Burmese police arrest Kachin activist Bawk Ja

Jul 20, 2013 | News / Article

by Kachin News Group Bawk Ja (also spelt Bauk Gyar and Bauk Ja), a well-known Kachin land rights activist was arrested Thursday night, in southern Kachin state according to a family friend. Representatives from the Kachin Legal Aid group confirmed Bawk Ja’s...

Myanmar’s Rohingya Exodus Creating Crisis Across Region

Jul 20, 2013 | Refugee

By Reuters Muhammad Muslim, 52, fled Myanmar in 1988 when the junta brutally suppressed a pro-democracy movement in the country then known as Burma. As a Rohingya from western Rakhine state, he had no passport. Myanmar’s government does not grant citizenship to the...

Campaigners Demand Action, Not Words, From Myanmar

Jul 20, 2013 | Refugee

By Agence France-Presse Yangon. Activists on Tuesday urged Myanmar President Thein Sein to “turn his words into action” after the former general promised to free all political prisoners by the end of the year. “I guarantee to you that by the end of this year there...

Smugglers and Security Forces Prey on Asia’s New Boat People

Jul 20, 2013 | Refugee

By Reuters Anti-trafficking campaigners have produced mounting evidence of the widespread use of slave labor from countries such as Myanmar on Thai fishing boats, which face an acute labor shortage. Fishing companies buy Rohingya men for between 10,000 baht ($320) and...