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Burma: A View From the Inside

It’s estimated that over 90 percent of the population lives at or below the poverty line, and that Burma has the lowest GDP per capita in all of Southeast Asia.

It’s estimated that over 90 percent of the population lives at or below the poverty line, and that Burma has the lowest GDP per capita in all of Southeast Asia.

It is said that building a Pagoda (a temple or sacred building) in the Buddhist religion is like washing away your sins. You see them scattered all across the country. During the month of September 2007 peaceful protests took place all over the country of Burma. Led by Buddhist monks it was named the Saffron Revolution after the color of the monks’ robes. Over 100,000 marchers took to the streets in the city of Rangoon alone, with thousands more spanning 25 other cities. Military soldiers fired rounds into the crowd killing at least 9 people, including a Japanese journalist whose’ death was caught on take and broadcast around the world. The Shwedagon Pagoda contains 9.75 tons of gold, the Apex diamond (76 carats), and several other precious gems and jewels. During the Saffron Revolution this landmark was barricaded by military troops, preventing monks and religious followers from entering. Burma’s health system is ranked the second worst in the world, next to Sierra Leone. While often 50 percent of the governments budget is spend on the military, only 2.2 percent is spent on heath care. In the fall of 2006 one of the largest dams in Burma burst, flooding and destroying many villages and the annual rice crop. For many the rice was their sole income. Nothing was said in the news or newspaper. Over 3,300 villages have been destroyed, relocated or abandoned in Eastern Burma since 1996. In 2006 alone, 82,000 people fled from or were forced from their homes to become IDP’s (Internally Displace People) in Eastern Burma. Now living in camps guarded by ethnic resistance armies, they are barely surviving. It’s estimated that over 90 percent of the population lives at or below the poverty line, and that Burma has the lowest GDP per capita in all of Southeast Asia. The International Labor Organization has characterized the use of forced labor by the Burmese government as “a modern form of slavery.” Forced Laborers are called on to do hard labor that involves portering (carrying supplies for army battalions in combat or on patrol), which leads to using them as human vehicles. Military rape is systematically used in Burma as a weapon of the military regime’s cleansing ethnic areas. These rapes are often gang rapes, and accompanied by torture, murder, mutilation, and display of bodies to target communities. A reporter for a Thai national newspaper explained, “When a person crossing the border into Thailand steps on a mine, it is not news- it is normal” “…Troops have looted, burned homes and planted antipersonnel mines in civilian areas to terrorize the local population.” Human Rights Watch also cited the figure of 2,000 mines lay, saying it was allegedly done to block escape routes and deny the civilian population access to food supplies, commodities and other humanitarian assistance. Burmese soldiers have on many occasions used civilians as human minesweepers, forcing them to walk in front of government troops. Refugees and IDP’s call this “clearing the way” for Burmese soldiers. Orphans, or children who have otherwise lost their parents or guardians, are vulnerable to abuse and may become bonded as domestic servants or farm laborers. Many of their parents are likely to have been imprisoned or killed for political reasons. Women and girls have fewer educational and job opportunities than men in Burma: less than one 1/3 of girls who enroll in primary school actually complete it, and many girls are trafficked into exploitative sex work in various nations, especially Thailand. Political prisoners are subject to many forms of torture and humiliations ranging from holding positions such as you see here for several hours, to starvation and outright beatings. There are now over 2100 political prisoners locked up all across the country. Many of the prisoners are held for several years on false accusations with no trials or defense. Mock up of Insein Prison, the largest and most notorious of Burma’s 36 prisons; located in the former capitol Rangoon. “I was put in an 8 by 10 foot cell with some 20 or so other prisoners. The only way we could sleep at night was to put our feet up on the wall and lean on each other, back to back.” With 70,000 boys under the age of 18 in Burma’s armed forces, Burma holds the largest number of child soldiers in the world. Bought and traded like slaves, these young boys are put through rigorous training and conditioning. The NLD (National League for Democracy), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, was elected by the people of Burma with a staggering 82 percent of the vote in 1990. The Burmese Military (Tatmadaw) refused to acknowledge the results and has yet to let the elected leader take reign. Suu Kyi has been held under one form of imprisonment or another since the election approx 20 years ago.