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  • India: Close the Gap for Burmese Refugees
    12/08/2009
    Like Burma’s other neighbors, India hosts a large and growing refugee population, the majority of whom are Chin ethnic minorities. India generally tolerates the presence of Burmese refugees, but does not afford them any legal protection, leaving them vulnerable to harassment, discrimination, and deportation.  While India’s lack of a legal regime for refugees is a major impediment to addressing the needs of Burmese refugees, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and international donors need to explore creative ways to work within the existing framework to provide assistance and increase protection for this population.
  • Thailand: New Problems Challenge Old Solutions
    09/30/2009
    Burmese refugees have been living in Thailand for more than two decades. The situation is fluid: resettlement programs have provided tens of thousands of people with new lives, while a new wave of conflict in Burma is changing the political landscape and forcing thousands of new refugees to flee into Thailand.
  • Burma: Capitalizing on the Gains
    03/18/2009
    In the past year, humanitarian assistance to Burma has been primarily focused on victims of Cyclone Nargis, which struck the Irrawaddy delta on May 2, 2008.  Though the initial delivery of assistance was hampered by government obstruction, the aid programs that have since developed in the delta have benefited from an ease of operations unseen in other parts of the country. 
  • Rohingya: Burma’s Forgotten Minority
    12/18/2008
    Among Burma’s ethnic minorities, the Rohingya, a stateless population, stand out for their particularly harsh treatment by Burmese authorities and their invisibility as a persecuted minority.  Despite decades of severe repression, there has been minimal international response to the needs of this extremely vulnerable population compared to other Burmese refugees.
  • Burma: Building Upon Success
    09/04/2008
    Three months after Cyclone Nargis, the world has an outdated image of the situation inside Burma. Although aid agencies delivered assistance within days after the storm and continue to do so, the story of a recalcitrant government that rejects aid from the generous nations of the world has not been updated.
  • Burma: Opportunity Amid the Destruction
    05/07/2008

    On May 2, 2008, Cyclone Nargis swept through Burma’s delta region, devastating a country that was already on the brink of a humanitarian crisis. The death toll is likely to mount to over 70,000, and as many as two million people have been displaced from their homes. There are alarming reports of entire villages destroyed, their populations missing. The international community must rally around a UN-led response to the crisis, set aside political disputes with the government of Burma, and begin preparing for not only immediate assistance, but also medium- and long-term stabilization and reconstruction plans.

  • Burma: A New Way Forward
    03/25/2008

    Economic difficulties drove the dramatic September 2007 protests in Burma. In their aftermath, the international community is beginning to respond to the humanitarian needs of ordinary Burmese. The U.S. is a critical exception. While most analysts, including Refugees International, believe only a change in political leadership can address the structural causes of poverty in Burma, few forecast an end to the country’s political stalemate. The international community must do more to address the humanitarian needs of Burma’s 55 million people in the absence of political progress.

  • Burmese Refugees: End the Exploitation of Burmese in Thailand
    11/28/2007

    The recent government crackdown on demonstrations by monks and common people inside Burma focused the world’s attention on the ongoing human rights and humanitarian catastrophe there.  After years of internal conflict and repression, 500,000 have been displaced internally and an estimated three million seek sanctuary and livelihoods in neighboring countries. Thailand and other countries in the region are already straining to handle the Burmese exodus.

  • Thailand: Burmese Resettlement Offering New Opportunities and Creating Complications
    05/21/2007
    The ongoing resettlement from camps in Thailand is giving Burmese refugees a chance at a durable solution for the first time, yet the policies of some countries resettling the refugees are creating complications for those who will remain in the camps. An estimated 150,000 Burmese refugees, largely from the Karen ethnic group, have lived in camps in Thailand, often for more than a decade.
  • Burma: Military Offensive Displacing Thousands of Civilians
    05/16/2007
  • The Rohingya: Discrimination in Burma and Denial of Rights in Bangladesh
    06/21/2006
    The Burmese military regime carries out systematic repression and human rights violations against the Rohingya ethnic minority living in Burma's northern Rakhine State. The Rohingya also continue to be denied Burmese citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law which renders them stateless. Consequently many Rohingya asylum seekers flee to neighboring Bangladesh where the government, fearing a "pull-factor", has become increasingly reluctant to harbor them.