Burma: The silence
The silence in which the drama of the Burmese people is allowed to unfold has made the international community an accomplice of impunity. The illegitimate regime of the Military Junta, which has governed the country with an iron fist since 1962 through the systematic breach of human rights, has made this paradise on earth into one of the worst hells ever known in the history of humanity. The civil war has forced ethnic minorities to fight the Military Junta’s regime just to survive. These minorities in Burma have fled for decades from the hunger, war and torture perpetrated by the regime.
In Thailand, the situation of the refugees is also very difficult. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that 112,000 Burmese refugees live in nine camps scattered along the border. Crowded together, with no possibilities of finding work or receiving a decent education, many of them are forced to become illegal employees, tantamount to slaves, at the mercy of local mafias in the factories and brothels of border towns. On the other side of the border, in Burma, the situation is even worse...