(Reuters)

International community ignores large-scale displacement of minorities by Burma's military regime

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) - Norway

Geneva, 13 November 2003 - Although there has been considerable attention on Burma's political crisis and the suppression of Aung San Suu Kyi's democracy movement, the brutal displacement of hundreds of thousands of people by the military regime has gone largely unnoticed by the international community, says a report published by the Global IDP Project of the Norwegian Refugee Council today.

"Exposed to ongoing violence and systematic human rights abuses at the hands of government troops, these people are without protection from either their government or the international humanitarian community", says the report. "With their traditional livelihoods ruined and humanitarian assistance blocked by the army, the situation of Burma's displaced people is desperate."

The regime has forcibly displaced between 600,000 and one million people in its campaign to fight rebel groups operating along Burma's eastern border with Thailand. Ethnic minorities seen as supporting the insurgents are among the main targets, including the Karen, Kerenni and Shan ethnic groups.

There are numerous reports of arbitrary executions, torture, and other human rights abuses committed by the military. Women are particularly at risk, as rape is increasingly used by the army as a tool to create fear and punish civilians in the conflict areas. "The counter-insurgency operations have created a human rights situation [.] that is considered one of the worst in the world", the report says.

Most of the victims of internal displacement have been forced into relocation camps or are hiding in the forests and mountains of eastern Burma. Humanitarian conditions are worrying, particularly for those in the jungle, where often even basic foraging for food is constrained by the presence of government troops. With the government blocking access by international aid agencies to the border regions, very little foreign assistance reaches the displaced populations.

The report calls on the international community to pay more attention to the humanitarian emergency in minority areas, and properly reflect the regime's ongoing human rights violations, including forced displacement, in the international response to the crisis in Burma.

The Geneva-based Global IDP Project, established by the Norwegian Refugee Council at the request of the United Nations, is the leading international body monitoring internal displacement worldwide.