myanmar's new government has sent mixed signals since the elections and the formation of the new government at the end of March. President Thein Sein's inaugural address contained promises of reform but it is doubtful much can be carried out while divisions exist between powerful ex-military hardliners such as Shwe Mann and Tin Aung Myint Oo who are dissatisfied with the division of power and more moderate elements in the government.

That said, a July 25 meeting between Suu Kyi and labor and social welfare minister Aung Kyi was described as "productive" and "constructive" and raised hopes for more substantive dialogue between the government and the opposition movement. However, at the same meeting, Suu Kyi was requested to register her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), a move she and party stalwarts have resisted because they reject the 2008 constitution and its election rules.

Meanwhile, the army has stepped up military campaigns against ethnic minority groups situated in border areas with Thailand and China. Security experts believe the recent breakdown in ceasefire agreements with various ethnic groups has moved the country dangerously close to widespread civil war. Human-rights groups have accused the army of new abuses during its military operations.

During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in June, Mitchell signaled a willingness to improve ties with Naypyidaw but was also critical of Myanmar's claims of transition to civilian rule, saying "a political system that exhibits anything close to recognizable standards of representative democracy remains to be seen."

With Mitchell in charge, the US may wish to enter a new phase in its engagement overtures towards Myanmar. But its new seasoned envoy will need deep stores of patience and flexibility in dealing with a regime that marches to the beat of its own drummer and demonstrated a concerted effort to resist international pressure for change.

Brian McCartan is a freelance journalist. He may be reached at brianpm@comcast.net. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MH09Ae01.html
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Refugees in Northern Thailand Need Aid to Rebuild Homes
By SAW YAN NAING Monday, August 8, 2011

Flooding in northern Thailand has made several hundred Burmese refugees homeless and students unable to attend school as fears of further landslides at makeshift camps increase, claim Karen refugees.

More than 1,000 refugees in Mae Ra Mu Luang refugee camp have lost their homes and are currently seeking shelter in monasteries, churches and several school buildings, according to the Karen Refugee Committee (KRC).

Kyaw Pway, a staffer at the KRC office at Mae Sariang in northern Thailand, said, “The emergency need is for plastic sheets. They need plastic sheets to make their temporary shelters.”

He said that six pick-up trucks traveled to the refugee camp to deliver 100 plastic sheets and some clothes to the affected refugees. The supplies were provided by the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) aid agency.

Some of the 2,970 rice sacks that have been destroyed by flooding at refugee camps in northern Thailand. (Photo: KRC)
The flood and landslide damaged 445 houses in Mae Ra Ma Luang and Mae La Oo refugee camps in Mae Hong Son Province, destroyed three food stores with 2,970 bags of rice, damaged wooden bridges, blocked roads and flooded schools and libraries.

All lessons in the refugee camps have been stopped and no one is not sure when the schools will reopen, said Kyaw Pway.

Per Vogel, a program coordinator for worldwide relief agency Malteser International in Thailand, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that his local health workers in the refugee camps help flooding victims by providing medicine and medical care. There has been no outbreak of major disease among flooding victims in the camps so far, said Vogel.

Malteser International is a non-governmental organization which also operates relief and health programs at refugee camps in Thailand.

Mae La Oon and Mae Ra Ma Luang house more than 3,3000 refugees who were forced from their homes in Karen State, eastern Burma, due to Burmese Army attacks. Many have stayed at the camps for over two decades, according to KRC figures. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21852
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Burmese Baited into Thai Fishing Slavery
By SIMON ROUGHNEEN Monday, August 8, 2011

SAMUT SAKHON, Thailand — “The broker took 36,000 baht (US $1,200) from us,” says Ma Than Nwe, a Tavoyan Burmese migrant worker in Thailand. “It was money that should have been paid to my husband,” she laments.

Her spouse *Kyaw spent six months at sea on a Thai-run fishing vessel and the salary, which might seem a pittance to some, is a small fortune for people who earned the equivalent of $1-2 per day in Burma. Or it would be, if it was paid at all. The promised 6,000 baht ($200) per month was paid to a broker, a Burmese woman who cannot be named at this time for legal reasons. She kept the all money as payment for what Ma Than Nwe—with understandable anger—sarcastically describes as the broker's “services” in helping her husband “find work” on the boat.

The broker and alleged trafficker and extortionist has since fled back to Burma. “We were afraid to do anything, as the police and the brokers work together to get money from us,” Ma Than Nwe says. “But we think she has angered some other people as well,” she adds, speculating on the broker's apparent flight from Thailand.

The broker told the couple that Kyaw would only have to work two months on the fishing vessel to clear the broker's fee. Anything else after that, if he chose to stay on board for longer, would be his. However, he was kept on the boat against his will for six months and emerged without being paid a single baht.

“The boat did not come to shore during all that time,” says Ma Than Nwe. “When he got back, he told me how small boats would come to meet them at sea and take the catch to land, so they did not get to come ashore themselves.”

Such tales of deceit, naivete and brutality are legion in Thailand's fishing industry and in the coastal province of Samut Sakhon—perhaps better known by its old name Mahachai—a forty-minute drive west of the Thai capital, Bangkok. Thailand's fishing sector and this particular location have both long been a draw for immigrants from neighboring countries seeking work away from their own sluggish economies.

The United Nations special rapporteur on trafficking in persons, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, begins an official visit to Thailand today to examine the impact of anti-trafficking measures in the country. She will stay until Aug 19 and visit Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Mae Sot, Samut Sakhon and Songkhla, where she will likely hear stories such as that of Ma Than Nwe and her husband.

“During my mission, I wish to reach out to a wide range of stakeholders and trafficked persons themselves, so that their voices are heard and can be considered in the national laws, policies and measures related to trafficking in persons,” she said.
Ezeilo will have to convince Thai authorities to do more to enforce anti-trafficking laws, as—according to a recent US State Department assessment of global human trafficking—Thailand has “made mixed progress in its anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts.”

According to the US report, the Thai government “reported 18 convictions in trafficking-related cases in 2010—an increase from eight known convictions during the previous year; as of May 2011, only five of the 18 convictions reported by the government could be confirmed to be for trafficking offenses.”

However, as the report later outlines, the fishing industry and its locales remain at the margins of even this relatively small conviction rate. According to the report, “investigations of alleged human trafficking on Thai fishing boats, as well as inspections of these boats, were practically nonexistent, according to surveyed fisherman, NGOs, and government officials.”

Ma Than Nwe herself was trafficked, forced to work at shrimp factory in Samut Sakhon for a 200 baht ($6.70) day rate. Like her husband, she never saw any of this money, as it was given directly by the employer to a second broker she met in Hatyai, in southern Thailand. She agreed to travel to the fishing hub near Bangkok after being promised 500-600 baht ($16.80-20) per day making and selling Burmese food by the broker she met in Hatyai, where she had first headed for after crossing the Thailand-Burma frontier at Ranong in March 2010.

The irony is that she worked in the fishery sector in Burma, where times were tough, prompting her to make the initial risky crossing to Thailand without official papers. “We sold shrimp at Tavoy,” she recalls, “but we could not make a living doing so. The cost of running the business was more than the sales price.”

Life in Samut Sakhon was much tougher than she was led to believe. “We were put in a place with no water or electricity,” she says of her accommodation. “We had to work off the 3,000 baht ($100) fee the broker in Hatyai demanded for setting us up here.”

Her family's debts were accumulating at this stage. The Hatyai broker was the second one she had to pay off, after the first one who brought the group from the Ranong border crossing to Hatyai. Her husband then took the job on the fishing boat to try bring in what they thought would be more money.

Ma Than Nwe's ordeal was not just emotional. Discussing how she lived while Kyaw was away at sea, she reveals another mark, this one physical. “I had an operation,” she says, pointing to her abdomen but refusing to say what the procedure entailed.

“I had no money to pay for the hospital costs,” she says. “So this became extra fees to the broker.”

Perhaps it was fear of incurring more debt, but while her husband was away, she took what might have been a fatal post-operative step. “I took a knife and cut out the stitches myself,” she says, grimacing as she re-enacted her self-administered procedure using hand gestures.

Now working—and finally getting paid—as a cleaner at a factory, Ma Than Nwe takes painkillers every day. Seven months later, she is not sure if she has caused long-term damage to herself. “I don't speak Thai, I can just nod my head when they talk to me. And I don't have money, so I cannot go to the doctor.”

Related article: “Still on the run – trafficked Burmese recount murder at sea”
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21850