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2008

Burma: Activists say Myanmar forcing voters and neglecting aid
May 10, 2008 - (AlertNet) While international aid workers wait for visas to get into Myanmar, a week after a Cyclone Nargis killed tens of thousands and left a million homeless, rights activists criticise the military junta for harrying people to vote in a referendum aimed at cementing its grip on power.

Burma: $3 million requested by UNFPA to help women and girls displaced by Myanmar Cyclone
May 9, 2008 – (UNFPA) UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is appealing for $3 million to address the urgent humanitarian concerns of cyclone-affected populations, particularly women and girls, in Myanmar's Ayeyarwady and Yangon regions.

Fiji: Women to be represented in national peace and security matters
May 6, 2008 – (Fiji Government) The representation of women in all aspects of national peace and security matters is critical. In view of this, Cabinet has agreed that the Minister responsible for women, gender and development, be part of the National Security Council.

Burma: Military offensive affecting Karen children: KHRG - Saw
May 2, 2008 – (Irrawaddy) According to a 174-page report titled Growing up under Militarisation: Abuse and agency of children in Karen State, released on April 30 by Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), an estimated 15,000 Karen children are among the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living makeshift in the malaria-ridden jungles of eastern Burma.

Philippines: Congress urged to hasten passage of bill empowering women
May 2, 2008 - (GMA News) A government body for women’s advancement on Friday urged Congress to expedite the passage of a bill that aims to address gender biases and promote women’s empowerment in the country.

Malaysia: Gender Equality Group Presents MPs With Kits
May 1, 2008 – (The Star) THE Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) presented folder kits to the 222 MPs, asking them to look into the urgent reforms which needed to be addressed relating to gender equality.

Burma: Forgotten Burma
May 1, 2008 – (New Statesman) Pra Preecha is a refugee from Shan State in eastern Burma. Last September, when his fellow monks led 50,000 street protesters against the military government in Rangoon, the international media heralded a "saffron revolution". It seemed that one of the world's most brutal and insular regimes was about to crumble. But the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) clamped down hard on protesters and sympathisers - "scores, perhaps hundreds, of monks were abducted, tortured and killed", says Pra Preecha - and the moment for change passed.

Asia: The Economics of Violence
May 1, 2008 - (The Morung Express) The story looks good till you notice the underbelly of economic growth: unprecedented levels of inequality, violence, epidemics, congested roads, teeming slums, polluted rivers and failing democracies. The story looks good till you begin to hear the stories of dalits, tribals, ethnic minorities, women from the hinterlands of rural deprivation.

Philippines: A toast to Filipino women who did it 71 years ago today
April 30, 2008 - (Philippine Daily Inquirer) For 71 years ago, your right to participate in public and political affairs was given full recognition for the first time. It was the day when, through your firmness and determination to fight for your right and break the bondage of discrimination, you proved that there “exists a fundamental equality before the law between women and men.”

Burma: Myanmar (Burma) army raping with impunity, say Karen activists
April 24, 2008 - (Alertnert) Soldiers in eastern Myanmar are raping with impunity, according to a rights group. Their victims, villagers from the Karen minority, have reportedly included children and nuns.

Burma : INTERNATIONAL LAWYERS DENOUNCE ATTEMPT BY MYANMAR REGIME TO GIVE THEMSELVES IMMUNITY FROM CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS AND RENEW CALL FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
April 14, 2008 – (Global Justice Center) The Myanmar regime, guilty of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, has revealed that it is seeking to give itself constitutional immunity from prosecution for those crimes. The Burma Lawyers' Council, the Global Justice Center and the Burma Justice Committee denounce this attempt by the regime to avoid accountability.

Burma: Two Burmese Activists Receive International Award
April 8, 2008 – (Irrawaddy) Burmese human rights advocates Charm Tong and Khin Ohmar were honored on Monday by Vital Voices Global Partnership, a nonprofit group dedicated to the empowerment and advancement of women around the world.

Thailand: Kayan 'Giraffe Women' trapped in Thailand by tourist trade
April 8, 2008 – (The Times) Mu Lon was born into war, grew up in poverty and deprivation, and so the offer, when it came, was like the chance for a second life. She is Burmese, one of hundreds of thousands of people to have fled the 58-year-long civil war for exile in neighbouring Thailand. From the age of 5 she had lived as a stateless refugee, without hope or prospects. Then came an undreamt of opportunity — a fresh start in New Zealand, with education, housing, full citizenship and, above all, peace.

Burma: Girls threatened, asked to support draft constitution
April 7, 2008 – (Kaladan News) Local military junta authorities in Maungdaw Township , Arakan State are ordering Rohingya girls over 18 to support the new constitutional referendum in May. The directive comes with threats not to cast a ‘no’ vote, said a local schoolteacher.

CAMBODIA: Property Boom Forces Evictions of Urban Poor
April 4, 2008 - (IPS) Sitting in a wooden house in the urban poor community of Dei Krohome, Touch Ratha recounted a tale of intimidation, secrecy and the blurred line between police, government officials and the private company that she says has been trying to evict her and her neighbours.

Burma: Asia Tribune- 25 per cent of Burma’s Karenni State internally displaced
April 2, 2008 – (BurmaNet) Higher percentage of population displaced than in Sudan, Iraq, Uganda, Colombia or the Democratic Republic of Congo. Over one quarter of the Karenni population of eastern Burma has been forced from their homes due to years of military oppression, a figure expected to increase as militarisation of the state continues unabated, according to a new report from Burma Issues.

Burma: Daughter raped, mother beaten, villagers robbed
March 28, 2008 - (S.H.A.N) A Burma Army patrol had last week robbed villagers in Southern Shan State, where a girl was raped and her mother was beaten, according to local sources.

Malaysia: Hundreds of Burmese Migrants Rounded Up in Malaysia
March 24, 2008 – (Irrawaddy) The Burma Workers’ Rights Protection Committee (BWRPC) said the Burmese, who included individuals recognized by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), were among more than 500 undocumented migrants arrested in a RELA crackdown. They included some 200 Rohingya refugees, pregnant women and about 50 children who were participating in basic education classes organized by the UNHCR.

Burma: Off the radar
March 18, 2008 – (Guardian Unlimited) The generals also want to make people forget how little regard they have for human life. Burma remains among the worst violators of the international prohibition against child soldiers. In the border areas where armed conflict with ethnic groups continues, the army commits widespread summary executions and rapes and uses forced labour.

PHILIPPINES: Conflict IDPs in Mindanao face shortages
March 18, 2008 - (IRIN) Baikongan Ismail sits in a small airless schoolroom in Datu Piang, a mountain of plastic chairs piled behind her. The classroom has been home to her family of six for three months, ever since renewed armed hostilities between competing local clans, backed by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), forced them to evacuate their farm in Barangay Pandi in mid-December 2007.

Malaysia: Citizens Denied a Fair Vote
March 5, 2008 – (Human Rights Watch) Government restraints on expression, assembly and access to state media will deny Malaysians a fair vote in the March 8 general elections, Human Rights Watch said today

THAILAND: STOP FORCED RETURNS TO LAOS
March 5, 2008 – (Human Rights Watch) The Thai government should stop forcibly returning Hmong asylum seekers to Laos without independent monitoring or refugee screening, Human Rights Watch said today.

Burma: In Exile, Shah Paung Writes of Burma Struggle
February 29, 2008 - (WOMENSENEWS) Shah Paung, a reporter for a magazine that is the leading source of news about Burma, first remembers Burmese troops attacking her village when she was 5 years old.

Burma: Police Arrest 31 burmese illegal migrants
February 14, 2008 - (Irrawaddy) Thirty-one Burmese illegal migrants—including three children and 18 women—were arrested by Thai police on Feb 12 after smugglers transported them to Ranong Province in Thailand.

FIJI ISLANDS: A RESPONSE TO THE LAUNCH OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF BUILDING A BETTER FIJI TODAY
January 16, 2008 - (femLINKPACIFIC) The Interim Prime Minister / Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces’ willingness to consider establishing a specific working group to review the role of the military in Fiji as part of the process of the People’s Charter is a welcome move, and a positive indication of addressing and curbing the coup cycle culture in Fiji. It will also be an opportunity to review the security sector in Fiji and contribute to the desired conflict transformation process in Fiji says femLINKPACIFIC Coordinator, Sharon Bhagwan Rolls

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: HIGH RATE OF GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
January 16, 2008 - (The National) Studies conducted by the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) reveal an alarming rate of gender-based violence (GBV) cases.

Philippines: WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
January 10, 2008 - (Philippines Human Rights Reporting Project) This report on the human rights situation of 44 million Filipino women will attempt to show the status of women and judge the Philippine government’s success in enacting national laws enacted to protect women, as well as implementing those international instruments it has ratified towards gender equality and gender justice.

The framework of analysis will be based on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which the Philippines ratified in 1981. In August 2006, the Philippines reported to the CEDAW Committee and its Concluding Comments revealed the gaps in the fulfillment of women’s rights. Alongside CEDAW, the status of Filipino women will also be marked against the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and its time-bound benchmarks.

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