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Librarian's Choice
Source/publisher:
Global Witness
Date of publication:
2015-10-23
Description:
"...Myanmar?s jade industry may well be the biggest natural resource heist in
modern history. The sums of money involved are almost incomprehensibly
high and the level of accountability is at rock bottom. As long as the ghosts
of the military junta are allowed to dominate a business worth equivalent to
almost half the country?s GDP, it is difficult to envisage an end to the conflict
in Kachin State. Lessons from other nations afflicted by the resource curse,
as well as Myanmar?s own history, suggest that the threats to the country?s
wider political and economic stability are also very real...Since 2011, Myanmar?s rebranded
government has told the world it is
transitioning from a pariah state run
by a ruthless military dictatorship
to a civilian regime committed to
wholesale political and economic
reforms.
In important respects, there has been real
change. Oft-cited examples include the release of
Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners,
and the government?s peace talks with ethnic
armed groups. But in other critical areas, the
reformist narrative bears little scrutiny. Nowhere
is this truer than in the jade sector.
Drawing on over a year of investigations, this
report shows for the first time how a multi-billion
dollar trade in one of the planet?s most precious
gemstones is tightly controlled by the same military
elites, US-sanctioned drug lords and crony
companies that the government says it is consigning
to the past. Companies owned by the family of
former dictator Than Shwe and other notorious
figures are creaming off vast profits from the
country?s most valuable natural resource, and the
world?s finest supply of a stone synonymous with
glitz and glamour. Meanwhile, very few revenues
reach the people of Kachin State, the site of the
Hpakant jade mines, or the population of Myanmar
as a whole.
As the country approaches an historic election,
the importance of these findings to Myanmar?s
future is hard to overstate. Our investigations
show that the elites who between them have most
to lose from an open and fair future also have
ready access to a vast slush fund in the shape
of the jade sector. This raises urgent questions
for reformers and their international partners.
What is happening to all this jade money? Is it only
being spent on real estate, fast cars and lavish
parties, or is it being used for political purposes
as well?..."
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-24
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
Language:
English, Kachin, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
5.14 MB 925.67 KB 2.2 MB
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Source/publisher:
"Lowey Interpreter"
Date of publication:
2015-10-22
Description:
Includes a 2-hour 51 minute MRTV video of the 2015 Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade....."Since the accession of President Thein Sein in 2011, the
Tatmadaw?s continuing political role has been examined closely. Less attention has been given to
strictly military issues, yet the Tatmadaw?s combat capabilities not only underpin its domestic
position but also help determine Burma?s strategic influence.
Despite its dominance of Burma?s national affairs for decades, the Tatmadaw remains in many respects a closed book. Even the most basic data is beyond the reach of analysts and other observers. For example, the Tatmadaw?s current size is a mystery, although most estimates range between 300,000 and 350,000. Official statistics put Burma?s defence expenditure this year at 3.7 % of GDP, but the actual level is unknown .
Given this uncertainty, all reports about the Tatmadaw need careful handling. It is clear, however, that since 2011 Commander-in Chief Min Aung Hlaing has implemented wide-ranging plans to make the Tatmadaw more professional and to improve its order of battle. The latter includes an ambitious arms acquisition program that some have compared with the dramatic expansion and modernisation of Burma?s armed forces during the 1990s..."
Andrew Selth
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-23
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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Source/publisher:
Central Statistical Organization (CSO)
Description:
"The Myanmar Information System (MMSIS) is a web-based national database of statistics about
Myanmar developed by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO).
This national statistical database is developed through a "project of capacity building through IT based
statistical data management in Myanmar" supported by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
The MMSIS is designed to provide statistical data and metadata to the public.
It is meant to respond to the growing demands of data users for various statistics that describe socio-economic
conditions in Myanmar, at national and sub-national levels, across various periods.
At present, official statistics are produced by the CSO, as well as other statistical line agencies comprising the
Myanmar National Statistical System (NSS).
In addition, the private sector also collects statistical information.
The MMSIS is an online ?one-stop shop? of statistical data services that enables users
to easily download information in Excel format, both in Myanmar and in English.
This feature makes it convenient and simple for data users to obtain their required statistical information needs."
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-21
Type:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
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Source/publisher:
Amnesty International, (ASA 21/2574/2015)
Date of publication:
2015-10-20
Description:
"In May 2015 three boats carrying 1,800 women, men and children landed in Aceh, Indonesia. Most of the passengers were Muslim Rohingya, a persecuted religious and ethnic minority from Myanmar. All those who arrived had endured weeks or months at sea, in overcrowded boats controlled by ruthless traffickers or abusive people-smugglers. The report includes testimonies from the Rohingya on the shocking conditions and human rights abuses they suffered on the boats for weeks or sometimes months on end, including killings and beatings while they were held hostage for ransom."
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-21
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Trafficking: global, regional and national reports, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
English (available also in Indonesian)
Format :
pdf
Size:
3.21 MB
Local URL:
AI-2015-10-Deadly_Journeys-en.pdf
AI-2015-10-Deadly_Journeys-en.pdf more
Source/publisher:
Global Witness
Date of publication:
2015-03-26
Description:
"As Myanmar?s junta prepared to step down from government, the military set about seizing public assets and natural resources to ensure its economic control in a new era of democratic rule. Guns, Cronies and Crops details the collusion at the heart of operations carried out by Myanmar?s armed forces in northeastern Shan State. Large swathes of land were taken from farming communities in the mid-2000s and handed to companies and political associates to develop rubber plantations. Our investigation reveals those involved, including Myanmar?s current Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, U Myint Hlaing, the country?s ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, and Sein Wut Hmon, a rubber company which collaborated with the former military junta to gain control of land. These revelations come as Myanmar?s government finalises the drafting of a national land policy, the country?s first. The report documents the toxic legacy of these land grabs on an already marginalised ethnic-minority population, for whom little has changed since the country?s much-lauded transition to civil democracy in 2011. Villagers told Global Witness that they had received no compensation and are struggling to earn a living and feed their families without land to grow food..."
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-14
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Land confiscation for military, commercial and other purposes, Agricultural land confiscation/grabbing, Rubber plantations
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
817.7 KB 1.15 MB 49.85 KB
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Source/publisher:
International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
Date of publication:
2015-10-00
Description:
Executive Summary: "Myanmar presents opportunities to build an inclusive economic
system, but continues to be plagued by serious human
rights challenges. The government is emerging from
five decades of military rule and isolation, undertaking
halting and partial reforms towards democracy, peace and
a modern economy. With the beginning of reforms in 2011,
Western governments lifted most of the economic sanctions
and many foreign companies have taken advantage of the
new business environment, the low-cost labour, abundant
natural resources, geographic position, and over 50 million
potential domestic consumers. During the 2014-2015 fiscal
year, foreign direct investment reached a record US$8 billion.
Last year saw a rapid increase in oil and gas projects with the
award of 16 onshore and 20 offshore blocks in the space of
12 months. The prospect of cheap labour is also leading the
garment industry grow rapidly. Total garment exports were
valued at about US$1.6 billion in 2014. Already, a number
of European and American companies have established a
supply-chain in Myanmar, and many others are considering
doing so. Myanmar has also seen an unprecedented growth
in international tourist arrivals and the tourism industry is becoming
one of the fastest growing areas of the economy.
This report focuses on the foreign investment in these three
sectors (oil and gas, garments, and tourism) ? the most significant
ones today. It then assesses the human rights risks
of multinational companies operating in Myanmar, particularly
in the area of labour rights, land rights and conflict and
security.
Reforms remain fragile. Widespread corruption and the absence
of rule of law, arbitrary arrests, and the lack of an independent
judiciary continue. Armed conflicts persist in areas
of Kachin and Shan States. The situation of the Rohingya minority
has deteriorated further. The evolving domestic legal
framework still lags behind international standards, and the
government lacks the capacity to implement new legislation.
The investment surge is intensifying land confiscation and
violence. There are widespread reports of land grabbing
linked to the development of infrastructure projects, the establishment
of industrial zones, agriculture concessions, and
resource extraction projects. In 2012, the government started
a process to formulate a new Land Law, but the current
framework leaves workers vulnerable to forced evictions,
expropriation without proper compensation. Hydropower
projects such as the Myitsone and the Salween River dams,
extractive projects such as the Shwe Gas project and the
Monywa copper mine (comprising the Letpadaung mine)
and the establishment of Special Economic Zones, including
the Dawei, the Kyaukphyu and Thilawa, have all been associated
with tensions between local communities and investors
over land confiscations and displacement, with little or no
compensation. Protests are growing in number across the
country and are often met with intimidation, the excessive
use force, and arbitrary arrests and detentions.
With the passage of new labour laws in 2012, the formation
of trade unions and the exercise of the right to strike were
legally allowed for the first time in 50 years. In 2012, the Confederation
of Trade Unions Myanmar (CTUM) was allowed
to return to the country after decades in exile. It has established
an office in Yangon and was registered as the first
nationwide confederation in July 2015. Workers and employers
are, however, still learning about their rights under the
new legal framework. Collective bargaining is growing, but
still relatively rare. Poor implementation of the law means
that, in practice, employers can and do discriminate against
workers who seek to exercise their newfound rights without
consequence. Striking workers and labour activists are
dismissed by employers. The procedures established by the
law on the Settlement of Labour Disputes has not provided
adequate protection for workers and is considered to be
dysfunctional.
Workers are paid extremely low wages. To meet basic living
needs, they are often forced to work excessive overtime. In
June, the government announced a new minimum wage of
3,600 kyats per day for enterprises employing 15 or more
workers? a compromise between the 4,000 kyats advocated
by the unions and the 2,500 kyats urged by business.
The wage is still among the lowest in the region ? on par
with Bangladesh. Even then, the garment manufacturers association
threatened to close around 100 factories if the minimum
wage was introduced at that rate (and a few have in
fact closed). The new wage rate is an improvement, though
still below a wage on which a worker can meet his or her basic
needs. It remains to be seen whether the new rate will be
paid, and whether the government will effectively enforce it.
The large influx of foreign money and consequent pressure
to keep wages low and increase productivity levels combined
with a weak regulatory framework risk exacerbating
labour and union rights abuses.
There are serious risks that Myanmar?s natural resources
and labour will only benefit privileged domestic interests
and foreign companies, while disadvantaged communities
will suffer the negative impacts of poorly regulated business
Executive summary
Foreign direct investment in Myanmar: What impact on human rights? 8|76
activities. The investment challenges in a context where
the economy is still dominated by the interests of the military
and their connected ?crony” businessmen are obvious.
Myanmar is still a high-risk country, requiring a rigorous responsible
investment strategy. The government is not protecting
human rights or enforcing labour and environmental
standards. In this context multinational enterprises will find
their responsibilities more difficult to fulfil.
The corporate responsibility to respect requires companies
to exercise due diligence in order to mitigate human rights
risks so that their operations do not contribute to or exacerbate
human rights violations. In Myanmar, a weak governance
country, investors are exposed to a complex business
environment and responsible businesses must understand
the direct and indirect impacts that their activities have on
human rights. In particular, companies will have to undertake
due diligence with respect to the human rights of workers
whether they are performing work directly on their behalf
or indirectly through other business enterprise. Land use
and acquisition should recognise customary land rights,
ensure consent, with direct consultation with villagers and
local authorities, and provide proper compensations. Companies
should establish grievance mechanisms to provide
early remedy for rights-holders who are adversely impacted
by their operations. Given the lack to effective state-based
remedies, operational level grievance mechanisms, established
according to criteria in the [UN] Guiding Principles, are
even more important in Myanmar. A collective bargaining
agreement is the most appropriate grievance mechanism in
the workplace.
Due diligence is required when doing business in Myanmar?s
conflict-affected areas or when dealings with the military
and their companies. Many local companies have some relationship
with the military or may be ?cronies”. Businessmen
with close ties to the military, associated with human rights
abuses, are the best placed to benefit from new foreign investment
in Myanmar.
Multinational companies operating in Myanmar are expected
to act as industry leaders on human rights and labour
practices. This includes engaging with the government to
encourage it to apply international standards, as well as engaging
with local partners and subcontractors to have them
comply with these standards. This report provides guidance
for multinational companies operating in Myanmar on their
huma
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-12
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.11 MB
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Source/publisher:
Yuzo UDA
Description:
6,912 files in 15 albums and 4 categories with 0 comments viewed 159,740 times
Largely photos of Burma
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-12
Type:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Photographs and other images of Burma
Language:
English, Japanese
more
Source/publisher:
ALTSEAN-Burma
Date of publication:
2015-10-00
Description:
" The Burmese authorities have failed to implement most of the recommendations from previous United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions, despite recent ones being adopted by consensus, in particular Resolution 69/248 adopted in 2014. The information presented in this briefer refers directly to the language proposed for the 2015 UNGA Resolution.
In 2015, authorities continued to either fail to address, or collude in serious human rights violations, and took steps to undermine the possibility of ?free and fair? elections on 8 November. These developments seriously compromise the possibility of progress toward genuine democracy and national reconciliation in Burma.
This briefer summarizes developments on the ground with direct reference to key paragraphs of the 2014 resolution and includes Altsean-Burma?s recommended text for the 2015 UNGA resolution."
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-12
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
ALTSEAN-Burma archive
Language:
English
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Source/publisher:
Burma Partnership (BP)
Date of publication:
2015-10-00
Description:
Executive Summary:
"In the context of the 2015 elections, this
report aims to provide a summary of what
these elections mean and how the elections
are perceived in ethnic nationality areas of
Burma. Given that up to 40% of the population
of Burma are not ethnically Burman, it is vital
to present the perspectives and attitudes, as
well as the political situation, in these ethnic
areas in the run up to this much anticipated
event.
This report finds that ethnic political
parties and ethnic civil society broadly agree
on fundamental issues: the need for peace,
ethnic equality, self-determination, and a
federal system of governance. Given the centralized governance structure and the overbearing presence and power of the Burma
Army, an institution that has been at war with
ethnic nationality actors for over 65 years,
it is fundamental structural changes in the
way that Burma is governed that will address
peace, ethnic equality, self-determination
and federalism, not the 2015 elections.
The report finds that the State and
Region level Parliaments simply do not have
power to make essential changes in the lives
of ethnic communities. The stipulations in
Schedules One and Two of the 2008 Constitution
allocate very few responsibilities
to the local level while the Chief Minister of
the State or Region Parliament is chosen by
the President. Both ethnic communities and
ethnic political parties feel the impotence of
this centralized structure of governance and
most stated that they need this to change
before they are able to develop policy
platforms on issues such as education,
health, drugs, and other issues.
Furthermore, the Burma Army has
entrenched its power through the control
of day to day administration through the
General Administration Department (GAD),
its allocation of 25% seats in Union, and
State and Region level Parliaments, as well
as control over key ministries.
The 2015 elections will not change either
of these two structural impediments to ethnic
equality - military domination and centralization of governance - and both ethnic political
parties and ethnic civil society expressed this
in the research conducted. It is important not
to forget that there is another ongoing process
that seeks to realize aspirations of ethnic
equality and self-determination - the peace
process. For many ethnic communities, this
is the most important political process in
Burma today. This is not to state that the 2015
elections are unimportant or irrelevant for
ethnic areas. They will serve to develop the
political maturity of ethnic political parties that
are either very new or have been operating
underground or in exile for many years. But
amid the hype and optimism surround this
historic event, the aspirations of many ethnic
communities will remain unfulfilled unless
fundamental, structural, institutional changes
in governance take place."
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-11
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
676.8 KB
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Source/publisher:
Amnesty International
Date of publication:
2015-10-07
Description:
၂၀၁၅ နုဝိ င်ဘာလ ၈ ရက်နေ့တွင် မြန်မာနုငိ ်ငံတွင် အများက မျှော်လင့်နေကြသော
အထွေထွေရွေးကောက်ပမွ ဲ ျား ကျင်းပတော့မည် ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ဤရွေးကောက်ပမွ ဲ ျားမှာ နှစ်ပေါင်း
ငါးဆယ်ခန့် စစ်အုပ်ချုပ်ရေး အပြီး သမ္မတဦးသိန်းစိန် ၏ အရပ်သားတစ်ဝက် အစိုးရ ၂၀၁၁ ခုနှစ်တွင်
တက်လာပြီးသည့်နောက် ပထမဆုံး ကျင်းပသည့် အထွေထွေရွေးကောက်ပ ွ ြဲဖစ်သည်။
ရွေးကောက်ပွမဲ ျား ကျင်းပချနိ ်သည် အစိုးရက ၎င်းတို့ နုငိ ်ငံရေး၊
စီးပွားရေး၊ လူမှုရေး ပြုပြင်ပြောင်းလဲမှုများကို ပြုလုပ်ခဲ့ပြီး
တိုးတက်ဖြစ်ထွန်းမှုများ ရရှေ ိ နပါပြီဆိုသော သတင်းစကားကို
နုငိ ်ငံတကာ အသိုင်းအဝိုင်းကို ပြသနုငိ ်ခဲ့ပြီဟူသော
မျှော်လင့်ချက်များ ရှေ ိ နချနိ ်လည်း ဖြစ်ပါသည်။
?ရွေးကောက်ပွေဲတွ နီးလာတာနဲ့ ပွင့်ပွင့်လင်းလင်း
ထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုသူအများအပြားလည်း
အဖမ်းခံလာရတယ်၊ ကျွန်တော်ကတော့
တော်တော် စိတ်ပူပါတယ်၊ တက်ကြွလှုပ်ရှားသူတွေ
စွခဲ ျက်အမျုးိမျုးိနဲ့ ရင်ဆိုင်ရတယ်၊ ဒီအခြေအနေကို
အစိုးရက ဖန်တီးထားတာပါ၊ ကြိုက်တဲ့အချနိ ်မှာ
ကြိုက်တဲ့သူကို သူတို့ ခေါ်သွားလို့ ရနေတယ်။”
မန္တလေးမှ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးတက်ကြွလှုပ်ရှားသူ တစ်ဦး၊
ဇူလိုင် ၂၀၁၅။
သို့ရာတွင် တက်ကြ ွအားကောင်းစပြုလာသော မြန်မာ့ အရပ်ဖက်
လူ့အဖွ့အဲ စည်း အသိုင်းအဝိုင်းမှ လူအများ အကြားတွင်မူ ပြည်တွင်း
အခြေအနေများမှာ အစိုးရပုံဖော်သလောက် လှပတင့်တယ်မှု
မရှကြိ ပေ။ ၂၀၁၄ခုနှစ် နှစ်ဆန်းမှ စတင်၍ အစိုးရသည် ယခင်
စစ်အစိုးရအသုံးပြုခဲ့သော နည်းလမ်းများအတိုင်း ပြည်တွင်းမှ
ငြိမ်းချမ်းသော လှုပ်ရှားမှုများနှင့် အတိုက်အခံ အသံများကို
ဖိနှပိ ်ချုပ်ခြယ်ရန် ကြိုးပမ်းလာခဲ့သည်။ လူ့အခွင့်အရေး
လှုပ်ရှားသူများ၊ နုငိ ်ငံရေး လှုပ်ရှားသူများနှင့် အရပ်ဖက်
လူ့အဖွ့အဲ စည်းမှ လှုပ်ရှားတက်ကြွသူများသည်း ၎င်းတို့၏
လွတ်လပ်စွာ ထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုခွင့်၊ ဖ့စွ ဲည်းလှုပ်ရှားခွင့်နှင့်
စုဝေးခွင့်များကို ပိုမိုတင်းကြပ်စွာ ဖိနပှ ိ ်ကန့်သတ်မှုများနှင့်
ရင်ဆိုင်လာကြရသည်။ အကျုးိဆက်မှာ မိမိတို့၏ အခွင့်အရေးများကို
ငြိမ်းချမ်းစွာ ကျင့်သုံးသူ အများအပြား ဖမ်းဆီးထိန်းသိမ်းခံလာရပြီး
မြန်မာနုငိ ်ငံတွင် ယုံကြည်ချက်ကြောင့် အကျဉ်းချခံနေရသော
မျုးိဆက်အသစ်တစ်ခု ပေါ်ထွန်းလာခြင်း ဖြစ်သည်။
?၂၀၁၂ နဲ့ ၂၀၁၃ မှာတော့ အခြေအနေတွေက
အများကြီးကောင်းခဲ့ပါသေးတယ်၊ ၂၀၁၄ ကနေ
၂၀၁၅ ရောက်လာတော့ လူတွေ စခွ ဲ ျက်တွေတင်ခံရ
ထောင်ချခံရတာတွေ ဖြစ်လာတယ်။”
သက်သက်အောင် (နုငိ ်ငံရေး အကျဉ်းသူဟောင်း) ဇွန် ၂၀၁၅။
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-07
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.39 MB
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Source/publisher:
Amnesty International
Date of publication:
2015-10-07
Description:
"Myanmar?s authorities have been locking up and harassing scores of peaceful activists as part of an intensifying and far-reaching crackdown ahead of November?s elections, Amnesty International said as it launched a new campaign to free prisoners of conscience today.
A new Amnesty International briefing ? ?Back to the old ways? ? exposes how repression has drastically picked up pace over the past two years, in stark contrast to official claims that not a single person is imprisoned for peacefully exercising their rights.
The organization believes there are at least 91 prisoners of conscience currently behind bars in Myanmar, although the actual number is likely to be higher. This represents a dramatic increase since a wide-ranging presidential pardon at the end of 2013 when Amnesty International was aware of just two prisoners of conscience. ?Myanmar?s government is trying to spin an alternate reality where all is rosy for human rights, which the international community is far too eager to accept. The reality on the ground could not be more different. Authorities have intensified a chilling crackdown on freedom of expression over the past year,” said Laura Haigh, Amnesty International?s Myanmar Researcher..."
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-07
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.15 MB
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Source/publisher:
Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs , 34, 2
Date of publication:
2015-09-04
Description:
Abstract: "Myanmar and Japan have had an important shared history since the Pacific War, when Japan occupied the British colony of Burma and established the country?s first postcolonial state and army. The period from 1941 to 1945 also witnessed the ?militarization” of Myanmar as the country was turned into a battlefield by the Japanese, the Allies and indigenous insurgents. After independence from Britain in 1948, the Union of Burma continued to suffer insurgency and became a deeply conflicted society, especially under the isolationist socialist regime of General Ne Win (1962?1988). However, Japan played a major role in Myanmar?s economic development through its allocation of war reparations and official development assistance (ODA), especially yen loans. During the period of martial law from 1988 to 2011, Tokyo exercised some self-restraint in giving aid due to pressure from its major ally, the United States, with its human rights agenda. However, with the transition from junta rule to constitutional government in 2011 came a dramatic increase in Japanese ODA, as Tokyo forgave large amounts of debt and invested in ambitious new special economic zones (SEZ). Japan will no doubt benefit from Myanmar as close ties are expanded: Not only will Japanese companies profit, but Japan will have access to Myanmar?s raw materials and gain ability to compete more effectively with an economically expansive China. On Myanmar?s side, though, it is unlikely that anyone other than the military and crony capitalist elites will benefit from the flood of new yen loans and infrastructure projects. This paper argues that without a political resolution of Myanmar?s many conflicts, including the establishment of genuinely open political institutions, the aid of Japan (and other countries) is likely to make these deep-rooted social and ethnic conflicts even worse."
Donald M. Seekins
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-07
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Japan-Burma relations
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
232.55 KB
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Source/publisher:
Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs , 34, 2
Date of publication:
2015-09-04
Description:
"Myanmar: Political Reforms and the Recalibration of External Relations" - Marco Bünte, Jörn Dosch...
"Myanmar?s China Policy since 2011: Determinants and Directions" - Maung Aung Myoe...
"The United States and Myanmar: From Antagonists to Security Partners?" - Jürgen Haacke...
"The European Union?s Myanmar Policy: Focused or Directionless?" - Jörn Dosch, Jatswan S. Sidhu...
"Japan?s Development Ambitions for Myanmar: The Problem of ?Economics before Politics? " - Donald M. Seekins...
"New Developments in India?Myanmar Bilateral Relations?" -
Pierre Gottschlich...
"Russia and Myanmar ? Friends in Need? " - Ludmila Lutz-Auras...
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-06
Type:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
more
Source/publisher:
World Bank
Date of publication:
2015-10-00
Description:
Summary:
"Myanmar?s economy grew at a strong pace in
2014/15 but is projected to moderate in 2015/16
due to floods and slowing investment during the
elections. The current account deficit has widened
on account on investment-related imports. Rapid
credit growth has fueled monetary expansion.
Inflation reached 10 percent in the year to July.
Medium-term growth prospects remain strong
assuming continued progress on reforms..."
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-05
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
World Bank and its Watchers
Language:
English
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
264.19 KB 4.48 MB
Local URL:
Myanmar_pages-WB-2015-10-EAP.pdf, WB-2015-10-EAP.pdf
Myanmar_pages-WB-2015-10-EAP.pdf, WB-2015-10-EAP.pdf more
Source/publisher:
World Bank
Date of publication:
2015-10-00
Description:
"Since the last
East Asia and Pacific Economic Update
was published in April, greater uncertainty about the
global economy has weighed on the performance and prospects of developing East Asia and Pacific (EAP).
The pace of recovery in high-income economies has remained gradual while the widespread slowdown in
developing economies has intensified, particularly in commodity producers affected by lower commodity
prices. Global trade grew at its slowest pace since 2009, as import demand in emerging economies fell.
The prospect of monetary tightening in the United States and continued moderation in China?s growth led
to greater volatility in financial markets in recent months..."
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-05
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
World Bank and its Watchers
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
4.48 MB
Local URL:
WB-2015-10-EAP.pdf
WB-2015-10-EAP.pdf more
Source/publisher:
Burma Centre for Ethnic Studies Peace and Reconciliation (BCES) / CDES:Centre For Development and Ethnic Studies
Date of publication:
2015-09-00
Description:
"The
highest level of direct negotiation between President Thein Sein and
9
top leaders of Ethnic
Armed Organizations (EAOs),
aiming to secure
the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement
(NCA)
took
place on September 9, 2015 in the country`s capital, Napyitaw. The meeting was inconclusive, failing
to deliver the expected outcome of fully resolving any remaining issues of disagreement in the
Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). The only clear outcome from the meeting was the decision
of signing NCA in October as proposed by President Thein Sein. The failure of securing a final DEAL
left everyone guessing how many numbers of EAOs would sign NCA. The question then becomes
?how inclusive the NCA process would be? If only a handful of EAOs sign onto it, can one really call
it nationwide? Or if only two or three groups sign NCA, can the process move forward as the
Commander-in-Chief had already stated that he would do the signing of NCA with even
one or two
groups? The fundamental question now is what should the government do to offer to convince as
much EAOs as possible to sign NCA, if not all that it recognizes? With this unwanted real situation
facing the NCA process, this analysis is going to
offer what both sides have to do to salvage the peace
process within the next two weeks..."
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-05
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Centre for Development and Ethnic Studies (CDES), Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies)
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
202.57 KB
Local URL:
BCES-AP-Analysis_of_NCA_negotiation-red.pdf
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Source/publisher:
Global Financial Integrity (GFI)
Date of publication:
2015-09-09
Description:
"Myanmar is the most porous economy we have studied in depth. Long isolation, trade restrictions,
and attempts to regulate currency exchange rates have combined to drive a substantial part of the
economy underground"...
Executive Summary:
"There have been few studies on capital flight and illicit financial flows to and from Myanmar, due to
waning public interest in the wake of insular domestic policies and Western economic sanctions.
This study finds that confinement, seclusion, and economic instability along with entrenched
governance deficits have characterized the country since independence. We show that insularity
and isolation have led to a declining trend in trade openness. Furthermore, we reveal that over the
period 1999-2013, Myanmar experienced much larger macroeconomic instability (as measured by
the variance in the rate of inflation, the current account to GDP ratio, and rates of economic growth)
relative to other developing countries, including those in Asia, five ASEAN countries (Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand), and other groupings.
Given the strong combination of macroeconomic, structural, and governance-related factors, we
estimate both flight capital and illicit trade flows to and from the country. Flight capital includes a
small portion of licit capital (that is not recorded due to statistical shortcomings), while illicit trade
flows only include capital that is illegal in nature. Over the period 1960-2013, inflows and outflows
of flight capital averaged 15.1 percent and 13.1 percent of GDP per annum in constant dollars,
respectively. Illicit trade inflows and outflows amounted to an average of 14.4 percent and 6.5
percent of GDP per annum, respectively. This scale of inflows and outflows is much larger in the
case of Myanmar than most other developing countries.
Flows of illicit trade capital in both directions are smaller than flight capital counterparts. Illicit
trade inflows totaled US$77.7 billion over 1960-2013, while total inward capital flows amounted
to US$82.8 billion. Similarly, illicit trade outflows totaled US$18.7 billion while outward flight
capital totaled US$35.9 billion over this period. Average illicit trade inflows were more than four
times average illicit trade outflows. Import under-invoicing, which dominated other types of trade
misinvoicing, drove most inflows.
A particular feature of capital flight and illicit trade flows to and from Myanmar is that inflows are
much larger than outflows. We show that this is in fact the case with other countries (such as
Afghanistan, Mexico, Russia, and Thailand) where drug trafficking is a significant issue. Myanmar?s
place as the world?s second largest producer of opium poppy places it easily within this group of
countries.
We present an analysis of how economic sanctions, by creating an excess demand for certain
items in domestic markets, can encourage technical smuggling as importers seek to meet the
excess demand. The few importers with the license to import the goods in question reap illegal
profits through import under-invoicing. The estimates of illicit trade flows provided in the paper
confirm that technical smuggling through import under-invoicing is by far the largest component of
inward capital flows or illicit trade inflows. We also find preliminary evidence of outward smuggling
viii Global Financial Integrity
of timber and other wood products into India and China and the over-invoicing of precious stones
to the latter. We cite other researchers who find perverse incentives arising from Myanmar?s trade
policies to explain deliberate trade misinvoicing.
Myanmar could have lost at least US$2.9 billion and as much as US$3.6 billion over the period in
potential tax revenues through i) uncollected import tariff revenue due to import under-invoicing and
ii) lower corporate profit tax captures due to export under-invoicing. To put it in perspective, this tax
loss due to illicit flows ranged from 122-172 percent of total health expenditures and 48-73 percent
of total education expenditures incurred during 1960-2013. The figures are just as startling for 2010-
2013: 129 percent of health expenditures and 42 percent of education expenditures.
The paper also tests the link between illicit flows and the underground economy using estimates
derived from the currency demand approach. The underground economy is a good proxy for the
state of overall governance of a country. We find a strong and significant link between illicit flows
and the underground economy, confirming that weak governance both drives and is driven by illicit
flows. Using a currency demand approach modified to reflect the predominant role of smuggling
and black markets in Myanmar?s economy, we find that the underground economy averaged around
55 percent of official GDP—one of the highest in the world. The World Bank has also found the
underground economy of Myanmar to be around 50 percent of official GDP.
The paper concludes with a series of policy recommendations for the Government of Myanmar.
GFI urges the Government to develop a priority list of areas for technical assistance to improve
the quality of its statistics. Data is a critical element of analysis and understanding the country?s
dynamics—for the government and for those outside the government. Anti-money laundering
legislation and enforcement should be brought up to Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and IMFdefined
standards. Trade misinvoicing should be curtailed with the implementation of a real-time
world market pricing risk analysis system for the Customs Department..."
Dev Kar, Joseph Spanjers
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-01
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Illegal Economy - general
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.68 MB
more
Source/publisher:
Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS)
Date of publication:
2015-04-00
Description:
"Commissioned by CPCS, Myanmar: Portraits of Diversity is a series of short films seeking to stimulate discussion and move audiences towards recognizing, accepting, and celebrating religious diversity in Myanmar. Directed by Kannan Arunasalam, the films present individuals from Myanmar?s different religious communities and highlight the inter-faith connections and engagement that take place naturally around the country. Featuring stories of cooperation across religious and ethnic divides, as well as the capacity for peace leadership within the country, community leaders share analysis and insights into the threat of inter-communal violence and illustrate the capacity for peace leadership...The film series seeks to stimulate alternative narratives regarding ethnic and spiritual issues in Myanmar where tolerance and cooperation are highlighted, rather than conflict and persecution. Screened together with guided reflections, the films can be used as tools to stimulate exchanges of ideas about diversity and tolerance, and to create a space to foster acceptance and share visions for the future. The issues raised by individuals featured in the films can be used to generate discussions on Myanmar?s different religious communities and highlight the kinds of inter-faith connections and engagement that take place naturally around the country. A discussion and study guide is available for each video portrait, followed by suggested activities that can also be adapted to different learning environments. For each film, background is provided on the person and their context, followed by five discussion questions and extension activities..."
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-30
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Buddhism and society, Buddhist Ethics, Individual videos and films on Burma in English and other non-Asian languages, Videos and multimedia on Burma in Burmese, Karen and other languages of Burma, most with English subtitles.
Language:
English and Burmese
more
Source/publisher:
Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
Date of publication:
2015-07-21
Description:
"...This article first aims to set the scene by providing a glimpse of Myanmar?s parliament and capital in Naypyitaw. Second, it focuses on the key players and institutions involved in the elections. Third, it clarifies the complicated mechanics of the Parliament, how it will determine which political party will hold the confidence of the electorate, and how that body elects the President. Fourth, it reflects on key social and microeconomic issues which will impact the electorate, in particular the dark side of Buddhist nationalism, and the role of Aung San Suu Kyi as a national leader in whatever office she finally achieves. Fifth, I provide a brief reflection on what implications the elections might have for Canada. I conclude by arguing that democratic advances will be made in the election, but that the real moment of truth will unfold in the days ahead as key public and armed forces personalities work out a balance of power. Myanmar has made huge progress in liberalizing its political environment, but it will take decades for the military to retire from its long-promoted image as the singular embodiment of the nation?s ruling force..."
Bruce Matthews
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-28
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
more
Source/publisher:
Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS)
Date of publication:
2014-04-00
Description:
Working Inside the Triangles: Engaging with locally led peace initiatives in Myanmar - တြိဂံများအတွင်း အလုပ်လုပ်ခြင်း၊ မြန်မာပြည်အတွင်း ဒေသခံများဦးဆောင်သော ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေး အစပျိုးုလုပ်ငန်းများ၌ ပါဝင်ပတ်သက်လုပ်ဆောင်ခြင်း....."
အတွေ့အကြုံများလှသော မြန်မာ့အရေးသုံးသပ်သူများမှအစ စာတွေ့ဝေဖန်ကြသူများကဲ့သို့သောသူများအထိ မြန်မာ့အရေးအစီရင်ခံသူများသည် မြန်မာ့ဗဟိုနိုင်ငံရေး ဖွဲ့စည်းတည်ဆောက်ပုံအတွင်း ဖြစ်ပေါ်လျက်ရှိသော သုံးပွင့်ဆိုင်အာဏာလွန်ဆွဲမှုကို ရုတ်ချည်းညွှန်ပြနိုင်ကြမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ ထိုတြိဂံ၏ အနားသုံးဖက်မှာ နိုင်ငံတော်အုပ်ချုပ်မှုကဏ္ဍ (သမ္မတသိန်းစိန်နှင့်သူ၏အနီးကပ်အကြံပေးများ)၊ လွှတ်တော်နှင့် မြန်မာ့တပ်မတော်တို့ပင်ဖြစ်သည်။
ထိုလွန်ဆွဲမှုအတွင်း သမ္မတသိန်းစိန်သည် သူ၏အကြံပေးပုဂ္ဂိုလ်များ အားပေးထောက်ခံမှုဖြင့် ရည်မှန်းချက်ကြီးမားလှသော ပြုပြင်ပြောင်းလဲရေးနှင့် အသွင်ကူးပြောင်းရေးအစီအစဉ်တရပ်အား အားကြိုးမာန်တက်လုပ်ဆောင်လာခဲ့သည်။ အကြံပေးပုဂ္ဂိုလ်များမှလည်း များစွာသောတိုင်းရင်းသားလက်နက်ကိုင်အဖွဲ့များနှင့် ပြုလုပ်သော ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးဆွေးနွေးပွဲများတွင် ဦးဆောင်ဦးရွက်ပြုလာကြသည်။ အဓိက အကြံပေးပုဂ္ဂိုလ်များ၏ ကိုယ်ရေးရာဇဝင်နှင့် ပင်ကိုယ်စရိုက်အရည်အသွေးတို့သည် ပြုပြင်ပြောင်းလဲရေးနှင့် ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးဖြစ်စဉ်အတွက် နက်နဲစွာ အကျိုးသက်ရောက်မှုရှီစေပါသည်။
Sarah L. Clarke
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-27
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies)
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf
Size:
850.77 KB
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Source/publisher:
Transnational Institute (TNI)
Date of publication:
2015-09-16
Description:
"This assessment is in response to the 6th draft of the NLUP, released in May
2015, following months of public and expert consultations. It outlines some
of the key positive and negative points of the new draft. The new draft NLUP
has taken on board many of the concerns and recommendations raised by
the public during the consultation process, and includes several key issues
that would greatly improve Myanmar?s land governance arrangements.
However, some serious concerns remain. As in our past responses to the
earlier (5th) draft of the NLUP, we take as our starting point how the draft
fulfills principles and provisions negotiated and agreed upon by the world?s
governments ? including the Government of Myanmar ? and captured
guidelines of the UN Committee on World Food Security (UN CFS) known
as the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land,
Fisheries and Forests (hereafter referred to as the ?TGs”). In addition, the
assessment that follows is based on the English version of NLUP-6..."
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-26
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
300.46 KB
Local URL:
TNI-2015-09-NLUP-6_key_points-en.pdf
TNI-2015-09-NLUP-6_key_points-en.pdf more
Source/publisher:
United Nations
Description:
Text of the Sustainable Development Goals and related documents
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-25
Type:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Language:
English (also available in Arabic, French, German, Russian, Spanish)
more
Source/publisher:
Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies
Date of publication:
2015-09-08
Description:
Executive Summary: "In mid-2012 incidents of communal violence began to occur in various locations across Myanmar. Communal violence had occurred previously in Rakhine State but had not transpired to this scale in other states and divisions across the country. Both inside and outside of Myanmar communal violence was framed as ?inter-religious? and dominant narratives emerged describing Buddhist groups attacking Muslim communities or as Buddhist as the victims of Muslim aggression. These narratives work to reinforce animosity between Buddhist and Muslim groups and fail to provide enough information to adequately understand the dynamics surrounding this violence.
This publication elevates voices of communities from six locations that experienced communal violence and paints a broader and more informed picture of the situation. Using CPCS?s listening methodology, conversations were held in November 2014 with 220 community members from Meiktilla, Mandalay Region; Lashio, Shan State; Mandalay, Mandalay Region; Shwebo district, Sagaing Region; West Bago, Bago Region; and Sittwe, Rakhine State. Community members discussed their experiences and opinions in light of their experience of communal violence and their hopes and desires for peaceful co-existence in the future...The violence that occurred was not motivated by inter-religion animosity in communities. Although listeners did not ask what caused violence or why it happened, these points emerged as some of the most important subjects that communities wanted
to discuss, and also as robust themes across all conversations in all locations. Community members differentiated between those who belong to religious groups and those who belong to extremist religious groups. They recognised that most community members had no affiliation with extremist religious groups and further reinforced feelings of harmonious inter-religious coexistence.
Communities emphasised political, government or military involvement in the violence but had limited information about who or which institution, whether government, military or a particular political party, were involved. Communities felt strongly that the violence was instigated from outside of their communities, and was unrelated to feelings of religious animosity in the communities. This sentiment was based on witnessing strangers who were inciting violence by rallying mobs or spreading hate speech, as well as on the inability or unwillingness of security forces to manage the violence, or to address criminal activities using the legal system..."
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-25
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
856.91 KB
Local URL:
CPCS-2015-This-is-Not-Who-We-Are-red.pdf
CPCS-2015-This-is-Not-Who-We-Are-red.pdf more
Source/publisher:
ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore
Date of publication:
2015-09-21
Description:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
"The Myanmar economy became one big state economic enterprise (SEE) in the Ne Win era beginning in 1962 when an extreme socialist path to development was adopted.
As the failure of this strategy became increasingly obvious, the scope for private enterprise was enlarged in the years preceding the popular uprising that ended the Ne Win era in 1988.
The military junta (SLORC) that crushed the uprising and formed a new government declared its support for market-based economic growth and began privatizing state enterprises and state assets. This process of privatization proceeded in waves over the next 23 years. Nevertheless, the SEE sector remained significant at the end of the SLORC/SPDC era.
Following the national election in November 2010, the government led by Thein Sein took office in March 2011. It surprised most observers by promptly launching an ambitious program of peace building, democratic institution building, and economic reform. It moved quickly to implement crucial macroeconomic policy measures, especially adopting a managed float exchange rate system. It opened up the foreign trade sector and enacted a new Foreign Investment Law.
Privatization of the SEE sector has been one of the priorities of the Thein Sein government, but its implementation has been mixed. The rent-seeking nature of the deals carried out under the previous government has not changed much. Every part of the government is actively engaged in privatization activities, but each in its own way. No common policies or procedures exist. As a result, it is likely that substantial values that could be retained by or accrue to the government are being captured by narrow private interests.
With one year remaining in its 5-year term, there may be little the Thein Sein government can do to reduce these losses and improve the performance of the SEE sector as a whole. However, among the six options examined in this study, it is possible to extract a set of actions that could make it easier for the next government to achieve better results. These actions are the following:
* Sharply increase the transparency of the SEE sector. A starting point would be posting a list of all SEEs on a dedicated website. A separate page for each SEE could provide the following minimum information: responsible ministry, name of CEO (Chief Executive Officer)/Managing Director, scope of operations, actual budget revenue and expenditure for the last available fiscal year, projected revenue and expenditure for the current fiscal year, and contact information for the SEE home office. Lease agreements, joint ventures, and PPPs would be included. * Proceed with the corporatization of all enterprises that appear to have the potential of operating profitably or with a reasonable amount of budget support, starting with 100 percent ownership and then moving opportunistically to sell or enter a joint venture or proceed with an IPO (Initial Public Offering). This is probably best done not by a broad fiat from above but selectively where the stakes are high or where the managers seem inclined toward this move. In this process, it would also be advisable to develop a consistent approach to the articles of incorporation. Serious mistakes can be made at this stage so close attention will pay off in the long run.
* Establish a special SEE policy unit—in the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development, or the President?s office—to provide consistency in managing the government?s SEEs. (Alternatively, a quasi-government entity like the Centre for Economic and Social Development could be mandated to perform this function.)
* Develop preliminary guidelines for the SEE policy unit setting forth the scope of its work, procedures for coordinating with relevant ministries and agencies and the legislature, principles for privatization actions (corporatization, joint ventures, leasing, PPPs or public-private partnerships), near term priorities, etc.
* Recruit two or three outstanding CEOs to turn around two or three visible, mid-sized SEEs, and give them the support they need to succeed.
* Design a scheme for buying out redundant SEE employees. There will not be enough time to implement the scheme before the next government takes office, but it could conceivably be the single most important contribution this government can make to improve SEE sector performance. Multilateral and bilateral aid agencies could provide matching financing for the scheme..."
Lex Rieffel
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-24
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
990.82 KB
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Source/publisher:
Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR)
Date of publication:
2015-09-23
Description:
"New research published on Wednesday offers a heartbreaking picture of the impacts of conflict on women in Burma, revealing systemic defects that cause long-term disadvantage for survivors of violence and other forms of abuse.
An 84-page report titled, ?Opening the box: Women?s Experiences of War, Peace and Impunity,” tells the stories of 29 women from Rangoon Division, Kachin and Karen states who had each suffered some degree of gender-based abuse under Burma?s former military regime.
Their stories, told with staggering candor, include accounts of torture, rape, economic control, destabilized families and glaring failures in the government?s capacity for redress. The report recommended an immediate end to violence against women, implementation of constitutional reforms that would place the military under civilian control and increased efforts to support survivors of abuse...." ("The Irrawaddy" 23 September, 2015)
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-23
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.66 MB
Local URL:
Asia_AJAR-2015-09-23-Opening_the_Box-en.pdf
Asia_AJAR-2015-09-23-Opening_the_Box-en.pdf more
Source/publisher:
Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR)
Date of publication:
2015-09-23
Description:
"New research published on Wednesday offers a heartbreaking picture of the impacts of conflict on women in Burma, revealing systemic defects that cause long-term disadvantage for survivors of violence and other forms of abuse. An 84-page report titled, ?Opening the box: Women?s Experiences of War, Peace and Impunity,” tells the stories of 29 women from Rangoon Division, Kachin and Karen states who had each suffered some degree of gender-based abuse under Burma?s former military regime. Their stories, told with staggering candor, include accounts of torture, rape, economic control, destabilized families and glaring failures in the government?s capacity for redress. The report recommended an immediate end to violence against women, implementation of constitutional reforms that would place the military under civilian control and increased efforts to support survivors of abuse...." ("The Irrawaddy" 23 September, 2015).....ဖွင့်နေသောသေတ????ာ:
မြန်မာပြည်ရှိ စစ်ပွဲ၊ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးနှင့် ပြစ်ဒဏ်မှ
ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့်တို့ကို ဖြတ်သန်းလာခဲ့သော
အမျိုးသမီးများ၏အတွေ့အကြုံများ -
မာတိကာ အမှာစကား... မိမိတို့၏ အ????ကမ်းဖက်မ????မှ အသက်ရှင်လွတ်မြောက်လာသ????အမျိုးသမီးများ... အ????ကမ်းဖက်ခံရမ????မှ အသက်ရှင်လွတ်မြောက်လာသ???? မြန်မာအမျိုးသမီးများ???? မျက်ကွ????်ပြုခံရ သော်လည်း က????က????်ရာမမဲ့ပ????... နည်းလမ်းများ... သေတ????ာ????ဲသို့ စ????းစမ်းခြင်း???? ပ????ိပက????ေ????ကာင့် ????ုးိကျိုးများခံစားနေရသော ကချင်၊ ကရင်အမျိုးသမီးများ နငှ့် နငို င် ေံ ရးအကျ????်းသေ???? ????ာင်းတ၏့ို အခြေအနေ အနစှ ခ် ျုပ????်... ရှာဖွေတွေ့ရှိသော သော့ချက်များ... ဖွင့်နေသောသေတ????ာ???? အမျိုးသမီးတို့၏????ာတ်ေ????ကာင်းများ... အကြံပြုချက်များ
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-23
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.42 MB
Local URL:
Asia_AJAR-2015-09-23-Opening_the_Box-bu.pdf
Asia_AJAR-2015-09-23-Opening_the_Box-bu.pdf more
Source/publisher:
"Accord" 25 (Conciliation Resources)
Date of publication:
2014-04-17
Description:
"Harn Yawngwhe explores the genesis of the national dialogue process in Burma. Peacebuilding in Burma has a daunting agenda to accommodate an array of competing claimants to legitimacy, including the government and the army, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi?s National League for Democracy, political parties, civil society, ethnic entities, and more than 18 ethnic armed groups. A proposed national ceasefire aims to encompass every armed group. An even more ambitious national dialogue process looks to include all stakeholders ? armed groups, political parties and civil society ? not just to resolve armed insurgencies, but to shape a peaceful future for the nation.....Legitimacy is the key challenge for the Burma Army or Tatmadaw, even after 50 years of absolute rule. There is no doubt that it has the coercive power to continue ruling. But no one ? not the ethnic population, not the person in the street, and not even the international community ? sees the military as the legitimate and rightful ruler.
The armed struggles that have beset Burma /Myanmar since independence in 1948 have involved multiple armed groups seeking recognition and representation and ongoing demands for political transition of the military regime. Recent reformist moves by the state have raised hopes that there is an opportunity for real change. A proposed nationwide ceasefire aims to bring in all armed groups ? those that have already signed ceasefires and those that have not. A subsequent National Dialogue looks to include all stakeholders ? armed groups, political parties and civil society. The dialogue is not just about resolving armed insurgencies, but about the future of the country..."
Harn Yawnghwe
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-21
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies)
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
411.6 KB
Local URL:
Harn-Accord25_Burma.pdf
Harn-Accord25_Burma.pdf more
Source/publisher:
Proximity Designs
Description:
" Established by Jim Taylor and Debbie Aung Din, Proximity began life, in 2004, as a country office of iDE. Back then, we entered the Myanmar rural market with two treadle pumps, 13 staff and a distribution reach of just 600 villages. Now, eight years on, we?re accessible to nearly 80% of the rural population, employing a nationwide staff of over 350, and offering a complete range of services that address many of the most pressing needs of rural families. That?s no mean feat in a country like Myanmar.
Over the years our environment has changed, and we?ve had to adapt quickly to respond to our customer?s needs. For the first few years, we focused on creating affordable irrigation products tailored to the Myanmar farmer. We worked on building a distribution network to help us reach scale, and perfecting quality, and service. We also began building a team of field staff across our project regions. At Proximity, we?ve always maintained that our staff are our most valuable asset, and this couldn?t have been more true in the days immediately after Cyclone Nargis hit the Ayarwady Delta in 2008. Although our team aren?t relief workers by title, they know and understand Delta farming families, and were able to identify their needs and employ our established distribution network to deliver over $16 million in aid to 1.2 million people.
After the cyclone we began diversifying our line of services, and created our farm recovery services in direct response to the crop failings and pest infestations that Delta farmers were suffering from. We also formed our infrastructure service, rebuilding and building footpaths, embankments, bridges and canals to help with connectivity and water control. As relief became less critical, we grew and adapted these services to the changing situations; cash-for-work labour opportunities were provided on infrastructure projects, and Farm Advisory Services staff began teaching smart but simple farming techniques to farmers, for longer lasting impact.
All the while, we?ve been continuing to design and manufacture a range of irrigation products. To make these technologies accessible to thousands more rural families, we developed a product financing service. More recently, we began offering a crop loan service, that provides credit for critical inputs, to help farmers set themselves up for a successful season. Each of these services increases incomes by an average of $250 per season.
This last year, our ninth, has been our most successful one to date. We sold our 100,000th product, launched a successful range of solar lighting, and we?re beginning to spin off our crop loans into a larger entity called Proximity Finance. We were also honoured to be recipients of both the Skoll Foundation?s and the Schwab Foundation?s Award for social entrepreneurship..."
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-20
Type:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
more
Source/publisher:
The Journal of Sophia Asian Studies No.32 (2014)
Date of publication:
2014-12-27
Description:
"...Bamar Muslims began to actively express their
awareness of being Bamar Muslims as indigenous citizens around the 1930s, almost at the
same time that Burmese nationalism was on the rise. Bamar Muslims continued to raise
their voices during the last military regime, yet most Buddhist Burmese did not recognize
them as native. Using documents and interviews, this study will explore how the idea of
Muslims as indigenous citizens emerged during the colonial period, and how it evolved up
through the present time..."
SAITO Ayako
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-19
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
663.79 KB
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Source/publisher:
Institute of Asian Cultures, Sophia University, Tokyo
Date of publication:
2014-00-00
Description:
上智アジア学
第32 号2014 年
目次 .....
特集：日本のビルマ研究—歴史・文化・宗教を中心に .....
Burma Studies in Japan: History, Culture and Religion.....
Editor?s Note - NEMOTO Kei...
The Anglo-Burmese in the 1940s: To become Burmese or not - NEMOTO Kei...
The Formation of the Concept of Myanmar Muslims as Indigenous Citizens:
Their History and Current Situation - SAITO Ayako...
Written and Oral Transmission of Burmese Classical Songs -
INOUE Sayuri...
Showing Respect and Bowing Down to s: Spirit Worship and Gender in
a Village in Upper Burma - IIKUNI Yukako...
Discovery of? Outsiders”: The Expulsion of Undesirable Chinese and Urban Governance of Colonial Rangoon, Burma, c. 1900‒1920 - OSADA Noriyuki...
Transnational? Myanmar”-Karenni Societies in United States:
Experiences of Karenni Refugee Resettlement - KUBO Tadayuki...
The Foreign Presence in Mandalay during the Konbaung Period:
A Review of the Urban Area - ISHIKAWA Kazumasa...
A View of the Karen Baptists in Burma of the Mid-Nineteenth Century, from the Standpoint of the American Baptist Mission -
FUJIMURA Hitomi...
『新しい黎明』 1960 年代カイロのフィリピン・ムスリム留学生論文集邦訳･解説（9）
邦訳：堀井 聡江 解説：川島 緑 - Foued KACIMI
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-19
Type:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English, Japanese, Arabic
Format :
pdf
Size:
3.29 MB
more
Source/publisher:
Radio Free Asia
Date of publication:
2015-09-17
Description:
"In an interview with reporter Myo Zaw Ko of RFA?s Myanmar Service, Ashin Wirathu of the Committee for the Protection of Nationality and Religion (Ma Ba Tha), lays out his Buddhist nationalist group?s views on the Nov. 8 general elections, national security and communal relations in a country torn by strife between majority Buddhists and minority Muslims."
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-18
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
more
Source/publisher:
Forest Trends (Information Brief No. 3)
Date of publication:
2012-09-00
Description:
Abstract: "The easing of diplomatic and financial sanctions on Myanmar has sparked western interest in investment and trade opportunities. Interest in the export of world famous ?Burmese teak” has led buyers from the United States, Europe, Japan, and Australia to ask questions about whether logs or timber exported out of Myanmar are legal or sustainable, as well as what the prospects are that they can be verified as legal or certified sustainable in the future. This Forest Trends Information Brief provides a summary of the status of initiatives related to forest certification in Myanmar. Myanmar currently does not have any internationally recognized certification standard, such as FSC, although the country has had a long history of scientific forest management and has engaged in several domestic and regional initiatives that could serve as a positive foundation to those seeking to establish certification programs in Myanmar. It is important to note, however, that these existing Myanmar forest management systems have been focused on timber products sourced from officially designated forest production areas, and not timber products emanating from the clearance of forest areas (?conversion timber”) for agriculture or infrastructure (which are now probably the largest source of natural timber in Myanmar). The Information Brief (September 2012) summarizes and updates a chapter in Forest Trends publication ?Myanmar: Overview of Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade” written by Kevin Woods and Kerstin Canby with the support of EFI. http://www.forest-trends.org/publication_details.php?publicationID=3159..."
Kerstin Canby
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-18
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Timber trade
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf
Size:
364.59 KB
more
Source/publisher:
Forest Trends
Date of publication:
2014-12-00
Description:
前言
缅甸是亚太地区重要的木材生产国和出口国，在国际市场上，其出口的
珍贵木材，如柚木和其他硬木
，
也
颇具盛名
。缅甸保有亚洲仅存的几片天然
林，这些森林
不但
维持着当地社区的生计，对该区域的生态系统也至关重
要。在经历了几十
年的军事统治和政治改革后，利益相关者正在讨论缅甸林
业部门的未来
，
如何在发展经济的同时，平衡保护目标？中国与缅甸
接壤
，
并通过贸易和投资对缅甸产生巨大影响。中国的态度，对于缅甸林业部门的
未来有着巨大的影响。 .....
Abstract:
"This policy brief analyzes recent trends in the timber products trade between China and Myanmar, using Chinese customs data from 2000 through 2013. Timber is one of the primary commodities traded between the two countries, providing significant revenue to Myanmar?s central government and ethnic political armed opposition groups, while supplying China with materials to feed its growing wood manufacturing sector. In 2013, timber product exports from Myanmar to China reached an all-time high by both volume and value, with 94% of these exports (by volume) registered by Chinese customs in Kunming, near the Myanmar border. Both countries banned cross-border timber trade in 2006, so these findings suggest high levels of illegality. Representatives from both countries plan to meet in March 2015 to discuss these issues further, and to develop strategies to promote a timber trade that is legal, beneficial to both nations, and sustainable in the long term."
Eve Richer
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-18
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Timber trade
Language:
Chinese
Format :
pdf
Size:
836.82 KB
more
Source/publisher:
Forest Trends
Date of publication:
2014-12-00
Description:
Abstract:
"This policy brief analyzes recent trends in the timber products trade between China and Myanmar, using Chinese customs data from 2000 through 2013. Timber is one of the primary commodities traded between the two countries, providing significant revenue to Myanmar?s central government and ethnic political armed opposition groups, while supplying China with materials to feed its growing wood manufacturing sector. In 2013, timber product exports from Myanmar to China reached an all-time high by both volume and value, with 94% of these exports (by volume) registered by Chinese customs in Kunming, near the Myanmar border. Both countries banned cross-border timber trade in 2006, so these findings suggest high levels of illegality. Representatives from both countries plan to meet in March 2015 to discuss these issues further, and to develop strategies to promote a timber trade that is legal, beneficial to both nations, and sustainable in the long term."
Eve Richer
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-18
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Timber trade
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
more
Source/publisher:
Forest Trends
Date of publication:
2013-11-00
Description:
Abstract:
"This report on Myanmar?s political economy of timber trade highlights five different sources and flows of timber destined for export. The purpose is to bring to light the different actors, geographies, and politics embedded within the web of timber flows because each inter-connected stream has its own degree of legality, sustainability, land rights regimes, and ethical sourcing. To date, much of the dialogue on the sourcing of Myanmar timber - particularly the world-famous Burmese teak - has focused on just one of these streams: the government-managed teak forests located in the central plains. However, the other timber sources and actors need to be highlighted, too - and their legality, sustainability, and ethics - as exported timber is an amalgamation of all possible wood sources. The complicated wood trade dynamics outlined in this report need to be made more transparent by the Myanmar government and the domestic private wood sector to provide more clear guidelines for overseas buyers demanding legal, sustainable, and ethical wood sourcing. This, in turn, will provide further impetus for the on-going forest sector reform process in the country."
Kevin Woods
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-18
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Timber trade
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf
Size:
955.85 KB
more
Source/publisher:
Forest Trends
Date of publication:
2013-11-00
Description:
Abstract:
"This report on Myanmar?s political economy of timber trade highlights five different sources and flows of timber destined for export. The purpose is to bring to light the different actors, geographies, and politics embedded within the web of timber flows because each inter-connected stream has its own degree of legality, sustainability, land rights regimes, and ethical sourcing. To date, much of the dialogue on the sourcing of Myanmar timber - particularly the world-famous Burmese teak - has focused on just one of these streams: the government-managed teak forests located in the central plains. However, the other timber sources and actors need to be highlighted, too - and their legality, sustainability, and ethics - as exported timber is an amalgamation of all possible wood sources. The complicated wood trade dynamics outlined in this report need to be made more transparent by the Myanmar government and the domestic private wood sector to provide more clear guidelines for overseas buyers demanding legal, sustainable, and ethical wood sourcing. This, in turn, will provide further impetus for the on-going forest sector reform process in the country."
Kevin Woods
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-18
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Timber trade
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
950.44 KB
more
Source/publisher:
Jean Giono
Date of publication:
1953-00-00
Description:
"The Man Who Planted Trees (French title L?homme qui plantait des arbres) is an allegorical tale by French author Jean Giono, published in 1953.
It tells the story of one shepherd?s long and successful singlehanded effort to re-forest a desolate valley in the foothills of the Alps in Provence throughout the first half of the 20th century. The tale is short—only about 4000 words long. It was written in French, but first published in English..."
Jean G. Giono
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-18
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
The global environment - resources
Language:
English, Français,
more
Source/publisher:
Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)
Date of publication:
2015-09-17
Description:
STATE OF MYANMAR?S FORESTS...
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MYANMAR-CHINA...
OVERLAND TIMBER TRADE...
EIA INVESTIGATIONS...
CHINA?S ROLE....."For at least two decades,
timber extracted from Myanmar?s precious frontier forests
in highly destructive logging operations has been flowing
into China unhindered. It is an illicit business worth hundreds
of millions of dollars a year, making it one of the single
largest bilateral flows of illegal timber in the world.
From the outside looking in, the cross-border trade
appears chaotic and complex. Most of the timber entering
Yunnan is either cut or transported through Kachin State,
a zone of conflict between ethnic political groups and the
Myanmar Government and its military. Here, all sides to
varying degrees profit from the logging and timber trade,
from the award of rights to Chinese businesses to log
whole mountains, often paid in gold bars, to levying fees
at multiple checkpoints to allow trucks carrying logs to
pass. While Kachin and Yunnan lie at the heart of trade,
it reaches far wider. Logs shipped across the border are
increasingly sourced from further inside Myanmar, such
as Sagaing Division, and end up supplying factories in
south and east China.
Yet field research conducted by the Environmental
Investigation Agency (EIA) reveals that beneath the
apparent chaos lies an intricate and structured supply
chain within which different players have a defined function
and collude to ensure the logs keep flowing. Key nodes in
the chain involve well-connected intermediaries who secure
logging rights for resale, cooperative groups of business
people who monopolise the trade at certain crossing points,
and logistics companies on the China side of the border
which effectively legalise the timber by clearing it through
customs and paying tax.
The peak year for the illicit trade was 2005, when one
million cubic metres (m3) of logs crossed the border.
A brief hiatus occurred for a few years afterwards when
Chinese authorities clamped down on the trade. But it
proved to be short-lived and the scale of the business is
once again approaching the peak levels. This trade is illegal
under Myanmar law, which mandates that all wood should
exit the country via Yangon port, and contravenes the
country?s log export ban. It also goes against the stated
policy of the Chinese Government to respect the forestry
laws of other countries and oppose illegal logging.
It is time for both countries to take urgent effective action
against the massive illicit timber trade across their joint
border. The 155 Chinese loggers have now returned home,
but without action to end the trade others will take their
place and further conflict, violence and forest destruction
will occur..."
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-18
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Timber trade, Deforestation, Individual videos and films on Burma in English and other non-Asian languages
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.25 MB
Local URL:
EIA-2015-09-Organised_Chaos.pdf
EIA-2015-09-Organised_Chaos.pdf more
Source/publisher:
Asian Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP)
Description:
"The Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) is a regional organization founded in 1988 by indigenous peoples? movements. AIPP is committed to the cause of promoting and defending indigenous peoples? rights and human rights and articulating issues of relevance to indigenous peoples. At present, AIPP has 47 members from 14 countries in Asia with 14 National Formations, 15 Sub-national Formations and 18 Local Formations. Of this number, 6 are Indigenous Women?s Organizations and 4 are Indigenous Youth Organizations...
Our Vision:
Indigenous peoples in Asia are fully exercising their rights, distinct cultures and identities, are living with dignity, and enhancing their sustainable management systems on lands, territories and resources for their own future and development in an environment of peace, justice and equality...
Our Mission:
AIPP strengthens the solidarity, cooperation and capacities of indigenous peoples in Asia to promote and protect their rights, cultures and identities, and their sustainable resource management systems for their development and self-determination...
Our Goals:
* To empower Indigenous peoples in Asia to promote and defend their human rights and fundamental freedoms and claim legal recognition to their identities, collective rights under UNDRIP and other international human rights instruments.
*To build the broadest solidarity and cooperation of indigenous peoples in Asia to strengthen indigenous movements.
To promote and protect the integrity of the environment and enhance the sustainable resource management systems of indigenous peoples including their traditional knowledge, food security and biodiversity by having full control over their land, territories and resources.
*To attain full and effective participation of indigenous peoples, particularly indigenous women and youth at all levels of decision-making.
*To strengthen solidarity and cooperation with other social movements towards achieving equality, peace, democracy and justice..."
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-17
Type:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
more
Source/publisher:
International Crisis Group, Asia Briefing N°146
Date of publication:
2015-09-16
Description:
Overview:
"After more than six decades of internal armed conflict, the next four weeks could be
decisive for Myanmar?s peace process. The process, which was launched in August
2011, enjoyed significant initial success, as bilateral ceasefires were agreed with more
than a dozen ethnic armed groups. But signing a nationwide ceasefire and proceeding
to the political dialogue phase has been much more difficult. Four years on, with
campaigning for the November elections already underway, a deal remains elusive.
It is unclear whether a breakthrough can be achieved before the elections. Outside
pressure will not be productive, but the progress to date needs to be locked in, and
public international commitments to support the integrity of the process and stand
with the groups that sign can now be of critical importance..."
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-16
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies)
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
412.49 KB
more