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Kyon Karoat villagers poised to protest local corruption

HURFOM: Nestled among wide stretches of rubber plantations and durian orchards, Kyon Karoat Village in southwestern Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State, is home to hundreds of families. While news of the democratic transition in Burma, also known as Myanmar, has reached the local residents, many recently reported being unable to fully enjoy the promise of reforms due to an ongoing struggle against corruption in their own hometown. Read more

“Freedom to Walk” supports global anti-human trafficking movements

HURFOM: More than 70 participants joined the final day of a 370-kilometer walk from Bangkok to the Burma border at Three Pagodas Pass on Saturday to support efforts to end human trafficking worldwide. The “Freedom to Walk” campaign raised money for five organizations that work to combat trafficking of men, women, and children across multiple industries in Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe. Read more

Industrial Mahachai concludes second child labor conference

HURFOM: Last Friday, the Royal Thai Government’s Department of Labour Protection and Welfare and the Thai Frozen Foods Association jointly held an educational conference covering Thailand’s child labor laws. The event was aptly organized in Mahachai, a port town about 45 kilometers southwest of Bangkok where an estimated 1,200 to 1,300 factories employ hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers in Thailand’s booming seafood industry. Read more

Extortion persists during democratic transition

HURFOM: In recent years, Burmese militia forces, township-level authorities, and village administrators have been accused of conspiring to extort money from residents in several parts of Thanbyuzayat Township in Mon State. Now, a similar trend appears to be continuing in the area around Waethon Chaung Village, about 1.5 miles south of Thanbyuzayat. The local authorities and alleged perpetrators maintain that the levies they collect fund a school construction project and cover the cost of guarding the nearby Ye to Tavoy railway and Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline, but residents are not convinced. Read more

Amended NMSP constitution to include child rights

HURFOM: As a recent signatory of Geneva Call’s Deed of Commitment, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) released a statement pledging to amend their constitution to include the protection of child rights in armed conflict. On November 5, an NMSP committee met with Mr. Chris Rush, Geneva Call’s Senior Programme Officer for Asia, to negotiate the inclusion of child rights protections in Mon law. Members of the NMSP and its judiciary plan to jointly draft the amendments prior to the party’s next big conference in 2015. Read more

Reprisals and rubber tree destruction in Kaw Taung

HURFOM: For the past ten years, landowner Daw Tin Tin Mya has permitted 45-year-old Daw Oung Mya Kyi to grow more than 3,000 rubber trees on her property in Khamout Pyin Township, part of Kaw Taung District in southern Burma. Recently though, disputes between the cultivator and local members of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) led to the destruction of around 500 young trees. Residents claim that authorities have not taken appropriate action to quell the conflict, and worry that lawlessness continues despite the country’s process of reform. Read more

Kaw Taung District land disputes go unresolved

HURFOM:Township authorities continue to evade settlement for cases of land confiscation in Kaw Taung District, part of Tenasserim Region in southern Burma. Both U Nyan Sein, a landowner driven onto two of his original 8.52 acres, and farmer U Hla Tun who lost 15 acres just last year, have submitted letters that continue to be ignored by land officials. Read more