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Memorandum submitted by the Free Burma Rangers
The IDPs and villagers in areas under attack thank the international community, including the British people and government, for their assistance and for their denouncement of the actions of the SPDC and its troops against the people of Burma. We at FBR would also like to thank the people of the UK for this assistance and encourage those at DFID that their assistance is effective, needed, and, if increased, will greatly benefit the displaced people of Burma.
Regarding the particular points of concern to the International Development Committee, the FBR would like to give the following input:
A) The particular needs of IDPs in Burma and refugees in Thailand.
1. Freedom, Dignity, and Hope - Thousands of villagers in Burma live under fear of rape, murder, imprisonment, forced labor, extortion, and numerous other tools of oppression used by the dictators to control and exploit the people of Burma. The people of Burma first and foremost need freedom from this oppression, dignity as humans to care for themselves and their families, and hope for a better future.
2. Security - The number one cause of displacement in border areas has been attacks against civilians by the Burma Army. Unless Burma Army attacks and the increased militarization of ethnic areas is halted, the displacement of thousands of civilians into hiding and into neighboring countries will continue.
3. Food - A shortage of food is the main reason most people flee to refugee camps or other IDP sites along the border. Displacement from Burma Army attacks makes it impossible for many villagers to plant, care for, and harvest crops, along with the Burma Army's policy of burning down farms, rice barns, and killing all livestock it finds, thus making it extremely difficult for villagers to find sufficient food to survive.
4. Medicine - There is a critical need of medicine for those who are displaced, and for the support of mobile medical teams: both teams that focus on emergency situations and teams that focus on systematic and programmed coverage. There is a need for the support and improvement of existing clinics and for the development and support of new clinics. The training, equipping and sustainment of medical personnel are also needed.
5. Shelter, blankets and clothing - Plastic and nylon sheeting is needed for emergency roofing material, especially for populations displaced by attacks. In some areas cash assistance is needed to buy these and other natural roofing materials locally. Blankets and clothing are needed for most of the population in affected areas.
6. Education - The support of teachers, schools, students and school materials is needed. Training programs and educational materials are needed, especially in the conflict areas. Education is especially important as it brings a since of hope and normalcy for children in these conflict areas.
B) The challenges faced in delivering aid and assistance to these groups. (Note: Suggested solutions follow each point.)
In the face of many challenges, cross-border assistance is proven to work and meets people's critical needs in an ethical, efficient and practical way. As long as the SPDC keeps attacking its own people, cross-border assistance will be a humanitarian imperative.
1. Security: The Burma Army and the dictators of Burma attack the people and attempt to block all assistance to the IDPs. Relief teams are subject to attack just as the population is. Security is thus the major challenge to cross-border assistance.
Solution: Through international negotiation, incentives, pressure, and direct or indirect intervention, the attacks on the people of Burma can be stopped. This requires an acknowledgement that the dehumanization of people in the conflict areas is wrong and is unacceptable. It will take a concerted international effort, involving the direct or indirect instruments of diplomatic, political, economic and, if needed, military pressure. It is hoped that respect, friendship, reasoning and compromise will bring the attacks to a halt, but if not, the value of human beings must be defended.
2. Neighboring countries' policies: The policies of neighboring countries toward cross-border assistance hinder the delivery of aid. Aid is deliverable, but because of policies and varying degrees of enforcement, aid is often slowed or limited
Solution: The tandem action of diplomacy and careful but immediate cross-border assistance by any nation that has the will to do so is the first step. The next step is continued diplomacy in the hope that it will be seen by neighboring countries that it is not only moral to help those in need, but that it is a also a benefit to those countries. The third step is the development of partnerships with neighboring countries to work together to provide relief to people of Burma.
3. Logistics: The transport of relief supplies faces numerous challenges such as the inability to use roads and vehicular transport due to Burma Army control. Assistance, whether it is cash, medicine, clothing, shelter, educational supplies, etc. is now all carried in on foot and a small number of pack animals (mules and horses).
Solution: Funding is needed to support an improved logistics network that includes improvement of the trail system, further development of the existing pack animal program, the building of roads and provision of vehicles in certain areas where this is practical, the provision of boats for water-borne relief, and support for a light plane service that would provide emergency medevac as well as rapidly move needed people or supplies. Each of these aspects of logistics requires the training and sustaining of logistics personnel and the needed infrastructure, such as secure storage facilities and supply depots.
4. Communications: Communications are now through messenger or radio, and coverage is often slow or incomplete. Also, communications from the areas under attack to the outside world is often difficult and expensive.
Solution: The existing network of radio and satellite systems needs to be improved and expanded at every level. This requires training, equipment and sustained support.
5. Capacity: The pro-democracy resistance groups and different organizations are responsible for the meeting of many needs. Due to attacks on the population, displacement, and resulting lack of security, finding and training enough qualified people is an ongoing challenge. There is a slowly emerging network of local CBOs (some directly related to pro-democracy resistance organizations, some independent) that also face the challenge of capacity-building.
Solution: Existing training programs need to be expanded and new programs developed for the wide spectrum of CBOs (and for the pro-democracy resistance organizations), in order to help develop greater capacity.
6. Donor Restrictions: In some places donor restrictions make it difficult to provide timely, practical, and efficient humanitarian relief.
Solution: It would be good if the donors could not only streamline their requirements, but also be satisfied that the relief the donors fund is the relief actually provided and accounted for in the field. For example, if money is donated for medicine and is used in total for medicine, with no diversions to other needs, and with all proper accounting and reporting, this should satisfy the donor. There should be only the minimal needed restrictions on how the relief is provided. Transparency, honesty, mutual respect, gratitude and the best ethical practices should be the ongoing norm in the relationship between the donors and recipients.
7. Funding: There is not enough funding to meet all of the needs in affected areas or to overcome the challenges faced in delivering aid. The low level of funding for cross-border relief makes every challenge more difficult.
Solution: More funds should be given to directly help people in need as well as to address each of the challenges faced. This funding should be channeled more directly to a wider variety of recipients that are locally led and who are working cooperatively to address the needs of displaced villagers inside Burma. This broadening of the existing support will help to develop a stronger and more diverse grass-roots base, will help provide a more balanced and wider coverage of assistance, and will give people at the ground level more control over what kind of aid is needed and how it is administered. It will also promote a higher degree of transparency, and if it's done in an equitable way, will help improve cooperation and will be another building block of civil society.
8. Regular and Comprehensive Assistance: Due to the challenges of security, cross-border policies, logistics, communications, capacity, coordination of effort and donor restrictions, it is a challenge to provide regular and comprehensive assistance to every affected area.
Solution: The more the challenges are addressed and resolved, the more complete and comprehensive the coverage will be.
C) How different ethnic groups are affected by displacement.
Displacement occurs throughout Burma for a wide variety of reasons and across all ethnicities. People are displaced because of military attacks and forced relocation, as well as other political and economic factors. The types of displacement currently happening depends largely on where the population is located.
1. SPDC/Burma Army-controlled areas: face displacement because of oppressive and corrupt governance as well as economic reasons. 2. Areas under partial Burma Army control: large-scale forced relocation as well as displacement because of oppressive policies, attacks on the populace and economic pressures. 3. Resistance Areas: Displacement because of direct military attack and forced relocation.
The Burma Army itself recognizes three different types of areas within Burma: White: areas that are under complete military control. Brown: areas under control but with the presence of resistance. Black: areas contested with the resistance and with some of these areas being under resistance control.
The following are how the major ethnic groups in Burma are affected by displacement: Karen, Karenni and Shan: Face the same displacement patterns as other groups; however, they face a much higher rate of displacement. Mon: Earlier faced displacement by direct attack and now face displacement by SPDC policy, and as a result of ceasefire agreements between the Mon resistance and the SPDC. Wa: With SPDC encouragement, displaced over 100,000 of its own people from Northern Shan State to Southern Shan State to create a southern Wa command and consolidate control over some border areas. Kachin: Face displacement as a result of SPDC policy and the acquiescence of the resistance due to a ceasefire agreement. Chin and Arakan: Face a limited amount of displacement due to direct attacks. Most displacement is a result of SPDC economic policies.
Types of Displacement:
1. Forced Relocation Site - Those who have been forced to move to an area under Burma Army control 2. Running and Hiding after an attack - Those who are fleeing from or are in hiding from Burma Army attacks. 3. Returned to old village after attacks are over - Those who have fled an attack and returned to their old village. 4. Built a new village on the ruins of the old site or in a new place - Those who have fled and have returned to a destroyed village where they are rebuilding and living in temporary shelters. 5. Refugee Camp - Those who have fled to a refugee camp in a neighboring country. 6. IDP camp - IDPs who are living in a camp within Burma. Example: Ee Htu Hta IDP camp on the Salween River. 7. Migrant/Immigrant for economic and political reasons - Those who have fled Burma to neighboring countries because of attack or because of political and economic reasons and are living in another country outside of a refugee camp.
D) The likely trends in the region in terms of displacement, and development and humanitarian needs.
Displacement will continue as the SPDC tries to dominate, control, assimilate and exploit the people of Burma. The SPDC imprisons, kills, or chases out those who resist its will.
1. Displacement: There are currently more than 1 million people within Burma who have been displaced by the attacks and oppression of the dictators since they took power. Millions have also fled to neighboring countries because of these attacks, as well as the dictators' destructive social, political and economic policies. This displacement is almost certainly likely to continue unless the SPDC radically changes its policies and the Burma Army halts all attacks.
25,000 villagers fled attacks in 2006 in northern Karen State alone, and it is possible that this many again will flee in 2007 if the recent military preparations by the Burma Army develop into full-scale attacks. The number could be much higher if Burma Army attacks also expand into areas of Karenni and Shan States. It is likely that thousands more will be displaced because of food shortage, extrajudicial punishment, forced relocation, economic instability, and numerous other difficulties faced by the people of Burma resulting from the dictators' rule.
2. Development: In areas under attack, development is non-existent and is in fact regressing. Hundreds of villages have been destroyed or abandoned, thousands of farms have been abandoned, schools have been destroyed, and many areas are now inaccessible because of the thousands of landmines placed by the Burma Army.
In ethnic areas where the Burma Army has significant military control over the population, the development taking place is often in the form of roads and military camps. These areas benefit only the Burma Army, as the camps entrench military rule, serve as bases from which to attack and oppress the local populations. Furthermore, forced civilian labor is the main source of labor used in their construction.
3. Humanitarian Needs: If attacks and displacement increase, humanitarian needs will also increase. Refer to section A for details about humanitarian needs.
F) How donors can assist IDPs in Burma and refugees in Thailand most effectively.
1. The most effective way to help IDPs in Burma now is to support the organizations already on the ground assisting those who have been displaced. There are many groups currently working along the border and inside Burma who have been providing humanitarian assistance, health care, and supporting development and education programs. Inside the Karen State, the main group providing relief to villagers under attack is the local villagers themselves. Villagers throughout Karen State cooperate to provide needed food and other assistance to those who have been forced to flee their homes and farms. Groups such as the Karen Office for Relief and Development (KORD), the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP), the Free Burma Rangers (FBR), and Backpack Health Worker Teams (BHWT) also provide significant assistance in the form of food, health care, shelter, clothing, and educational materials to those under attack. Along with these groups, numerous mobile clinics, which are supported by a wide range of international organizations, exist throughout Karen State and provide much-needed health care to villagers and IDPs alike.
There are also a large number of training programs that occur every year to support relief and development operations and these can use both funding and expertise.
Similar organizations exist in Karenni and Shan States, although they currently operate on a much smaller scale.
G) The advantages and disadvantages of cross-border assistance compared to other ways of assisting IDPs in Burma.
While cross-border assistance faces many challenges, it is currently the only way to provide needed and often life-saving help to those people under attack by the Burma Army. Cross-border assistance has proven to be practical and to meet a wide variety of human needs.
Advantages: 1. Cross-border assistance meets peoples' basic needs, including, in some cases, helping to save their lives. 2. It is a humanitarian imperative to help people in need, and in the conflict areas, cross-border assistance is the only way to do this. 3. It has proven to work well in addressing a wide variety of needs, whereas attempts to help IDPs through the SPDC have failed. 4. Cross-border assistance works through existing indigenous organizations on the ground and is thus the most efficient and cost-effective means of meeting the needs. 5. In working through indigenous organizations capacity is built, civil society is strengthened and good governance is supported. 6. It affirms that despite the power of the dictatorship, the international community stands with those who are oppressed. 7. All aspects of relief have been and are well monitored and evaluated, and have the highest level of accountability. 8. Relief is well managed, with funds being used for assistance as per donor intentions. 9. Organized cross-border assistance has been ongoing for more than 10 years, and has resulted in organizations that can accurately assess and meet needs, as well as provide regular reporting, accounting, and positive evidence that the assistance has not only gone where intended, but that its made a difference in peoples' lives.
Disadvantages: The disadvantages are the challenges faced in providing needed relief to people under attack.
H) Impact of DFID¹s policies towards Burma¹s IDPs and refugees.
DFID has been a great support for refugees and others in need. If DFID decides to contribute to cross-border assistance in the conflict areas, this will be a tremendous help to people in distress. Peoples' survival, their human rights, and human dignity are at stake.
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