Month: July 2016

The State Department has named Burma as one of the world’s worst human trafficking offenders, and it removed Thailand from the list, citing progress in cracking down on forced labor in the seafood industry. The annual Trafficking in Persons Report released Thursday is watched closely by the countries clustered at the bottom. It is viewed […]

The New Configuration of Power Burma’s 8 November 2015 general elections—won in a landslide by the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi—have ushered in the second phase of the country’s political transition. The NLD won 390 (79.4 percent) of the 491 (due to the cancellation of seven townships) total […]

  The Myanmar Quarterly Vol.1, No.1. October, 2016. Politics of Civil Society in Hybrid Regime Burma/Myanmar has entered its second phase of political transition, shifting power from the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) government to the elected National League for Democracy (NLD) party led by Aung San Suu Kyi in April 2016. Contrary […]

The reform process and the subsequent political and economic changes in Burma/Myanmar have sparked great investment interest among governments and the private sector in the region and beyond. Large-scale investment projects are focused on the borderlands, which is where most of the natural resources in Burma – and indeed the Mekong region – are to be […]

RANGOON — Last week, more than 10 Mon civil society organizations (CSO) demanded that the Mon State Chief Minister review the government’s plan to issue household registration cards to internal migrant workers who have moved from Upper Burma to work on rubber plantations and salt farms in Mon State. Naing Htun Myint, chairman of the […]

Recognising Gender in the National Land Use Policy What are the potential gender implications of the current land use policy draft in Myanmar? How might it be improved to promote and strengthen women’s land rights? Introduction The draft National Land Use Policy (NLUP) that was unveiled for public comment in October 2014 intends to create […]

The low-profile publication by Myanmar’s armed forces of a defense white Paper in February marked the first time that the Tatmadaw, as the military is known, released this type of strategy document to outsiders. The paper, which outlines the military’s broad plans for the coming years, is markedly more comprehensive than the last defense policy […]

Plan of Action Needed for Legal Reform, Minority Rights, Accountability (New York) ­– Burma’s new government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD) should signal human rights are a top priority by presenting a plan of action to begin long-needed reforms, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to new president Htin Kyaw. […]

Rural development programmes to wean poppy farmers off their illicit crop contend with lack of roads, water and power in remote areas plagued by militias. U Bo sits on the floor of his bamboo hut and puts away a plastic tray covered with a small heap of what looks like sticky, brown tar. This is […]

What do gender equality advocates in Myanmar want from a nationwide ceasefire and does the existing nationwide ceasefire agreement deliver this? A new publication by UN Women, “The Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement in Myanmar: A Gender Equality and Women’s Rights Analysis”, explores this. Drawing on the perspectives of women in conflict-affected areas, the publication highlights the […]

The ongoing effects of climate change may lead to more severe conflicts around the world, with Myanmar especially vulnerable, according to a recent United Nations report. Myanmar has been identified as one of 20 countries in a “conflict-climate nexus”, the threatening combination of severe environmental vulnerability along with pre-existing social fragility and weak institutions. The […]

For the millions of Myanmar migrant workers living in Thailand, one of the many struggles is trying to figure out how to get their kids an education. Education centres, which, unlike Thai schools, are free to attend for Myanmar students, did not receive support from the Myanmar government last academic year and they are still […]