Asian refugees re-creating home in county

Lancaster ONLINE

Pan Yee is much more interested in talking about today than his years in a Thai refugee camp and his escape from Myanmar.

Now that his family is here in Lancaster, his son and son-in-law need jobs; maybe his single daughter too, though she and his wife are taking English classes. Two other children are in high school.

Only Yee has a job, working at Longenecker's Hatchery, but there are two rents to pay, one for his family and one for his daughter, son-in-law and their infant. There is food to buy and bills to pay.

His story is repeated by many of the 200-plus refugees from Myanmar, the former Burma, who have moved into the county in the past two years. The Lutheran Refugee Services in Central PA and Church World Service, Lancaster, are facilitating their resettlement. More than 140 more refugees from the former Burma are expected this year.

Click HERE to view video of Chin National Day Celebration

The local Burmese immigrants represent the Karen and Chin ethnic groups, who have different languages and who lived in different sections of the country. Both groups have been the target of religious, political and ethnic persecution.

Through a translator, Yee, 52, said he had to leave his country because it was unsafe. When the army of the ruling Myanmar military regime came to find Karen resistance groups, they shot anyone who was Karen, whether or not they were involved with the anti-regime groups.

Yee's story has been corroborated by numerous international human rights groups, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

In 1990, Yee fled to Thailand, where he lived in a refugee camp for 17 years. Yee met his wife, Say Kyi, there.

The camp was safer, Yee said, but not safe. Militants sometimes invaded the camps, shooting indiscriminately.

Yee said he worked general labor in Thailand, enough to buy water. Aid agencies gave them food, but it was not enough, he said. The houses were old (many Thai refugee camps are cities of bamboo and thatch), but the children were able to attend school, where they learned some English, Karen, Thai and Burmese.

Yee's family was able to get official refugee status from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, which allowed them to be resettled in another country. It wasn't until 2006 that those refugees began arriving in the United States.

While most of the Karen people came from Thailand, which bordered the Karen state in Myanmar, the Chin refugees are more likely to come from Malaysia or Bangladesh.

Joseph Lian, 28, left the northwestern section of Myanmar, where many Chin live, in 2002 because he feared for his life. He wrote about a "social issue," Lian said, but the military regime viewed it as political.

The oldest of his family of five brothers and two sisters, Lian fled by land and by sea to Malaysia before he could be apprehended. He lived and worked as an illegal immigrant — with an ever-present danger of being caught, caned, imprisoned and returned — until he could get refugee status and emigrate to the United States in 2008.

Life for the Chin is very oppressive, Lian said. The Myanmar military regime would come to Chin-populated areas, take what they wanted and force people to do hard labor for them. The regime removed a cross in a Chin village and replaced it with a pagoda. Chin are predominantly Christian, but the regime demands everyone practice Buddhism.

Learning tribal languages was discouraged, and travel without strict reporting and the appropriate passes was not permitted.

When you grow up under that kind of oppression, Lian said, you begin to think it's normal. It wasn't until stories of life in Malaysia and Thailand filtered into Chin groups that they recognized that other people have rights.

Lian was one of the few who had a high school education. He knew more English than most Chin, because his father was an English teacher. Knowledge of the language worked to his advantage in Lancaster, where he soon became a translator for other Chin refugees. He now is employed by Lutheran Refugee Services.

Moving halfway across the world and getting established in a new climate and culture has been difficult for the Chin and Karen immigrants.

For example, they are used to living in close communities that work together to survive, to socialize and to raise their children. Although the Chin and Karen are working to re-create that sense of community here, it's not the same.

For example, families are used to allowing their children to roam because they know someone else will watch out for them, said Barbara Witmer of Church World Service. They can't do that here.

At Lutheran Refugee Services, one family with four children in a two-bedroom house asked to let another Chin family move in with them. All six of them slept in one bedroom anyway, so the parents figured there was an extra bedroom, said Nan Garber, resource developer for Lutheran Refugee Services in Central PA.

The parents didn't understand why regulations wouldn't allow them to have so many unrelated people living together because they used to share a house with 20 people, Garber recounted. The refugees are gradually re-creating community in Lancaster by spending evenings at each other's houses and Sundays at church together. Recently, the Lancaster Chin celebrated Chin National Day, to commemorate their participation in freeing the former Burma from British control in 1948.

Some refugees come in family groups, but some, like Lian, have come alone. Therefore, a community here is very important to them.

Lian doesn't expect to see his family again, unless the government changes. At 28, Lian worries that he is already too old to ever fit into the American way of life. Will he learn the language well enough? Will he be able to create his own family here, one whose children respect his Burmese heritage?

Nevertheless, Lian is happy, he said, to be able to speak freely in America, without fear of repercussion. "In my country, I can't talk like this, so I feel light now."

Eventually, Garber and Witmer believe, these new arrivals will fit into the fiber of the local community, contributing their culture to the increasingly diverse county.

They are hardworking people, said Sheila McGeehan, director of the Church World Service in Lancaster. "They don't have a lot of skills that convert to jobs here, but when they do find a job they can do, they're hard workers.

"They don't really expect anything from the government or from us. They're used to living with very little."

And yet, they have a bounce to life that is very endearing, said Garber. When you hear their stories, she said, you see the resiliency of the human spirit.

Senior US official pays rare visit on Burma junta

Source: Bangkpost

RANGOON: A senior US official has paid a rare visit to Burma for talks on boosting relations, state media say, in the latest sign of a possible change in approach by Washington.

The visit comes as the European Union is considering easing sanctions on Burma next month if it saw democratic progress there, the EU's senior Burma envoy said.

Stephen Blake, director of mainland Southeast Asian affairs at the US State Department, met Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win in the administrative capital of Naypyidaw on Tuesday, the New Light of Burma newspaper said.

The government-run paper said they held "cordial discussions on issues of mutual interests and promotion of bilateral relations between the Union of Burma and the United States". The trip comes as US President Barack Obama's administration continues to review the tough stance his predecessor George W Bush took against Burma's junta.

Sources in Naypyidaw said it was the first time a senior US official had visited the city to promote relations between the two countries.

They also said a reception held by the US embassy for officials in Naypyidaw to introduce the visiting director was the first held by any foreign mission in the capital.

"Burma and the US have been friendly countries since the beginning. They were also the first country to recognise our independence from the British in 1948," a senior Burmese official said."

They misunderstood our country's situation after the 1988 uprising. We will not understand each other without talking. It was the first time a director of the US visited here for talks — the US did what they should do," he said.

Burma has been ruled by the army since 1962 and a student-led uprising in 1988 ended in a brutal military crackdown which left 3,000 people dead.

The junta ignored a landslide election victory by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party in 1990 and critics say general elections planned for next year are a sham aimed at entrenching the generals' power.

The European Council, the EU's main decision-making body, could vote for an easing of sanctions if Burma's junta relaxes restrictions on opponents ahead of the 2010 elections, the EU's senior Burma envoy, Piero Fassino, said yesterday.

"The European Council many times declared we are ready to change the sanctions, suspend the sanctions, if there are some positive steps in the direction of our goal," Mr Fassino said.

"If in the next month, if there is some positive evolution, for example putting in place real democratic guarantees, we'll consider this."

The European Council's external relations council will discuss sanctions against Burma at the end of April.

Mr Fassino said the EU would only consider next year's elections to be free and fair if the government passed fair electoral rules and freed political prisoners, including Mrs Suu Kyi. (AFP)

Asylum Seekers Make U.S. And Canada Top Choices

My Stateline.com

( Geneva) -- There were an estimated 383,000 people trying to flee their own countries and move to western nations in 2008.

A newly released United Nations report says the figure represents a 12% increase over 2007 with more people from Somalia and Afghanistan trying to get away from fighting in their homelands.

For a third straight year, Iraqi citizens top the overall numbers list with more than 40,000 men, women and children asking for asylum elsewhere.

Somalis are the second largest group followed by Russian nationals, Afghans, Chinese nationals and Nigerians.

The United States is a top choice for relocation with 49-thousand asylum applications registered with the U.N.

That's actually a three-percent decrease from 2007 while Canada saw a 30% increase, mostly due to higher numbers of people from Mexico and Haiti trying to make their way to the Great White North.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says Italy was a top choice for asylum applications filed by Somalis.

Russians pick Poland as a prime destination while Afghans filed more than 18-thousand requests asking to be allowed to move to Britain, Turkey and Greece.

Japan and South Korea together registered nearly two-thousand applications last year, mostly from people wanting to leave Myanmar.

Myanmar: An emerging security threat

The New Nation

Our foreign policy advocates for friendship to all and malice to none, which also dictates our strategic and security outlook. So, one should not be surprised that Bangladesh is very reluctant to view her neighbours as a source of security threats despite the fact that she is having some bilateral issues with her neighbours, particularly India, and Myanmar due to their aggressive policy, in the shape of land/maritime border demarcation, illegal migration, refugee influx, illegal drugs and small arms trade, and human trafficking. Despite our policy of harmonious and amicable coexistence with our neighbours, we should not be oblivious of the need for a peaceful and stable border and therefore we should take cognizance of factors that could create threats to our national security.

In this thread we will confine our discussion to possible security threats from Myanmar that could lead both the nations to a low intensity, or even to a high intensity conflict and strategies that Bangladesh should use to reduce the possibility of such conflicts, or to achieve a desired end in the conflict in case a military confrontation is unavoidable.

First let us examine the source of bilateral irritants between Bangladesh and Myanmar that could give rise to conflicts between the two neighbours:

1. Maritime Border Demarcation: Being surrounded by India and Myanmar, Bangladesh can hardly overemphasize the need to demarcate its maritime boundary on just and equitable basis to assert her sovereignty over its resource rich EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) and beyond through which almost 90% of its external trade is conducted. Failure in delineating maritime border may cause Bangladesh to be reduced to a mere landlocked country and lose its strategic significance and relevance in South Asian context.

2. Rohingya Refugee issue: Myanmar has a poor human rights record for suppressing and depriving its minority communities of basic rights and privileges and as a result of this thousands of Muslim Rohingya refugees cross into Bangladesh territory to escape the atrocities committed by the military junta. Bangladesh with the help of international community has tried to resolve this issue through diplomatic channel but due to Myanmarese military junta's stubbornness, the refugee problem could not be resolved and this is creating security, economic, and social problems in the country. Military junta's refusal to recognize Rohyngias as citizens and continuous attempt to push them inside Bangladesh territory may lead to a conflict situation if not properly handled.

3. Illegal small arms trade: Illegal small arms trade is a flourishing business along Bangladesh-Myanmar border despite all the efforts by Bangladesh Rifles to curb such activities in the border areas. If Myanmar fails to cooperate in stopping illegal arms trade in the border areas, criminals and terrorist groups may create threats to internal law and order situation of Bangladesh.

4. Illegal drugs trade: Because of long military rule, self imposed isolation, and economic embargo by the international community, the military junta relies heavily on poppy cultivation and drug trading for revenues. Being near the notorious 'golden triangle'--a heaven for illegal drug dealings--- Bangladesh faces an imminent danger and this cannot be tackled without full cooperation, which is unlikely to be forthcoming, from Myanmar.

5. Unfriendly NASAKA: The Myanmarese border security force known as NASAKA is a matter of concern for Bangladesh. This particular organization is involved in all sorts of human rights violation, illegal trading, killing and whatnot. Unless NASAKA is turned into a professional force guided by a specific set of code of conduct, a border conflict may break out between them and BDR because of the irrational behaviour of the former jeopardizing stability in the 200 km long border shared by both the neighbours.

Analysis of the strategic landscape

Now let us analyze the strategic landscape to understand the potential players, who might get involved if a military conflict breaks out between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Myanmar: As I have explained already that Myanmar is a pariah state and has little influence over the international community to form an opinion in favour of them. They are under heavy economic and military embargo for human rights violation and lack of respect for democracy. Having said that we should not lose sight of growing relation between China and Myanmar and it must be taken into consideration by Bangladesh and international community because China as a regional power will play an important role in any conflict between countries adjacent to her border . We will talk about China in just a moment but let me add that the Myanmarese military has been completely revamped with the help of Chinese assistance. New divisions have been raised with supporting units and hardware to make it one of the largest militaries in South East Asia. As per Internet and print media, Myanmar has received huge quantity of military hardware including artillery pieces, tanks, APCs, trucks, high speed jet fighters, naval vessels from China, Israel, and other nations. They have improved logistic backup to carryout sustained military operations within their border. They have also gained enormous experience in counter-insurgency in the last 20 years. But their weakness lies in their fragile economy and isolation from the international community, which, I believe, put them in a disadvantageous position to achieve a desired end in the war against Bangladesh.

China: China has a long term strategic interest in Myanmar due, mainly, to latter's convenient geographic location, which the Chinese navy intends to use in its pursuit to advance toward the Indian Ocean, and huge energy reserve. Along with a number of listening posts in the Myanmarese sea territory, the Chinese have also invested heavily in developing sea ports in Myanmar with repair , maintenance, and fuel facilities for the Chinese navy. So, China views Myanmar as a strategic partner, which is the gateway to the Indian Ocean and a cheap source of hydrocarbon to meet its burgeoning demand for energy.

As a permanent member of U.N. Security council, China has the veto power that can be used as a stick against Western pressure to discipline the military junta of Myanmar. But whether or not China will use the veto power is subject to how they perceive their relation with Bangladesh, which has seen a steady rise in the last 30 years, vis-a-vis Myanmar. The strategic analysts believe that China acknowledges the strategic significance of Bangladesh due to its peculiar geographic location, which cuts the North Eastern region off from the rest of India and acts as a bridge between SAARC and ASEAN, and offers access to Indian Ocean via the Bay of Bengal. The growing Chinese economic and military assistance to Bangladesh is a testament to latter's strategic significance to China and its military. So in the end, China may end up being a peace broker between Bangladesh and Myanmar to stop them from starting a conflict, or stop the conflict from escalating and keep the Western powers at bay both to safeguard its strategic interest in Myanmar and Bangladesh, and to end the conflict in Chinese terms.

Other UNSC members: In any conflict between Bangladesh and Myanmar, America will side with Bangladesh simply because both the nations believe in democratic values, freedom of speech and respect for human rights, and both are partners against war on terror. On the other hand, America is one of the staunchest critics of the Myanmarese military junta for its lack of respect for human rights and democracy. Americans, themselves, have already imposed an economic and arms embargo on Myanmar, and persuaded other Western allies to do the same to put pressure on the military junta to restore democracy in the country. So, in a conflict situation, Bangladesh will find America on its side but Myanmar will face even more isolation for attacking a democratic country.

Britain, and France, both seeking a regime change to restore democracy in Myanmar, will also join America to support Bangladesh in its fight against Myanmarese military junta.

Russia, being one of the few countries that supported the independence movement of Bangladesh, and having a close defense relation with Myanmar, may find itself in a difficult diplomatic situation and may only offer itself as a peace broker to maintain neutrality in the conflict situation.

Other players

India: India views Myanmar as an important country for the success of its 'look east policy', and as a good source of cheap energy reserve to meet its rising energy demand. India is also seeking to cultivate deep economic and defense relations with the military junta to counterbalance Chinese influence in Myanmar for its own strategic advantage. At the same time, the policymakers of New Delhi are aware of their role in the independence movement of Bangladesh and its strategic significance in the security of North East India. So, like Russia, India may also seek neutrality in the conflict between Bangladesh and Myanmar and play the role of a peace broker to end the conflict.

Arab countries: Being the 3rd largest Muslim country in the world, Bangladesh is expected to get overwhelming moral and even logistical support from the Arab nations.

Strategic objectives of Bangladesh

1. To resolve any dispute through dialogue and avoid the possibility of a military confrontation

2. In case a military confrontation is unavoidable, limit the scope of confrontation to minimize the loss of lives and properties

3. In case the conflict takes the shape of a full scale war, break the will of the Myanmarese military to fight by inflicting heavy damage upon its men, machine, and economy

Strategies to follow

1. To launch an intense diplomatic effort both bilateral, and multilateral, involving China, and the U.N.

2. To use BDR just to repel sporadic border incursions and keep the army on a stand by mode, and continue with diplomatic efforts to diffuse tension

3. To create a naval blockade against Myanmar to take control of its commercial shipping lanes and use the full military might to force the aggressor to retreat, and ask for help from America and its allies, and the Muslim countries, to achieve a desired end in the conflict.

348 workers still stuck at KL airport

Source: Asiaone Business News

At least 348 Bangladeshis, who reached Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8 and 9, are still stranded at the airport as their employers did not receive them or the Malaysian immigration restricted their entry to the country.

The Malaysian immigration suspects irregularities in their recruitment process.

Meanwhile, around 525 Bangladeshi workers returned home from Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia yesterday. Of them, 210 returned from the UAE, around 150 from Malaysia and 163 from Saudi Arabia. They came home on special travel passes.

As of yesterday, Malaysian immigration authorities allowed only 184 of the 532 workers into the country. Those allowed in had job contracts with companies that would directly employ them, said sources in Malaysia.

"Most of the stranded workers had job contracts with outsourcing companies. The immigration authorities suspect these outsourcing companies, which act as labour suppliers, would not be able to provide them with jobs," a businessman in Malaysia told The Daily Star over telephone.

Some of the stranded workers have job contracts with companies that were supposed to directly employ them but the employers did not show up to receive them, he said.

"This may be because the recruiting agents in Bangladesh did not pay the employing companies," he said. Recruiting agents' paying the employing companies is quite common even though illegal.

Malaysia cancelled work visas to over 55,000 Bangladeshis on March 10, citing global financial meltdown and decided not to receive any Bangladeshi workers after March 10.

Asked about the matter, Expatriates' Welfare Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said, "The information we have is that the Malaysian immigration is talking to the employers and asking them if they really could recruit the workers."

"This is a positive sign. If the workers are allowed in without jobs, they become marooned?that will not be good," he said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said she and minister Mosharraf Hossain would visit Malaysia on March 26-27. She said they would request Malaysia to recruit the 55,000 workers whose visas were canceled.

"We shall make this request if the visa cancellation was done truly for the global economic recession," she told reporters after a meeting with the executive committee members of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA).

The foreign minister said they are hopeful that the labour problem could be resolved through discussions with Malaysian authorities.

After the meeting, BAIRA President Ghulam Mustafa told reporters they suggested that labour-friendly diplomats be posted in foreign missions, foreign missions be reorganised, new missions set up to expand overseas labour markets in Iraq, Sudan and East Europe.

Ghulam said recruiting agencies would return the money the workers have already paid them to go to Malaysia, if Malaysia does not take in the 55,000 workers.

Foreign labour a lot better than lazy locals in Malaysia

The Star Online

THE statement by Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam that doubling the levy on foreign workers will discourage their employment and will result in increased salaries for the locals is immature.

I have owned a restaurant for more than 20 years and during this period I have hired both Malaysian and Indonesian staff. The working conditions are the same for both nationalities and it does not matter what position they are in - manager, kitchen staff or waiters.

When we first opened for business, we hired locals. In the beginning, there were not much of a problem but when business began to pick up, my cook began to talk about leaving. It is her way of wanting to renegotiate her pay.

I put up with the “blackmailing” by ignoring it, but by the third time, I paid her her salary and showed her the door. That brought a temporary end to such threats from the others when they realised that I was not going to be held to ransom.

Then, with the influx of Indonesians, we hired them to work alongside with the locals. However, the Indonesians were hard working and had better attitude towards work.

But, when the Government began to make it harder to hire Indonesians, we had no choice but to look to local labour again. It was the mid-1990s boom and we needed the staff.

We found the locals arriving late for work and leaving early – sometimes before even the close of business, leaving the clean-up to be done by the foreign workers.

The locals would come to work unkempt and they sat around smoking cigarettes despite the “no smoking” sign in the restaurant.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian workers would ensure business goes on in the restaurant.

The locals refused to learn anything new because they thought they knew better. They were not happy at being told what to do by a woman - even if she was the manager.

They showed their displeasure by making the food inedible - adding too much salt or chilli.

Local staff are simply unreliable. Perhaps what is most disturbing is their health. The Indonesian workers have to pass a medical examination before they get a work visa. Locals do not.

Just to make sure, we would ask all new foreign workers to go for another medical test before they commenced work at the restaurant. However, this backfired. If he or she failed the test and cannot be hired, we still had to pay the bill which came to a few hundred ringgit.

To be fair, not every local we have hired was a nightmare. However, the dreadful ones we have hired far outnumbered the good ones.

If Dr Subramaniam thinks that raising the levy on foreign workers will lead to more locals being hired in the restauraunt business, he is sorely mistaken. They have poor work ethics and are not worth the trouble. If I can’t afford the levy, I would rather close my business than to be held ransom by local workers.

RESTAURANT OWNER, Petaling Jaya.

Recession may spark social crisis

Foreign workers mainly from Bangladesh board a bus at the end of first shift at a construction site in Kuala Lumpur. Bangladesh has urged the Malaysian government to reconsider a decision to cancel work visas issued to 55,000 Bangladeshi workers.

AFPStar Business Report -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Commerce Minister Faruk Khan yesterday vented fear that the return of migrant workers and a possible slowdown in exports amid global financial meltdown might create a social crisis in Bangladesh.

“We are being affected by the global recession. Our exports and inflows of remittances are suffering,” said the minister at a workshop on Global Partnership for Development at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.

Local research organisation Shamunnay, UNDP and Panning Commission organised the programme in a bid to outline global issues that have impact on poverty.

Faruk's remarks came as recession-hit migrant workers have been coming back home at an alarming rate for the last two months, threatening with a slowdown in the inflow of remittance, which is now the second biggest foreign currency earner after exports.

In February the number of returnees stood at over 8,000, an almost double of the figure in January. The number of outbound workers has also gone down with some countries like Malaysia blocking the entry of 55,000 Bangladeshis recently.

“It's painful for us although it is the crisis created by others,” said Faruk.

“It's transforming into a social crisis,” the minister said, explaining that the living standard of families of migrants improved earlier but their returns might force these families to slash their expenses drastically.

Since 2001 remittances have grown by on an average 17 percent rate and stood at 10 percent of GDP for fiscal year 2007-08.

Various exportable items like jute and frozen foods are already bearing the brunt of global recession with exporters of readymade garment, the driver of the economy, forecasting a gloomy future.

“It may result in shutdown of factories and layoffs,” the minister said.

International Labour Organisation (ILO) earlier predicted that global recession might lead to a cut of as many as 51 million jobs worldwide this year. The ILO also said the crisis could push more than 140 million people in Asia into extreme poverty in 2009 amid rise in unemployment.

Dr Selim Jahan, director, Bureau of Development Policy of UNDP, said recession might impinge on poverty and women empowerment, as majority of more than 25 lakh RMG workers are women.

“These workers send a big chunk of their earned money to their families. A fall in their income will hurt these families,” he said.

Seilim Jahan said although the crisis was created in the developed world, both the developed and developing countries shoulder the responsibility to overcome it.

The commerce minister however is upbeat about tackling the recession fallout.

“We will tackle the crisis. We are going to form a taskforce this month taking representations from all,” he said.

Among others, Atiur Rahman, chairman of Unnayan Shamunnay, and Selim Raihan, associate professor of economics at Dhaka University, spoke.

Christians hear of suffering in Burma

CHRISTIANTODAY

20-year-old Burmese woman told 150 delegates attending the Global Day of Prayer for Burma on Saturday that “unless the situation in Burma changes, I will never see my father again”. Wai Hnin Pwint Thon’s father Mya Aye is currently serving a 65 year prison sentence for peacefully protesting against Burma’s brutal military regime. He is suffering from a severe heart condition and is likely to die in prison.

Fearing her own arrest, Wai Hnin told Premier Christian Radio’s Cindy Kent that she came to the UK in 2005 and now volunteers at the Burma Campaign UK, assisting their work in releasing Burma’s many political prisoners.

Her eight-year-old sister still lives with her mother in Rangoon, but Wai Hnin’s refugee status means she is unable to visit them.

Wai Hnin’s moving story formed part of the annual day hosted by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) together with Karen Aid and Partners Relief and Development.

Baroness Caroline Cox and CSW’s East Asia’s Team Leader Benedict Rogers, author of A Land Without Evil: Stopping the Genocide of Burma’s Karen People, joined a panel of notable speakers to present the plight of Burma’s ethnic minorities at the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster.

Mr Rogers gave an informative overview of the current humanitarian, political and human rights issues in Burma, including the persecution of ethnic minorities such as the Karen, Karenni, Shan Kachin, Chin and Rohingyas, while Baroness Cox, Chief Executive of the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART), presented first-hand evidence of the famine sweeping Chin State, and of the plight of the Shan people.

A short film depicting CSW’s most recent fact-finding visit to the Thai-Burmese border, gave delegates yet more evidence of human rights violations in Karen State.

The Global Day of Prayer for Burma was first initiated in 1997 by Christians Concerned for Burma at the request of Burma’s democracy leader, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. It has since become an internationally recognised event, attended by representatives from nearly all Burma’s persecuted ethnic minorities.

"This year‘s event was particularly important in light of the forthcoming 2010 elections currently being planned by Burma’s military regime, the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis, and also the Chin famine," said Mr Rogers. "We are now urging all our supporters to join us in urging the UN Secretary General to intensify his efforts to facilitate a process of meaningful dialogue between Burma’s military regime, the democracy movement and the ethnic nationalities. Concrete action must be taken without further delay.”

Come for the Premiere Screening of Running, a documentary on the plight of refugees in Malaysia!

RUNNING: Imagine leaving all that you have behind to escape to a foreign land. Imagine running away because you fear for your life and the life of your loved ones. Imagine running to escape from persecution, only to arrive at another form of incarceration. Imagine running towards hope and freedom, only to find that hope is all there is. Running follows the plight of different individuals who ran away from their homes in Burma in the hopes of freedom and a better life. They are each a refugee, asylum seeker and/or stateless person. As they tell their stories, they delve into their difficult lives in Malaysia in search of stability and the hope of a better future that is denied to them in their home country. Their story represents the stories of many other refugees who are currently in Malaysia. Date: 21 March 2009 Time: 2: 30 PM Venue: The Annexe Gallery, Central Market

UN refugee chief visits Myanmar

YANGON (AFP) — The United Nations' refugee chief toured Myanmar's border with Bangladesh Tuesday as he followed the route of migrants who say they are fleeing the country for fear of persecution by authorities.

The High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, arrived in the junta-led nation on Saturday.

On Tuesday he visited Rakhine state where most of the Rohingya migrants reside, a Myanmar official said.

On Wednesday he will travel back to the main city Yangon before flying to the south of the country where the migrants illegally board boats bound for neighbouring countries, the official added.

"He went to Sittwe in Rakhine state this afternoon.... He will meet with UN staff," said the official, who declined to be named, adding that Guterres had already met with Myanmar's immigration and foreign ministers.

The UN refugee agency has expressed concern over the fate of hundreds of Muslim migrants who were rescued in Indian and Indonesian waters in recent months claiming to have fled Myanmar and to have later been abused by Thai authorities.

Guterres held a one-hour meeting with Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya on the migrant issue last weekend before travelling to Myanmar.

Kasit told Guterres that a common approach to illegal immigration would be agreed at a regional meeting of Southeast Asian ministers in April.

Photographs apparently showing the Thai army towing migrants in boats out to sea and lining Rohingya men up on a beach have been published in the international media this year.

Rohingya rescued at sea said they had fled Myanmar for Thailand but were rounded up and taken out to open waters with limited supplies.

Thailand has denied the accusations, while insisting the problem of illegal migration to its shores must be dealt with regionally.

Thai Foreign Minister meets UNHCR Chief on Rohingya refugees

smh.com.au

Thailand's foreign minister Kasit Piromya met the United Nations' refugee chief to discuss the plight of migrants from Burma washing up on its shores.

The United Nations' refugee agency (UNHCR) has expressed concern over the fate of hundreds of Rohingya migrants who were rescued in Indian and Indonesian waters in recent months claiming to have been abused by Thai authorities.

But Kasit said he had reassured the High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, that Thailand would tackle the matter with its neighbours.

"I told him that there has been significant progress on the Rohingya problem," Kasit told reporters following the one-hour meeting at the foreign ministry.

At the recent summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Thailand's coastal Hua Hin, members agreed to discuss a common approach to illegal immigration in a ministerial meeting to be held April 14-15.

The talks will take place under the "Bali process" - first convened in 2002 to tackle the influx of illegal migrants into the region from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

Australia and Indonesia will co-chair the talks, to be attended by Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and UNHCR, Kasit said.

Photographs apparently showing the Thai army towing migrants in boats out to sea and lining Rohingya men up on a beach have been published in the international media this year.

Rohingya rescued at sea said they had fled Myanmar for Thailand but were rounded up and taken out to open waters with limited supplies.

Thailand has denied the accusations, while insisting the problem of illegal migration to its shores must be dealt with regionally.

Kasit said Guterres was now travelling to Myanmar to ask for cooperation on the Rohingya Muslim minority, who say they are persecuted by authorities there.

Burma or Myanmar; Burmese challenge minister over name

NZHERALD

Burmese campaigners are lobbying the New Zealand Government to call their home country by its former name of Burma - not Myanmar.

Murray McCully, now Foreign Minister, criticised the Labour-led Government last May, when he was in opposition, for referring to the country as Myanmar, and the National Council for the Union of Burma now wants him to honour his call to recognise the country by its former name. The name was changed from "the Union of Burma" to "the Union of Myanmar" in 1989 by the military Government, and since then has been the subject of controversy.

"This would be seen as a very important signal of your Government's support for the restoration of democracy in Burma," the group said in a letter to the minister.

Union director Naing Ko Ko said he was hopeful Mr McCully would take that "symbolic action" now that he was Foreign Minister, and that the National-led Government would press the military rulers to end their gross human rights abuses.

Mr Naing said the campaign followed fresh reports on Myanmar's rights record released last week by the United States and international human rights groups such as the Centre for Public Health and Human Rights, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

According to Immigration New Zealand figures, New Zealand received 397 refugees from there in 2007 - up from 174 the previous year, and two in 2005.

The United States lashed out at the Myanmar regime's human rights record, accusing the military of "brutally" suppressing its citizens and razing entire villages.

In its annual global report released on February 26, signed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the State Department said Myanmar's ruling junta carried out extrajudicial killings along with rape and torture without punishing anyone responsible.

"The regime brutally suppressed dissent ... denying citizens the right to change their government and committing other severe ... abuses," it said.

In 2007 the military crushed an uprising led by Buddhist monks, killing at least 31 people, according to the UN. In May last year, a cyclone left 138,000 people dead or missing.

Pro- democracy advocate and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for most of the past 19 years.

Council director Naing Ko Ko said that representatives would be travelling to Wellington to also seek a trade embargo and an extension of the visa ban to include all businesses with links to the junta.

Mr McCully said last year: "After witnessing the appalling indifference of Burma's military leadership to the welfare of its cyclone-ravaged citizens, the question needs to be asked: just why would New Zealand's Government leadership and media go out of their way to honour the wishes of such a regime by referring to the country as Myanmar, when both the political leadership and media of the UK, Europe and Australia do precisely the opposite?"

Rohingyas are now termed as part of Indian Ocean illegal migrants

By D. Arul Rajoo

HUA HIN, March 1 (Bernama) -- The tricky issue of Rohingya refugees took a new twist at the 14th Asean Summit here after regional leaders decided to treat them as just one of the migrant groups in the Indian Ocean.

However, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva denied that the Rohingya issue had become taboo among the region's leaders.

"It's not a taboo," he said when asked if the word Rohingya was not used because it's taboo.

Abhisit, whose government came under fire following reports that the Thai Navy towed the stateless Rohingyas' boat into the sea, said they had to be treated according to their nationalities.

"We want to include all illegal migrants whether they are from the Indian Ocean or not. Which is why we specifically mentioned illegal migrants, whether they are Bengalis or other people who happen to go through this predicament," he told a press conference after the Summit.

In the Chairman's statement, the leaders said the issue should be addressed in a larger context, such as the contact group of affected countries and the Bali Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crimes.

Abhisit said the leaders had a productive discussion on the issue of illegal migrants in the Indian Ocean and agreed that cooperation among countries of origin, transit and destination was of great importance.

The Myanmar Government, which refused to accept the Rohingyas as their citizen despite the fact that they came from the Arakan state, had told Asean Foreign Ministers during a meeting here two days ago that they were willing to take them back if they were Bengalis.

There are an estimated 14,000 Rohingyas in Malaysia, as well as in Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

Abhisit also said the leaders had asked Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan to coordinate with Myanmar to obtain relevant statistics related to these illegal migrants in the Indian Ocean.

He also said that they had open discussions on Myanmar where its Prime Minister Thein Sein briefed them on recent political developments and the progress made in the implementation of the seven-step Roadmap to Democracy.

"We encouraged the Myanmar Government to facilitate the national reconciliation process to be more inclusive so as to strengthen national unity, thereby contributing to peace and prosperity in Myanmar," he said.

The leaders also hoped that the release of political detainees and the inclusion of all political parties in the political process leading to the general elections in 2010 would contribute significantly to the national reconciliation process there.

In a separate press conference, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the Leaders also decided that member countries should not pass the Rohingya problem to their neighbours and instead tackle the issue together.

"Myanmar did not mention anything (about Rohingya). We recognised the issue, otherwise it's not good for us," he said.

Asked about human rights and democracy in Myanmar, Abdullah said the meeting did ask Thein Sein about the progress in the country, adding that the issue of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was not brought up.

"But it's better (for media) to ask the Myanmar Prime Minister to talk. I can't speak on his behalf," he said, adding that the Myanmar Government had told Asean during the last Summit in Singapore that it preferred to deal with the United Nations rather than Asean on the matter.

Abdullah pointed out the progress made by UN Special Envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari who had made seven visits to the military-ruled nation.

According to the premier, Myanmar had released 6,000 political detainees as requested by Gambari, who is also the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights.

-- BERNAMA