Correspondent Anne Fletcher meets former activists of the 88 Generation who made new lives o­n the other side of the world...

"The menacing group of five soldiers emerged from Rangoon’s city hall, knelt down and aimed their guns at the protesters. Tin Maung Htoo, a 16-year-old high school student, sat tight, linking arms with others in the front row.

The first shots Tin Maung Htoo heard, however, sounded like machine gun fire from armored cars sweeping round both sides of the Sule Pagoda o­n that August night, 19 years ago.

Trafficking and Militarized Femininity on the Burma-China Border

The situation of Internally Displaced People (IDP?s), in Burma remained critical throughout 2001. The US State Department
estimates that there could be up to1 million members of ethnic minority groups who the SPDC has forcibly relocated from their
villages and districts, and who are currently living along the Thai border. Reports from NGOs also estimate that an additional 1
million IDP?s are living a precarious existance in other locations throughout the country...

In Thailand's Tak province there
are 60,520 registered migrant
workers and an estimated 150,000
unregistered migrant workers from
Burma. Fleeing the social and political
problems engulfing Burma, they are
mostly employed in farming, garment
making, domestic service, sex and
construction industries. There is also
a significant number of Burmese
living in camps. Despite Thailand�s
developed public health system and
infrastructure, Burmese women face
language and cultural barriers and

By 1993, 18.2 million men, women, and children across the world had left their homelands to escape persecution and violence. An average of 10,000 refugees a day were forced to flee the year before, as new upheavals forced out new victims. At least another 24 million were displaced within their own countries. Yet despite these staggering numbers and the backlash they have provoked in overburdened countries of asylum, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees believes there is a solution to the international refugee crisis.

Since Hillary Clinton’s historic visit to Myanmar, the nation’s reforms have drawn the world’s attention. The end of a half century of military rule leaves Myanmar with countless challenges. Recently, the violence in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State has become a controversial topic. Global bodies, human rights organizations, world leaders and US lawmakers have rushed to condemn what they see as the treatment of these stateless people.

Thus far, the government's labor legislation has brought few benefits to Thailand's migrant work force which continues to withstand deep-seated corruption and abuse...However precarious the situation may be for migrant workers in Thailand, it will continue as long as cheap sources of labor remain a vital component for a healthy and vibrant Thai economy. The time is ripe for both the Thai and Burmese governments to implement genuine measures that would help ensure the just and dignified treatment of Burmese workers in Thailand...

This report documents human rights violations carried out by troops from the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) against Karenni people in Karenni (Kayah) State in eastern Burma. Information regarding human rights abuses in the area has come from interviews with Karenni refugees who have fled into Thailand, and with officials from the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP). ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS:
forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration,
forced to move, displaced

...Over the past ten years the SPDC has undertaken numerous 'development projects' across Karen State, consistently claiming that these are purely for the good of the people. Such projects however are anything but, invariably bringing with them an increase in human rights violations in the area surrounding the development site. Villages are typically forcibly relocated and their inhabitants are used as forced labour. One such project is a hydroelectricity power plant that is to be built on the Day Loh River in Toungoo District.

Articles on this category from BurmaNet News

Testimony by a refugee from central Karenni (Kayah) State and List of Villages Relocated in March 1992."

"(Northwest Karenni State) List of 76 villages relocated in March 1992. Deemawso and Pruso Townships March, July 92. Karenni men, women: Rape; forced labour incl. portering and work on the Loikaw-Aung Ban railway -- 91); extortion; forced relocation; religious intolerance (the villages were Christian)..."
ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced

Non-discrimination: Article 2; Non-interference: Article 16; Protection against violence: Article 19; Protection of refugee children: Article 22; Article. 27.3 Protection of children in armed conflict: Article 38, 39 (Burma is party to this convention). ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced