A Chinese-backed hydroelectric dam in Burma is stalled for now but has already displaced thousands of ethnic Kachin. Its completion threatens a fragile ecosystem and a peace agreement with the rebels.
10,000 Rohingya refugees live in swampy marshlands of Bangladesh that are little better than sewers. Back home in Burma this Muslim community fares even worse.
Deep in the hills of northern Burma’s Kachin State, a civil war grinds on between government forces and Kachin rebels, calling into question the more conciliatory signals emanating from the capital..
The Pulitzer Center is proud to announce the publication of its first iBook “In Search of Home," an exploration of statelessness in Kenya, Burma, and the Dominican Republic.
The Rohingya flee human rights abuses in Burma, only to be denied refugee status in Bangladesh.
Denied citizenship by their homeland, Burma, and undocumented and unrecognized as refugees in Bangladesh, the Rohingya remain a stateless people.
Labor recruiters or "brokers" help Burmese migrants cross the border into Thailand. Once here, migrants work long hours under harsh conditions to repay the brokers.
Patrick Kelly, for the Pulitzer Center
Mr. Nomin clears his throat to translate. "He says it is a biblical concept that the first crop must be given in this way. In Kachin culture we also have a traditional Thanksgiving." The pastor smiles politely, hands folded behind his back. "All year we plant everything we need so we bring our crops to church and praise God. Here we bring together our strength and what we have as a people. Traditionally in Kachin, we call it Nlung Nnan Sha Poi - the first rice festival."
The Oct. 31 deadline for the ethnic cease-fire groups in Burma to disarm has passed quietly in the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) capital of Laiza.
Observers are focused now on the ongoing KIO-junta negotiations.
After the junta rejected all nine negotiation proposals submitted by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the KIO has changed its negotiation tactics.
The car came to an abrupt stop. "Get out," the driver said. My friend and partner in journalism Tim Patterson and I stumbled in the moonless night through an uneven, bulldozed field toward the sound of a river. When we reached the river, we crossed a creaky bamboo footbridge and scrambled up a loose-dirt hill to an older SUV with its lights off.
"Welcome to Free Kachin," our contact said, smiling broadly.
The car came to an abrupt stop. "Get out," the driver said.
My friend and partner in journalism Tim Patterson and I stumbled in the moonless night through an uneven, bulldozed field toward the sound of a river. When we reached the river, we crossed a creaky bamboo footbridge and scrambled up a loose-dirt hill to an older SUV with its lights off.
"Welcome to Free Kachin," our contact said, smiling broadly.
Tim Patterson, for the Pulitzer Center (Photo by Ryan Libre)
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