Myanmar’s new “disciplined democracy” doesn’t offer hope for any real democratic change. (more…)

Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma (AAPP-B), Arakan Rivers Network (ARN), Burma Fund UN Office, Burma Lawyers’ Council (BLC), Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), Emergency Act Team vs Backpack Health Worker Team, Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB), Foundation for Education and Development (FED), Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB), Human Rights Foundation of Mon Land (HURFOM), Kachin Women’s Organization Thailand (KWAT), Kaladan Press Bangladesh, Shwe Gas Movement, Women and Child Rights Project (WCRP) (more…)

When the new Parliament convenes in Naypyidaw at the end of this month, some say it will be a political transition marking the end of decades of military rule in Burma—at least symbolically. (more…)

Farms and lands of local villagers in Shan State South’s Kunhing Township, have been reportedly confiscated for the use of local authorities under the recently installed regional command, according to local sources. (more…)

The Burmese military junta is stockpiling weapons in Yuzana Company’s crop plantation area in Hukawng Valley in the country’s northern Kachin State to take on the Kachin ethnic army, said local sources close to company insiders. (more…)

Forced from their homes, languishing in camps in Thailand, Karen refugees bring in their new year with musical traditions old and new. (more…)

House and land prices close to Tavoy in southern Burma where the building of a multi-billion dollar port project will gain momentum have increased up to ten-fold in recent months. (more…)

Yangon – Over 50,000 chickens suspected of carrying virulent avian influenza were wiped out following the discovery of unusual death of 700 three-month-old chickens in a poultry farm in Sittway, Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, recently, the local weekly Popular News reported Wednesday. (more…)

Jakarta – Myanmar should dialogue with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, release its political prisoners and recognize Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) before the US will consider lifting sanctions, a US diplomat says. (more…)

Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win will be in Geneva, Switzerland, tomorrow to submit a report on the human rights situation in his country as part of a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (more…)

The United States will not consider lifting economic sanctions against Burma unless the country’s military rulers recognize opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party and release political prisoners, according to a senior US diplomat. (more…)

Were the November elections in Burma really the complete sham that so many in the international community claimed? Outright denunciation is simplistic and ignores the potential for modest but significant change over time – even if the election process, the voting and tabulation of results were seriously flawed. (more…)

Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been officially invited to Canada to accept the award of Honorary Canadian Citizenship. At the urging of NDP leader Jack Layton, Prime Minister Stephen Harper extended the invite last week. (more…)

New York – The review of Burma’s human rights record at the United Nations this week should reflect reality and not the false promises of the military, Human Rights Watch said today. (more…)

Government ministers serving under Burma’s ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), will likely resign from their posts before the opening session of Parliament on Jan. 31, according to official sources in the administrative capital of Naypyidaw. (more…)

New Delhi – According to Naypyidaw observers, retired General Thura Shwe Man has the best chance to become the new President in the upcoming Parliament. (more…)

Overseas development assistance for Burma has fallen by some 30 percent since 2008, despite an overall increase in global aid distribution.

The quantity of ODA going into Burma is now lower than Cambodia, despite having a population three times the size, the UN’s IRIN news agency said. (more…)

Caring for the displaced in the Burmese jungle – and fleeing with them as the army advances.

Weighed down with 10kg packs of medical supplies – as well as her clothes, food and three young children – Hsa Mu Na sets out from her organisation’s headquarters in Mae Sot, Thailand, for five hours by car, four hours by boat and three days by foot to a conflict-plagued region of Burma where medical care would be nonexistent were it not for her and her colleagues. (more…)

Bangkok — A boat carrying 67 Rohingya refugees claiming persecution in Myanmar, the second such in two days, has landed at Thailand, officials said.

Earlier 91 refugees arrived during the weekend, about two years after a similar incident in which Thailand was accused of inhumanely turning the Rohingya back to sea, CNN reported. (more…)

Bangkok – Burma’s military is pressing on with the privatization of state assets as part of economic reforms. Many critics say the program simply transfers assets to the military government’s allies and maintains its economic control.
(more…)