By SIMON ROUGHNEEN
BANGKOK—As the UN rapporteur on Burma restates a call for a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into human rights abuses in Burma, medical groups operating in the country's east say that rights abuses have contributed to a health crisis for women and children in the region.
A report, “Diagnosis: Critical Health and Human Rights in Eastern Burma,” said that general health for people in eastern Burma is much worse than the national average.
The document, which was released on Monday at a press conference in Bangkok, said abuses such as forced labor and displacement affected one-third of those surveyed and “serve as major drivers of the health crisis as children in displaced families were three times more likely to suffer from acute malnutrition and 60 percent more likely of suffering from diarrhea.”
In a startling finding, the report said that the odds of children dying before age one were doubled in households forced to provide labor to the Burmese military in the preceding year.
The army's “four cuts” policy was developed in the 1970 to undermine ethnic militia groups, often by targeting civilians. The tactics used include cutting off access to food, funds, information and recruits, with often devastating results.
One-third of all households surveyed have experienced some form of human rights abuse, according to the report authors.
Charm Tong of the Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN) said that “systematic rape and human rights abuses continue, which furthers the health crisis.” An estimated 446,000 people have been driven from their homes in eastern Burma, where they are forced to eke out a living in the regions' dense jungles.
The report is based on research carried out with 27,000 respondents in 21 townships across Karen, Karenni, Mon, and southern Shan states, as well as the Tenassirim region of Burma. It was undertaken by The Burma Medical Association, the National Health and Education Committee, Back Pack Health workers, with support from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.
The military regime's low public health expenditure means that ordinary people have to pay for basic healthcare, which is often impossible as the average Burmese household allocates around 70 percent of their budget to food alone.
Children and women are particularly vulnerable to the impact of human rights-related health problems, according to the report, which said that among those surveyed, “40 percent of children suffer from malnutrition and 60 percent die from preventable disease. One in 14 women is infected with malaria, one of the highest rates of infection in the world.”
All told, infant mortality figures are equivalent to African warzones such as the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo or parts of Sudan, said Nai Aye Lwin of the Backpack Health Worker Team.
The report said that “one in seven children in eastern Burma will die before age five, almost double Burma’s official figures, which are amongst the worst in the world.” The maternal mortality rate in eastern Burma is 721 per 100,000 live births, compared with a national rate of 240, both far from the UN Millennium Development Goal target of 50, which Thailand has met.
The health crisis in eastern Burma has ramifications for neighboring countries, according to Dr. Sriprapha Petcharamesree of Thailand’s Mahidol University, who is Thailand's representative to the Asean Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission. She said that “these realities are not confined to Myanmar [Burma] alone as the burden of these abusive policies is borne by members of Asean and beyond.”
Dr. Voravit Suwanvanichkij, who works with the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Public Health and Human Rights in Chiang Mai, said that “90 percent of Thailand's malaria cases occur along the border areas with Burma,” another illustration of how Thailand is adversely affected by human rights abuses inside Burma .
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva visited Burma last week to discuss trade and investment issues, according to official statements, amid concerns that Thailand would seek to repatriate refugees and Burmese opposition figures after the Nov. 7 election.
However the health and human rights situation in affected regions could get worse in the near term, as ethnic groups are bracing themselves for fighting in the weeks leading up to and after the election, with an mutual defense alliance formed by six ethnic militias, which will be activated in the event of one of them being attacked by the Tatmadaw.
“One-quarter of the Burma Army is now stationed in Shan State,” said Charm Tong, who said that a new railway being built there is designed to facilitate troop movement and supply.
BANGKOK—As the UN rapporteur on Burma restates a call for a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into human rights abuses in Burma, medical groups operating in the country's east say that rights abuses have contributed to a health crisis for women and children in the region.
A report, “Diagnosis: Critical Health and Human Rights in Eastern Burma,” said that general health for people in eastern Burma is much worse than the national average.
The document, which was released on Monday at a press conference in Bangkok, said abuses such as forced labor and displacement affected one-third of those surveyed and “serve as major drivers of the health crisis as children in displaced families were three times more likely to suffer from acute malnutrition and 60 percent more likely of suffering from diarrhea.”
In a startling finding, the report said that the odds of children dying before age one were doubled in households forced to provide labor to the Burmese military in the preceding year.
The army's “four cuts” policy was developed in the 1970 to undermine ethnic militia groups, often by targeting civilians. The tactics used include cutting off access to food, funds, information and recruits, with often devastating results.
One-third of all households surveyed have experienced some form of human rights abuse, according to the report authors.
Charm Tong of the Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN) said that “systematic rape and human rights abuses continue, which furthers the health crisis.” An estimated 446,000 people have been driven from their homes in eastern Burma, where they are forced to eke out a living in the regions' dense jungles.
The report is based on research carried out with 27,000 respondents in 21 townships across Karen, Karenni, Mon, and southern Shan states, as well as the Tenassirim region of Burma. It was undertaken by The Burma Medical Association, the National Health and Education Committee, Back Pack Health workers, with support from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.
The military regime's low public health expenditure means that ordinary people have to pay for basic healthcare, which is often impossible as the average Burmese household allocates around 70 percent of their budget to food alone.
Children and women are particularly vulnerable to the impact of human rights-related health problems, according to the report, which said that among those surveyed, “40 percent of children suffer from malnutrition and 60 percent die from preventable disease. One in 14 women is infected with malaria, one of the highest rates of infection in the world.”
All told, infant mortality figures are equivalent to African warzones such as the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo or parts of Sudan, said Nai Aye Lwin of the Backpack Health Worker Team.
The report said that “one in seven children in eastern Burma will die before age five, almost double Burma’s official figures, which are amongst the worst in the world.” The maternal mortality rate in eastern Burma is 721 per 100,000 live births, compared with a national rate of 240, both far from the UN Millennium Development Goal target of 50, which Thailand has met.
The health crisis in eastern Burma has ramifications for neighboring countries, according to Dr. Sriprapha Petcharamesree of Thailand’s Mahidol University, who is Thailand's representative to the Asean Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission. She said that “these realities are not confined to Myanmar [Burma] alone as the burden of these abusive policies is borne by members of Asean and beyond.”
Dr. Voravit Suwanvanichkij, who works with the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Public Health and Human Rights in Chiang Mai, said that “90 percent of Thailand's malaria cases occur along the border areas with Burma,” another illustration of how Thailand is adversely affected by human rights abuses inside Burma .
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva visited Burma last week to discuss trade and investment issues, according to official statements, amid concerns that Thailand would seek to repatriate refugees and Burmese opposition figures after the Nov. 7 election.
However the health and human rights situation in affected regions could get worse in the near term, as ethnic groups are bracing themselves for fighting in the weeks leading up to and after the election, with an mutual defense alliance formed by six ethnic militias, which will be activated in the event of one of them being attacked by the Tatmadaw.
“One-quarter of the Burma Army is now stationed in Shan State,” said Charm Tong, who said that a new railway being built there is designed to facilitate troop movement and supply.
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