Resource information
Introduction: "The following report has been compiled to bring to the attention of a wider
audience many of the problems facing the people of Burma, especially its many
ethnic nationalities. For many outside observers, Burma’s problems are confined
simply to the ongoing incarceration of Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
the country’s democratically elected leader, and many other political prisoners.
However, as we hope to show in the following report, this is only one of very
many human rights abuses that provide obstacles to the people’s hope for
democracy.
This report concentrates in 3 specific areas of the country – Arakan State, Mon
State and the Pa-O Area of southern Shan State. This is partly due to budget and
time constraints, but, primarily because the brutal treatment received by the
people of these areas at the hands of the military junta has received limited media
attention in the past."...Conclusion: "The SPDC’s ongoing dual policy of increasing militarization and forced land
confiscation, both to house and feed the increasing troop numbers, causes
widespread problems throughout Burma. By robbing people of the land from
which many make their livings, without any or providing only desultory
compensation, many citizens face drastic problems such as food and water
shortages, an inability to educate their children and an inability to find work.
Additionally, the policy of using forced labour in the Government’s construction
and development projects, coupled with the disastrous environmental effects of
many of these projects, continues to create severe health problems throughout
the country. All of this often leads to people fleeing the country in search of a
better life.
