EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: "While the existing data available on landmine victims
indicate that Burma/Myanmar1 faces one of the most
severe landmine problems in the world today, little is
known about the actual extent of the problem, the
impact on affected populations, communities’ mine
action needs and how different actors can become
more involved in mine action.
The Government of Burma/Myanmar has prohibited
almost all forms of mine action with the exception of
a limited amount of prosthetic assistance to people

Executive
Summary:
"Burma is rich in natural resources, particularly natural gas and oil.
Yet instead of using these resources for the country’s development
through industry and job growth, military leaders have been exporting
them for over a decade. This has generated huge revenue flows, but
a lack of transparency and mismanagement of these revenues has left
Burma with some of the worse development indicators in the world,
creating a resource curse.
Sales revenues of natural gas exports alone amounted to US$ 2.5 billion

WITH SUBSTANTIAL SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING A PHOTO ESSAY...Selected Land and Livelihood Impacts Along the Shwe Natural Gas and China-Myanmar Oil Transport Pipeline from Rakhine State to Mandalay Division..."Yesterday, we published a photo essay and companion report highlighting the severe impacts of the Shwe natural gas and Myanmar-China oil transport pipelines on the lives and livelihoods of local communities living around these mega-projects.

New Delhi's eagerness to supply Burma with weapons highlights new quid pro quo policies...

"Increased contacts between senior military chiefs o­n both sides of the Burma-India border, involving Indian weapons sales, are believed by analysts to have two primary objectives: to help flush out Burma-based Indian insurgents and to counter growing Chinese influence in Naypyidaw.

This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in November 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Toungoo District between August and October 2011. It contains information concerning military activity in the district, specifically demands for forced labour by Tatmadaw Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #375. Villagers from D--- and A--- were reportedly forced to clear vegetation surrounding their camp and some A--- villagers were also used to sweep for landmines.

Three of the country’s four offshore gas fields are to be shut down in April “for annual maintenance”, according to a senior official with Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise...The Yadana, Yetagun and Zawtika gas fields are to be halted for about a week each at the end of April, said the official, who is an offshore director but declined to be named.

“We have negotiated with PTT [the gas buyer] for gas exports, and with the Ministry of Electric Power for domestic supply, to arrange a shutdown of the gas fields for maintenance,” he said yesterday.

While the major non-American Western oil companies adopt and wait-and-see policy and US firms remain barred by Washington’s sanctions, shadowy oil enterprises are gaining footholds in Burma.

Among firms which have recently won licenses to explore for oil and gas are little-known businesses based in Panama, Nigeria and Azerbaijan—countries where corporate accountability can be murky.

Not only does the bidding process remain opaque, the pedigree of some of the participants is too...

Executive Summary: "The remote and environmentally rich Hugawng valley in Burma's northern Kachin State has been internationally recognized as one of the world's hotspots of biodiversity. Indeed, the military junta ruling Burma, together with the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society, is establishing the world's largest tiger reserve in the valley. However, the conditions of the people living there have not received attention.

SPECIAL ISSUE ON LANDMINES:- Burma's Landmine

This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in June 2012 by a community member who described events occurring in Dooplaya District during the period between April 2012 and June 2012, specifically in relation to landmines, education, health, taxation and demand, forced labour, land confiscation, displacement, and restrictions on freedom of movement and trade. After the 2012 ceasefire between the Burma government and the KNU, remaining landmines still present serious risks for local villagers in Kawkareik Township because they are unable to travel.

BURMA
LANDMINE
ISSUE
2009: UN Security Council - act now!...Understand us...KNU LANDMINE POLICY...Mine incidents rise...Landmine deaths double...Pizza-oven helps
mine victims walk...Worried about mines, but who will feed us?...How to help -- when there's no doctor...Ranger's deliver aid...No place to call home...Landmines show no mercy...Once were enemies...More attacks - more landmines...Uncle Maw Keh offers
hope to landmine victims...Burma's Killing Fields...Lucky to be alive...

Stephen Goose, co-founder of Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines, is one of the world's foremost authorities on the use of anti-personnel landmines. In this exclusive interview with The Irrawaddy, he describes the situation inside Burma, where, he says, there are an estimated 1,500 landmine casualties each year.