Telling your Story can be Healing: women of Burma speak out
By Saw Ehna
Women in Burma, who represent half of Burma’s 43 million population, have been facing continuous violence and atrocities at the hands of the military junta for decades. The situation in eastern and western Burma’s ethnic areas torn by more than half a century of civil war and oppression is the worst in the country. Enduing incessant violence, women resist but suffer silently. These are the stories of two courageous Karen women who decided to speak out to heal their suffering.
By k. Jong and S. Gregory
The video “Always on the Run” was produced by Burma Issues in association with WITNESS to show the dire situation faced by internally displaced people (IDP) living inside Burma and to call for increased international action to support IDPs and address the root causes of the conflict in Burma. A Burma Issues staff-member filmed “Always on the Run” in one village in Karen State. After he left one week later, the area was attacked and the villagers fled into the jungle as well as many other villages in the surrounding area. This article presents the context and the making of this video.
The UN has failed to influence or impede Burma’s military government. In recent years Burma has refused to co-operate with UN special envoys, regularly denying them entry visas to the country and ignoring their efforts to improve Burma’s democratic and human rights situations. But this could maybe change. In March this year, Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, proposed a set of reform of the UN Security Council. This article looks at the possible consequences over Burma politics if such reforms were adopted by the General Assembly.
