• Home
• about
• Activities
• Contact
• Programs
• Manual

• Analysis
• Commentary
• Feature
• General Election
• Monthly Report
• News
• PDF Format
• Special Report
• Video Clips

Subscribe

Three Pagoda Pass Township businesses falter under second annual tax

HURFOM, TPP: On November 9th, Chairman of the Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC) in Three Pagodas Pass (TPP), U Myo Kyi, held a meeting with members of the Village Peace and Development Council (VPDC) and local business owners about a new tax to be collected that would affect all local businesses. The order to collect this new tax comes from the Customs Department of Burma, based in the new Burmese capitol of Naypyidaw, according to a source who attended the meeting. Read more

Distance university student’s picnic blocked by university staff in Moulmein.

HURFOM, Moulmein: Students from a university level distance education program in Moulmein were denied permission by the school dean to organize a picnic after completing their exams. After being warned, their trip was banned without explanation. Read more

A Woman’s Hope for the Future

WCRP: Around 8pm, as I watched football with friends, I over heard a young child’s voice from the small neighboring house. “’Mom, I’m hungry.’ ‘Yes, when your father comes back home you can eat.’’ I peered out my window and saw a mother tending to her 5-year-old child as her two other children played with rubber-bands in the corner. The metal roof of their hut was covered in holes and the three loosely tied bamboo walls were falling apart. Read more

Report: Why Burmese Women Become Sex Workers

Introduction

“Think about it, nobody enjoys working as a prostitute.We have no money to survive… we have to work as prostitutes.” -Ma Thit Thit

This report examines some of the reasons why women from Mon State, Burma, become commercial sex workers. WCRP interviewed 11 prostitutes from 10 brothels and restaurants who currently work in Ye Township and Thanbyuzayat Town. The majority of the interviewed women became prostitutes out of economic desperation and a lack of other job opportunities.

Children in Burma are often expected to provide for their parents. Many of the women interviewed said that their parents were unable to  support their families, due to a scarcity of jobs, a poor economy, and spending money on alcohol and illegal lottery tickets. Read more

USDA aims to recruit more students and residents in Mudon Township

HURFOM, MUDON: On November 5th, Mon State’s Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) members arrived in Mudon Township to hold a meeting with 20 key area USDA members, Mon youth, and members of the Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC).  At the meeting area USDA members were ordered to recruit more then 200 residents in each village to become members of the USDA in Mudon Township.   Read more

Mudon township residents forced to pay for community tractor, again.

HURFOM, Mudon: On October 25th, the Mudon Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC)’s chairman U Kyaw Maung, his secretary, 5 members of the General Administration Department (GAD) and the Agriculture committee held a meeting in Kamawet village to order local residents to donate money towards the purchase of a farm tractor to be used within the region.   Read more

LIB No. 556 uses KNU activity to justify human rights violations in Palaw Township, Margue District

HURFOM, Palaw: According to HURFOM reporters, the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 556 has been using rumors of KNU activity in Palaw Township, Margue Distirct, to arrest, threaten, and extort money from the residents of various villages throughout Palaw Township. The majority of the reports that HURFOM received centered around the village of Pawkataw, where a string of violent arrests commenced two weeks ago during a Christian church service. Read more

NGOs aid 14 year-old rape victim in Mae Sot

WCRP, Mae Sot: Phyi Thu Saythana and World Vision, two Mae Sot-based NGOs, are providing for the legal services, shelter, and education of a 14-year-old Mon child raped by her stepfather 2 months ago. Read more

National Politics Party, NUP and USDA Start a Secret Campaign for 2010 Elections

Unsurprisingly, Burma’s 2010 elections will not be free and fair, even though the ruling military government has yet to announce any restrictive or biased election laws, elections processes, or political party formation laws.  The SPDC has already privileged the secret campaigns of certain military commanders, the National Politics Party (NPP), and other SPDC-supporting political groups like the National Unity Party (NUP), and the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA). Read more

“I am very tired”: Three months of abuses along the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline in Northern Ye and Southern Thanbyuzayat Township, from August 2009 to October 2009

Introduction:

Much has been written on the human rights abuses leveled by the Burmese Army against the Karen and Mon villagers who live along the gas pipeline that runs through the Mon state from Kanbauk, in  northern Ye Township, to Myaing Kalay, in the Southern Thanbyuzayat Township. In recent months, however, ongoing abuse inflicted by Burmese army battalions against the villagers has intensified.  The presence of Burmese Army battalions in the area has plagued the villagers for more than 15 years. Since 1994, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has deployed 20 army battalions in the area as a means of protecting the Yadana pipeline — the second natural gas pipeline that runs through the area — from rebel attacks. Various armed rebel groups exist in the area, including the KNU, the KNLA, and an unnamed, 30 –strong ragtag Mon splinter group.
Download report as PDF [ 1.45 MB] Read more

« Previous Page — Next Page »