Memorandum submitted by Alison Winter
Re: Request for opinion on how DFID funding
can be most effectively used across the Thai-Burma border and
Burma funding in general.
1. I am an independent human rights activist
and volunteer worker for the people of Burma. I have spent time
(over a year in the last three years) working on the Thai-Burma
border since starting this work in late 2003. I have also visited
and worked on the China-Burma border, the Laos-Burma border and
most recently, the Bangladesh-Burma border, together with working
with and for the Burmese community in the UK. My work consists
of trying to fill the gaps between the organisations working here,
identifying and fulfilling needs, whether that be through direct
assistance or connecting a need to an organisation, political
lobbying, advising media, fund-raising, facilitating communication
between organisations and gathering and dissipating information.
I work with many of the different organisations concerned with
Burma, those who are providing humanitarian assistance, education
and development, or those politically in opposition to the ruling
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). I work with all ethnic
and religious groups that make up the people of Burma and do not
discriminate.
2. In my opinion DFID would be well advised
to put equal funding into political organisations as into humanitarian
organisations because they are inextricably linked. It is about
time that it was recognised that this humanitarian disaster on
the borders of Burma has nothing to do with so called "insurgents",
who are actually freedom fighters and are only defending their
people, but has come about as a direct result of the illegal governance,
policies and economic mismanagement of Burma by the SPDC.
3. There are major problems for all countries
bordering Burma, and human rights abuses together with internally
displaced people (IDPs), refugees and many other problems are
evident on every border I have visited; Thailand, China, Laos
and Bangladesh. I have been told that the situation is similar
in India.
4. In my opinion if the people of Burma,
through effective organisations either side of the borders, were
empowered and funded properly it would give them a chance to change
their country's political system; therefore ending human rights
abuses, IDPs, refugees, resettlement issues or migrant worker
problems, drug and human trafficking and crime would then fall.
If funding were provided to truly enable the people to access
education, to document abuses, lobby more, publish more, broadcast,
organise and communicate with the people in mainland Burma more,
the road to democracy could be facilitated faster and the people's
wish for a Democratic Federal Union of Burma could be much more
effectively pursued. At the moment some of these groups are having
trouble with finding enough money for basic necessities.
5. There is very obviously a constant and
great need for humanitarian aid. On the Bangladesh Burma border
this need is especially large. The only organisations I am aware
of who are working there are UNHCR and MSF (Médicins sans
Frontie"res) and their local implementing partners. This
is due largely to the fact that the previous government of Bangladesh,
the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), did not allow other NGOs
access to the country. However since the end of January 2007 there
is now an interim military government, who have declared that
they are anti-corruption and seem to have a more humanitarian
attitude to their people. I would advocate that DFID lobbies the
current government of Bangladesh to allow the international community
through NGOs to "carry the burden" of refugees from
Burma, both from the Rakhine ethnic group and the Muslim Rohingya
population. Bangladesh has enough problems of its own to sort
out.
6. The situation on the Bangladesh border
is out of control and desperate. Amongst the problems facing the
Rohingya population are children in an unofficial refugee camp
(Tal) who have had no access to education for 13 years, many of
whom are malnourished due to lack of food. The problems being
faced in this camp, with an approximated population of 12,000,
are largely caused by the Bangladesh authority and UNHCR's policy
not to recognise them as refugees. The population of this camp
live in abject poverty on every level, and sickness and crime
are rife. I saw skin diseases that looked suspiciously like leprosy,
men who had lost their legs and hands and were told it was due
to cancer, women so weak from sickness and lack of food that they
could not move from their shelter even to defecate. The interviews
I documented whilst being there showed that these people were
born and brought up in Burma and are currently suffering a similar
type of persecution as the ethnic Karen people in Eastern Burma
at the hands of the Burma Army. I documented cases of multiple
rape by the Burma Army, forced labour, land confiscation, deprivation
of livelihood, arbitrary arrest, attempted execution, torture
and general persecution and harassment of both the Rohingya and
the Rakhine population. [***]
7. I would recommend that if DFID truly
wants their money to go where the people of Burma really need
it in humanitarian aid, a serious amount should be given to the
situation in Bangladesh [***] and in Bangladesh through grassroots
development projects working with both the Rakhine and Rohingya
refugees.
8. [***]
9. The situation on the Thai-Burma border
is not just a simple one of there being 170,000 recognised refugees
and at least 500,000 internally displaced people inside Eastern
Burma (estimated by TBBC November 2006- this number has now irrefutably
grown). There is also a vast migrant worker population estimated
in Mae Sot alone to be anywhere between 70-80,000 [***]. These
are people are suffering many hardships and have come to Thailand
also as a direct result of the mismanagement of Burmese economy
by the illegal junta. Mae Sot is estimated to be 80% Burmese population
now, and that number is growing daily.
10. In my opinion DFID could provide very
effective support in Thailand. I would like to advocate that the
DFID give most if not all of their humanitarian aid funding for
cross-border work to the Free Burma Rangers, who not only work
on this border, but also in other areas of Burma. Their work is
always first-class and the teams they send out are trained to
the highest possible standard. Their courageous and systematic
reporting of human rights abuses perpetrated by the SPDC on all
peoples of Burma has proved to be an extremely effective weapon
for use by all other human rights lobbying groups, by governments
and official bodies worldwide and by the media. Their teams are
not biased towards any ethnicity or religion. Their delivery of
humanitarian aid into conflict situations is imperative, and I
would like to see their work expand as resources become available.
They are highly respected in all circles concerned with the situation
in Burma and act with great courage and discipline.
11. On another matter, I am very concerned
that support is not being given to the most effective organisations
because they believe in defending their people. The Burma Army
has proved time and time again that if the opposition lay down
their weapons, they will still attack the people. These groups
must not be penalised for providing protection for civilians against
the attacks of the Burma Army, by not receiving funding for their
highly effective political and humanitarian projects.
12. [***]
13. [***]
14. There are many organisations on the
Thai-Burma border, both effective ones and ineffective. I would
advise that DFID conducts more extensive research into where the
money goes and the organisation's effectiveness. I have already
mentioned two of the most effective cross-border organisations.
[***]
15. Finally I would like to applaud DFID
for their inquiry, it is long overdue. I request and strongly
advocate that no money from DFID be wasted in entrusting it to
any organisations who work with the SPDC. The money if provided
in this way will almost certainly be misappropriated and not used
to help the people who truly need it. This would also serve to
prolong and legitimise the illegal military junta. This is currently
the case with the money provided by the World Health Organisation
for the prevention and cessation of Bird-Flu and there are countless
other examples, like SPDC township authorities selling UN marked
mosquito nets (reported in 2004).
16. By their actions we can see that the
SPDC are not interested in their people, only in consolidating
their own power. That power was taken without the consent of the
people of Burma. Please do not entrust any funds designated for
the humanitarian relief of the people, to their care or administration,
they cannot be trusted to make sure these are given for the benefit
of the people. The SPDC are actually a corrupt and illegitimate
military junta, not the rightful government of Burma, please recognise
them as such.
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