Part III: Burma/Myanmar

To complete his three-part post on the Three Countries You Don't Hear Much About, guest blogger Dan Gilligan takes us to Myanmar, aka Burma.

Dan personally asked that I thank all of you for reading. He noted that while your small actions may not seem like much, "ripples sometimes add up into waves". Which is exactly why we need all of you. Thanks everyone, as always.

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“There exist today as many signs to justify hope as there are to instill fear.”

–Hannah Arendt

Burma or Myanmar, whether you wish to use a colonially imposed name or one imposed by a military junta, is a country we don’t get to hear about much about for a very simple reason: other than North Korea, it is perhaps the most closed off state to the rest of the world. Foreigners -- especially journalists -- are rarely allowed in. What little we do know comes mainly from human rights workers who must sneak into, around, and out of the country illegally. Since its independence from Great Britain, Burma/Myanmar has been marked by internal ethnic struggles. As you may know, this is not uncommon in post-colonial countries where administrative borders of former European powers were imposed on a locality and called a nation. It has, however, given rise to a particularly brutal military government. Forced and child labor as well as human trafficking are common, especially among military ‘officials’. While the military allows a parliament and political parties, they are heavily regulated and their influence is minimal. Further, without an independent judiciary, widespread and summary executions are commonplace in Burma/Myanmar.

Fast Facts:

- 1,300 political prisoners, including 18 members-of-parliament-elect are believed to still be held in Burma/Myanmar.

- While the National League for Democracy won over 60% of the vote and over 80% of parliamentary seats in the 1990 election and the military-backed National Unity Party won less than 2% of the seats, NLD-leader Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest while Senior General Than Shwe remained in power.

- Myanmar in ranked in the top 15 military spenders in the world, while it is ranked 66^th in GDP.

Learn More By Visiting:

- Amnesty International Country Profile

- BBC country profile

Take Action by:

- Contacting the US and UK Ambassadors to the UN in support of their recent draft resolution for the UN Security council to address the Human Rights and political concerns in Burma/Myanmar.

- And as before, contact the Media and your Representatives to raise their concern for our concerns.