The House of Commons International Development Committee published a report urging the British Government "to quadruple aid to Burma" also known as Myanmar, to fund cross-border humanitarian assistance to internally displaced people (IDPs) and support pro-democracy initiatives.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a major Christian advocacy group investigating the plight of Christians in Burma, described the latest report as "hard-hitting." The document has criticized the UK ’s Department for International Development (DFID) for allegedly failing to provide adequate aid to Burma.
"This crisis-stricken country, which suffers from immense poverty and pernicious human rights abuses, receives the lowest aid of all least Developed Countries," the Committee argued. "We believe this level of assistance is unacceptable…We believe that UK aid to Burma should be scaled up substantially."
SMALL BUDGET
The DFID’s budget for Burma, amounts to just a quarter of its budget for Zimbabwe and the report notes that in 2004, Burma received just US$2.40 of aid per head, "by far the lowest per capita aid level" for the world’s poorest countries, according to the report. Neighboring countries such as Cambodia and Laos receive 15-20 times the amount Burma receives. The DFID should therefore "quadruple aid to Burma" by 2013, the Committee said.
"Cross-border assistance to Burmese IDPs could be extended if more financial resources were available…We believe that, as a high priority, DFID should maximize relief to IDPs in eastern Burma," it added.
It called on the DFID to “look at the options for starting to fund assistance over the Indian border” to the Chin people, and “scale up” support for aid on the China border, as well as providing aid to the IDPs across the Thai border, where many predominantly Christian Karen people are fleeing attacks by forces supporting the military government of Burma.
Over 25,000 civilians, many of them Christian Karens, were forced to flee their villages in the past year, following "the worst" military crackdown in a decade, CSW and other observers have said. "Since 1996, over 3,000 villages in eastern Burma have been destroyed [and] there are over one million IDPs in eastern Burma, and over 150,000 refugees in Thailand," CSW told BosNewsLife earlier.
HUMAN RIGHTS
The Committee report also noticed that funding for Burmese human rights and pro-democracy groups working in exile, in particular women’s organizations and the exiled trade union govement, should be provided by DFID. “Rape is used as a weapon of war by the Burmese Army…DFID should fund women’s groups working on and across the border who document rape and other human rights abuses, and provide women’s health and education services."
The report is the result of an inquiry carried out by the Committee, which included a visit to the Thai-Burmese border. CSW provided written and oral evidence to the Committee, and briefed members of the Committee prior to their visit.
Benedict Rogers, CSW’s Advocacy Officer for Burma, gave evidence at the Committee hearings. In a statement obtained by BosNewsLife he said that his group is "absolutely delighted with the recommendations of the House of Commons International Development Committee. We have been calling on the UK to provide cross-border aid to the IDPs and support for Burmese human rights groups for many years, and we are very pleased that this Committee has added its voice to these calls. We hope that the Department for International Development will now implement the Committee’s recommendations.”
The military took power in 1988 after crushing vast pro-democracy demonstrations in Burma. The party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s, the National League for Democracy, won a general election by a landslide on May 27, 1990, but junta leaders refused to hand over power, insisting the country first needed a new constitution.
HOUSE ARREST
Suu Kyi, 62, has spent more than 11 of the last 17 years in detention, mostly under house arrest, as the government considers the slender lady "a threat to public order." Last week France’s junior minister for human rights said she hopes to win freedom for the jailed democracy leader. The French minister, Rama Yade, said the fight against human rights violations "must, more than ever, be pursued"
This month a Burmese AIDS activist detained since May for advocating the release of the country’s top political prisoner has been freed. Phyu Phyu Thin’s release came six weeks after her arrest for attending prayer services aimed at gaining freedom for Suu Kyi.
Rebel groups fighting against the Burmese military, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) see Suu Kyi as a unifying force for the troubled country, human rights watchers say.
