Critics dismiss Asean plan for free movement of labor...
"DESPITE the high-minded ideals of the Asean Vision 2020 plan launched more than a decade ago by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), cynics continue to dismiss its aim of labor mobility in a “community of caring societies” as just so much humbug.
Introduction: "1.1 This ‘Comprehensive Plan Addressing the Needs
of Displaced Persons on the Thailand/Myanmar
(Burma) Border in 2007/8’ has been prepared by t
he Committee for the Coordination of Services to
Displaced Persons in Thailand (CCSDPT) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) Regional Office in Bangkok...
1.2 The first CCSDPT/ UNHCR Comprehensive Plan was for 2006 and was drawn up through a participatory
process during 2005. It was presented to the Royal Thai
A Briefing Document by Global Witness. October 2003...
Table of Contents... Recommendations...
Introduction...
Summary:
Natural Resources and Conflict in Burma;
SLORC/SPDC-controlled logging;
China-Burma relations and logging in Kachin State;
Thailand-Burma relations and logging in Karen State...
In the last four years Myanmar’s economy has seen a slight shift away from agriculture toward industry and services. This may mark the beginning of a structural transformation away from a rural, agricultural economy toward a more urban, industrial and service-based economy. Urbanization and job creation in urban areas have the potential to have a significant impact on labor and mobility patterns, especially for the landless and land-poor workers that account for a large part of the rural workforce.
The report documents on illegal logging and illegal export of timber to China in Kachin State in Burma, which is on the border of China and where deforestation is at its worst. It also documents the response of the relevant authorities in both Burma and China to ‘A Choice for China’, a Global Witnessexposure of the massive illegal timber trade between Burma and China in 2005 which resulted in a ban on logging and timber transportation in Kachin State in Burma and a Chinese ban on the importation of Burmese timber followed by Interim Measures to control the trade.Key findings are:
In this report, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) outlines the findings of its recent survey of households forcibly displaced by the Thilawa Special Economic Zone development project in Burma. The Japanese government and three Japanese companies partnered with the Burmese government and a consortium of Burmese companies to develop the site, a project that will require the relocation of nearly 1,000 families in total. PHR’s findings cover phase one of the project, during which 68 households were displaced.
Conclusion:
"The displacement in Thilawa took place amid a broader
climate of state-sponsored abuse in Burma, where
people have no recourse to challenge illegal government
action. Specifically, the displacement process in Thilawa
violated residents’ human rights, negatively affected
their ability to provide for themselves, and resulted in
deteriorating food security and limited ability to access
health care. The TSEZMC will relocate 846 more
households when development begins on phase two of
Karen Internally Displaced Persons wonder when they will be able to go home...
"Sitting in his new bamboo hut in Ler Per Her camp for Internally Displaced Persons, located on the bank of Thailand’s Moei River near the border with Burma, Phar The Tai—a skinny, tough-looking man of 60 who used to hide in the jungles and mountains of Burma’s eastern Karen State—waits for the time when he can return home.
Burmese residents of a US city still find it hard to escape the politics of their homeland...
"Than Myint arrived in the “land of opportunities” as a refugee nine years ago, together with her husband and children. A native of Rangoon, Than Myint now lives in Fort Wayne, a city of some 200,000 people in the US state of Indiana. Now in her late 50s, she has learned how to survive and lead a satisfactory life in the US—the kind of existence she would never have been able to enjoy in Burma...
The new wave of political reforms have set Myanmar on a road to
unprecedented economic expansion, but,
without
targeted policy
efforts and
regulation to
even the playing field, the benefits of new
investment will filter down to only a few,
leaving
small
-
scale farmers
–
the backbone of the Myanmar economy
–
unable
to benefit from
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