It began with British betrayal after the Second World War and has stubbornly outlived every other conflict. But now, as it marks it diamond jubilee, the world’s longest-running war is nearing its endgame. The guerrilla army of the Karen ethnic group, which has been fighting since 1949 for independence from Burma, is facing the greatest crisis in its history. If Karen resistance collapses, as some believe is likely, it will be a triumph for the Burmese junta as it consolidates its hold on power. (more…)

LAST WEEKEND, the Paris-based media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published a report entitled “Enemies of the Internet”, which named Burma as one of 12 countries that actively practices censorship and restricts freedom of speech on the Internet. “The 12 enemies of the Internet … have all transformed their internet into an intranet in order to prevent their populations from accessing ‘undesirable’ online information,” the RSF report said. (more…)

Today sees the publication of one of the most important international law judgments in recent years. In a heavily argued case, decided last November but only now made public, the international legal system has ruled in the clearest possible terms that the military regime in Burma has contravened every last vestige of humanitarian law and falls to be condemned in the strongest possible way. Significantly, the tribunal rejected every single one of the Burmese Government’s arguments. The regime has been held to be operating entirely outside of the law and its violations of minimum standards of international law are described by the tribunal as “grotesque”. (more…)

Washington, D.C. – Today, Freedom Now released Opinion No. 46/2008 from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The judgment declares unequivocally that the ongoing detention of Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is illegal and in violation of both Burmese and international law. It also urges her immediate release:

Rights groups say the authorities have imprisoned scores of people in recent months, including monks (more…)

Foreigners involved in the Cyclone Nargis relief effort will no longer be given preferential treatment when applying for Burmese visas, according to diplomatic sources in Rangoon. (more…)

Bangkok – For now, the United Nations’ refugee agency has been given breathing room to operate in a western corner of military-ruled Burma, where humanitarian programs offer some comfort to the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority.
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New Delhi- Lack of proper medical treatment, is one of the major reasons for the deteriorating health conditions of political prisoners in Burma, an activists group said on Friday. (more…)

China Invests Heavily in Burma’s Mining Operations

Amid reports swirling that Burma’s precious stones industry is contracting sharply because of US economic sanctions, the Chinese official news agency says that China has pumped US $850 million into Burmese mining operations in 2008. (more…)

Yangon: Foreign investment in military-ruled Myanmar nearly doubled in the first 11 months of 2008 to $974.9 million, with China pouring the bulk of it into mining, a government statistics report said. (more…)

Three alleged members of the network operated by late drug kingpin Khun Sa have been arrested in Thailand and assets worth more than 117 million baht (US $3.3 million) seized, the English language Bangkok Post reported in its online news service on Friday. (more…)

Chin state locals who suffered food shortages last year due to mass flowering of bamboo have been forced to grow and sell opium to generate income, said a researcher who visited the region recently. (more…)

Three protestors who tried to hand flowers to the Burmese Prime Minister for imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a ceremony to honour his visit to Singapore have labeled the ceremony an “insult”. (more…)

China’s representative in Geneva has said at the United Nations Human Rights Council that issues of development and national reconciliation in Burma are difficulties and challenges that are in the interests of the entire international community. (more…)

Geneva – Once again, a United Nations (UN) investigator of human rights in Myanmar has urged its ruling generals to release all political prisoners. And once again the junta has brusquely brushed off the demand. Myanmar has no prisoners of conscience, only law breakers, its ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Wunna Maung Win, brazenly asserted. (more…)

Karenni refugees are expecting that with the arrival of France’s Junior Human Rights Minister, Mrs. Rama Yade, support and help for Karenni refugee camps would be more forthcoming. Relief measures and items of daily necessity, which were earlier given to refugee camps, have been reduced after Cyclone Nargis hit Burma. (more…)

The positive aspects of Cyclone Nargis response in the Irrawaddy Delta have yet to translate into better access or more funds for aid operations in the rest of Burma, where needs are great and often unmet, according to aid workers. (more…)

Across Burma aid continues to trickle to those who need it most – or in some cases is denied completely. (more…)

MORE than 1m people from Myanmar have opted to labour in the sweatshops, fields and fisheries of Thailand rather than endure the daily struggle for survival many face at home. The global downturn has conspired to make their prospects, never rosy, even bleaker. (more…)

Burmese authorities have told businessmen in the construction sector to complete their stalled their projects across the country or face nationalization. (more…)