Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Fearing repatriation, Mae La refugees shun profiling survey

Posted: 05 Jun 2013 03:50 AM PDT

More than 3,600 refugees in Mae La camp have signed a petition refusing to participate in a profiling survey, claiming the questionnaire solicits answers that favour repatriation.

The signatories fear that the information could be used as an indication of "voluntary return", and demand that the survey be re-authored with their participation and approval.

The petition was delivered on Tuesday to UNHCR spokesperson Vivian Tan and Mae Sot field coordinator Iain Hall.

Hall responded that the petition was created by a small group of vocal opponents demanding resettlement, stating, "We have listened to this group and their specific concerns. That they cannot get what they are demanding is not a reason for the project to be derailed for everyone. That group, or any individual, if they have concerns, we will listen to them."

Hall added that the survey is being adjusted to address the concerns of the community, and that participation is encouraged, but not mandatory.

The profiling project, originally set to begin in May, was initiated by UNHCR in collaboration with the Royal Thai Government, and has been outsourced to Thailand-based Mae Fa Luang Foundation (MFLF).

On Tuesday, a representative of MFLF stated that the project survey will not be carried out until "most of the community is on board."

A UNHCR Summary of Discussions, distributed to camp leaders and heads of schools, states that the purpose of the project is, “to learn from the refugees in the nine camps and gather accurate information from them so that between now and if they ever choose to return to Myanmar (Burma) one day, proper preparations can be made.”

The summary further states that, “The profiling process will be a fully consultative and participatory process, where the refugees will be involved in every step. The questionnaire will be designed through consultations with the refugees.”

The first “information sessions” held with refugees in Mae La – the pilot site of the survey – began in May 2013 after the questionnaire had already been drafted.

While UNHCR and MFLF maintain that the petition was created by a small group demanding only resettlement, the 3,600 signatures on document indicates there may be broader discomfort with the survey's contents.

The petition states that signatories do not wish to return to Burma, while also offering specific structural suggestions that create more discussion of alternatives to repatriation, such as naturalisation and registration for resettlement.

In it's current state, nearly all of the questions on the survey are about life upon return. Tak-based NGO Burma Link interviewed a number of the 115 "youth representatives" selected by camp committee members to conduct the survey.

According to several of the representatives, about 80 percent of those selected abandoned the commitment after viewing the training materials and questionnaire during an April training session. The survey was postponed from the initial start date of 1 May, as originally scheduled in the summary.

"We feel cheated," said Zin Mar, a 19 year-old Burmese refugee who was enlisted as a youth representative. "At first, we hoped we could reflect our voice through this survey… later I realised that they lied to everyone and everything."

The representatives were also told that the survey would evaluate refugees' opinions about the three options available to them – voluntary return to Burma, third-country resettlement and living in Thailand. Instead they found questions like: "Where in Myanmar would you voluntarily return to in order of preference?"

The youth representatives say that because the survey is administered on electronic tablets, every question must be answered in order to advance to the next. According to Hall, the issue is in the process of being resolved.

The surveyor training manual features notes next to some questions urging surveyors to explain that, “choices should be realistic,” and, “the world is watching, and access to information nowadays means that it would be difficult for anyone to get away with injustices anywhere in the world.”

Since the start of Burma's reform process in 2010, pressure has mounted to begin the repatriation of refugees living in the nine official "temporary shelters" along Thailand's northwestern border, even as armed conflict and religious riots in Burma have displaced approximately 220,000 persons since June 2011.

The current estimated combined population of Thailand's border camps is around 130,000 people, many of whom were born in exile.

Thailand, which is not signatory to the 1951 UN Convention on the Rights and Status of Refugees (CRSR), has allowed the camps to operate under the coordination and assistance of The Border Consortium (formerly TBBC) and UNHCR, but since 2006 has ceased the registration of new refugees.

Nearly half of Mae La's 45,000 residents do not have registered refugee status, which means they are ineligible for third-country resettlement.

Fears of premature repatriation are not unfounded – since the start of the reforms there has been no large-scale return of displaced persons, and some past repatriations have been disastrous.

UNHCR assisted in the infamous repatriation of about 200,000 Rohingya refugees in the early 1990's, when a change of policy legitimised "promoting" repatriation in the process of verifying voluntariness.

This experimental period resulted in the first publication of a UNHCR Handbook for Voluntary Repatriation: International Security in 1996, containing a chapter on promoting return if the UNHCR deems it safe, which they did in the case of moving Rohingya from Bangladesh to northern Arakan state under military rule, with no guaranteed right to citizenship.

Hall says that as the Burmese government has extended a welcome for refugees to return to any part of the country at any time, "voluntary return is the preferred solution, but at this point we are not at a stage of promotion."

 

Children abducted in Shan State

Posted: 05 Jun 2013 03:14 AM PDT

At least 13 children have been abducted in villages in Shan state’s Kutkai by a group of men wearing army fatigues. There are rumours that suggest the abductors could be human traffickers disguised as an armed group.

With five hours of power, industrial zones continue to struggle

Posted: 05 Jun 2013 02:58 AM PDT

Days after major industrial zones in Mandalay and Rangoon began receiving five hours of electricity a day, factories continue to struggle to stay afloat after a month of operating off the grid.

According to Win Ko Myo, a manufacturer in Rangoon's Shwe Linban Industrial Zone, his factory still runs on diesel generators for the majority of the day, while employees are unable to use all of the facility's machinery.

"We have to run on power generators and are still incapable of operating heavy machinery as government supplies are only available from 7am to 12pm," said Win Ko Myo.

"The generator uses up about four gallons of [fuel] per day and operating heavy machinery for a hour would take about 80 litres."

On 6 May, the government cut electricity supplies to the country's major industrial zones in order to provide the public with more power. On 30 May, major zones were supplied with five hours of electricity from state power plants a day, while small and medium-sized zones remain off the grid.

However, even with a few hours of power a day, manufacturers continue to rely on expensive generators to fuel their operations to fill orders they're contractually bound to meet.

"If we close down due to power cut, our workers would be doomed," said Win Ko Myo.

According to the manufacturer, employees from factories that have closed due to the cuts are struggling to feed themselves.

However, Aung Thein, chairman of Shwepyithar Industrial Zone in Rangoon, said other manufacturers are 'getting used' to power cuts that he deemed 'routine.'

"People are used to this – they just have to improvise and make their product available one way or another," said Aung Thein.

According to administrators at Rangoon's South Dagon Industrial Zone-2, industrial zones that house large manufacturing factories such as Hlaing Tharyar, East Dagon and Dagon Port Industrial Zones are suffering greater losses under the power shortages compared to light industry facilities.

The cuts are expected to ease later this month as monsoon rains begin to refill the reservoirs that produce about 70 percent of the country's electrical supplies.

In May 2012, after more than a month of massive power cuts protests kicked off in Mandalay and spread throughout the country to Rangoon, Monywa and Prome in what were some of the largest mass demonstrations in the country since the monk-led uprising in 2007.

While Burmese citizens endure daily power shortages during the hot season, the majority of the country's natural gas is continuing to be sold to neighbouring countries.

Burmese migrants killed in landslide

Posted: 05 Jun 2013 01:40 AM PDT

A landslide at a limestone factory in Thailand’s Petchaboon province has killed three people, including two Burmese migrants. Authorities say two people are still missing and one is seriously injured.

Burma to free all political prisoners soon

Posted: 04 Jun 2013 10:23 PM PDT

Burma’s president said Tuesday his government would release all prisoners of conscience soon, as part of sweeping political reforms following the end of junta rule.

The government has formed a committee to review the cases of political detainees and “all the prisoners of conscience will be free soon”, President Thein Sein said in a radio address.

“We are taking time to investigate cases that confuse criminal offences and political offences,” he said, adding that people convicted of violent crimes linked to political acts “deserve their sentences”.

The military junta that ruled for decades had denied the existence of political prisoners.

But hundreds of political detainees have been freed since reformist President Thein Sein took power in March 2011, and last November announced a review of all “politically concerned” cases.

However, activists say some 200 political prisoners remain in jail. They have accused Burma of using a series of headline-grabbing amnesties for political gain, aware that the international community is watching.

In the last prisoner amnesty in May more than 20 political detainees were released before a landmark visit by Thein Sein to the White House. A previous pardon came a day after the European Union agreed to end almost all sanctions against Burma.

The arbitrary imprisonment of political opponents was a hallmark of the previous brutal junta and sparked a web of western sanctions, which stifled the economy.

Since Thein Sein took power, the nation has undergone dramatic change including the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament.

Reforms have been warmly welcomed, with most sanctions rolled back and billions of dollars in loans and investments pledged for the impoverished but resource-rich country.

But global leaders and rights groups have backed a call by Suu Kyi for all political prisoners to be freed as a sign that the changes are binding.

In his speech, Thein Sein insisted the aim of the amnesties was “national reconciliation… there is no other political advantage that we want”.

But rights groups remained to be convinced.

“We welcome the fact the government admits it has political prisoners,” Mark Farmaner of Burma Campaign UK told AFP.

“But with Burma it’s always best to judge by action not by words… Thein Sein has promised to release prisoners before, but why are there hundreds still in jail?”

In his address Thein Sein also praised a tentative peace agreement reached with ethnic minority Kachin rebels last week, aimed at ending the nation’s last festering civil war.

“The agreement is a big step to end the domestic armed conflict that has existed for more than 60 years,” he said, thanking Burma’s powerful army, the Kachin independence Organisation and civil society groups for helping with the peace process.

Coca-Cola comes to Burma

Posted: 04 Jun 2013 08:43 PM PDT

Coca-Cola Co. opens a factory on the outskirts of Burma’s commercial capital to begin production in the country for the first time in more than 60 years.
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