The image of Burma being projected internationally by the military-backed government contrasts starkly with the reality in rural ethnic areas. While President Thein Sein is being lauded as a democratic reformer and peace-maker, he is authorizing widespread military operations and tactics that are displacing tens of thousands of ethnic civilians in northern Burma.
These include several thousand Palaung villagers from remote mountainous areas of northwest Shan State, mostly women and children, whose plight is being almost completely ignored.
The Palaung Women’s Organization and the Ta’ang Student and Youth Organization (TSYO) set up an emergency committee early 2012 to raise funds to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to the IDPs.
During a trip in September 2012 to provide assistance, PWO carried out interviews in the three main IDP sites, to find out about their current situation and prospects for return. PWO has complied these findings this brief update.
Published by the Palaung Women’s Organization (PWO)
March 1, 2013
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