Founded in May of 1999, BHM has successfully made several medical missions to remote Karen hill-tribe villages in eastern Burma. In January through March, 2001 we delivered a year’s supply of medicine and medical supplies for roughly ten thousand people. This included funding and stipends for six backpacking medics. These medics travel from village to village and live with the Karen. They provide a variety of services, including: preventative medicine, midwifery, pediatric care, and trauma-oriented medical care. Our missions were photo-documented, and are available for slide-show presentations. Some of these images can also be viewed on our website: www.burmamission.org. The slide presentation focuses on the plight of the Karen and our efforts to assist them by providing medical care. It also relates some of the political history of Burma. With the generous support of Witness, we brought a small video crew on our 2001 mission and recorded over 60 hours of video and audio footage in Karen villages. These recordings document our mission and consist of interviews with villagers and medics—many of whom are victims of extreme human rights abuses. We also have footage of medical treatments, historical information, and cultural elements depicting the texture and richness of traditional Karen art, music and dancing.
Burma is controlled by one of the most brutal military regimes in the world: Governments and international organizations across the political spectrum are outraged by the extreme human rights abuses committed by the SPCD, the military regime that currently rules Burma. The U.S. State Department, the U.N. General Assembly, Commission on Human Rights and International Labor Organization, the European Parliament, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch Asia have all condemned the SPDC. In 2000, the International Labor Organization voted for sanctions against Burma-- the first time in ILO history that such sanctions have been placed against any country. The following paragraph is excerpted from the 2000 U.S. State Department Report on Burma.
Since September 1988, when the armed forces brutally suppressed massive prodemocracy demonstrations, a junta composed of senior military officers has ruled by decree, without a constitution or legislature...Since 1988 the junta has more than doubled the size of the armed forces, from about 175,000 to more than 400,000 men, and has increased the Government's military presence throughout the country, especially in ethnic minority areas…Control is buttressed by arbitrary restrictions on citizens' contacts with foreigners, surveillance of government employees and private citizens, harassment of political activists, intimidation, arrest, detention, and physical abuse…Members of the security forces committed numerous, serious human rights abuses… There continued to be many credible reports that security forces subjected ordinary citizens to harassment and physical abuse. The military forces routinely confiscate property, cash, and food, and use coercive and abusive recruitment methods to procure porters. Those persons forced into porterage or other labor faced extremely difficult conditions, and beatings and mistreatment that sometimes resulted in death… For decades successive military regimes have applied a strategy of forced relocation against ethnic minority groups seeking autonomy; these forcible relocations continue, particularly alongside the Thai border. Thousands of villagers continue to flee or be driven from their homes, where they come to struggle in makeshift forest shelters without adequate food, security, or basic medical care--frequently in heavily mined areas. In a December 1999 Karen Human Rights Group report, Karen villagers said that the army and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), an armed ethnic group allied with the Government, frequently enter villages together, demanding money, food, and other favors. Those persons unable to deliver may be killed, beaten, subjected to forced labor, or raped. (www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/eap/index.cfm?docid=678)
The SPDC also exploit the natural resources of Burma. They have sold off the rainforests to clear-cut loggers, plotted oil and gas pipelines through mangrove forests, and have plans to dam the Salween river which has already displaced entire villages. If this project continues it will impact many thousands of people. All these factors have caused hundreds of thousands of people to flee into Thailand.
The World Health Organization ranked Burma 190 out of 191 countries in its 2000 World Health Report. The international condemnation against the SPDC has been strong, and thus many corporations are avoiding doing business in Burma. Some U.S. corporations, such as UNOCAL are profiting off of the forced labor and lack of environmental protection in Burma; however, "No New Business in Burma" legislation in the U.S. and the more recent ILO sanctions cuts the SPDC off from a lot funding from the outside world. This is considered an effective and peaceful strategy for undermining the power of SPDC; however, many humanitarian agencies that would help the people of Burma have been kept out as well. The SPDC provides no medical support to the Karen and effectively blocks care coming from the outside world.
The Karen live in eastern Burma in the mountains between Burma and Thailand. The SPDC subjects Karen villagers to forced labor, systematic destruction of villages and crops, forced relocation, pipeline construction, extortion, looting, arbitrary detention, torture, sexual assault and summary executions. Often living in hiding, many Karen people no longer have access to their food crops and traditional medicine. People live without access to clean water or basic public health services, precipitating the spread of malaria, HIV, typhoid and tuberculosis. Forced into hiding, the Karen often live in areas which have malarial strains that are among the most virulent in the world.
Each year, we visit the border regions and determine which areas in eastern Burma have the most critical medical need. Then we sponsor Karen backpacking field medics to go into those areas and administer medicine. The medics travel surreptitiously into remote villages, risking their lives to provide medical care. We work to support the backpacking medics by providing year round funding for medicines, supplies, travel, and their most basic personal needs. There are currently six areas in Karen territory we are committed to assisting. Additionally, we invite U.S. Burma activists to travel to the border with us (we pay their own travel expenses) in order to learn. At the request of the Karen, we have also held computer and internet trainings.
Our Goals:
Provide medicine and supplies for the Karen people and other ethnic groups who are struggling for their lives and freedom in Burma.
Share our technical and medical knowledge with the Karen to empower them to realize their goals of stability, health and democracy in their country.
Use public slide and multimedia presentations and web-based activism to tell the stories of the Karen. We are currently seeking funding for the production of a low-budget documentary video on the Karen to raise public awareness and support in the U.S. Funds procured for this production are separate from the money raised for medicine; however, we do need funding for both.
Contact us:
Burma Humanitarian Mission
530 58th St Unit B
Oakland, CA 94609
510-597-1363
www.burmamission.org
About EarthWays | Founder's Letter | Our Projects
S.E.E. Projects | Current Events | World Festival
Advisors | Contact Us | Join EarthWays | Home
