Australia neglecting needs of IDPs in Eastern Burma

Australia neglecting needs of IDPs in Eastern Burma
Tuesday, 25 August 2009 16:36 By Sai Awn Tai

Australia is neglecting what the Australian people want and what the right thing to do is for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in eastern Burma, said Dr John Kaye, NSW Greens MP.

During the last week about 10,000 people from Shan State fled from their homes after the military attacked and burned down the villages.

Burma advocacy campaigners Nang Charm Tong and her colleagues from the Thai-Burma border have urged the Australian government to change its foreign aid policy to assist Shan, Karen and other ethnic IDPs.

[Nang Charm Tong]

Nang Charm Tong

They met Mr Bob McMullan, the parliamentary secretary for international development assistance on 19 August to press AusAid to change its policy.

“Mr McMullan was sympathized and said that he will talk with his government colleagues but the result is unlikely to come overnight.

“This is our first step on this advocacy campaigning. We will continue to lobby until the Australian government changes its cross-border aid policy,” said Charm Tong.

Australian foreign aid has increased from $A16 million to 29 million for Burma but none of this money will assist the IDPs and last year, only $A1.2 million went to refugees who live in refugee camps at the Thai-Burma border.

The Burmese community in Australia, surprised by the AusAid policy, has asked questions why the Australian government does not assist the cross-border people who urgently need assistance for health care and food.

“There appear to be strong links between the Australian government and the military regime,” said Paul Power, the Chief Executive Officer of Refugee Council of Australia.

“I would like to question the nature of cooperation between the Australian government and the government of Burma” he said.

“The Australian government is quite reluctant to provide aid assistance to the IDPs in eastern Burma saying it has to respect the sovereignty of Thailand and Burma. They are also worried about the risk factor on the ground if they provide cross-border assistance to the IDPs.”

“In addition, they want to focus the humanitarian assistance through Rangoon,” said Dr Myint Cho, the director of Australia Burma Campaign.

However, Dr John Kaye believes that AusAid can also fund cross-border programs to IDPs without affecting their programs already being funded in Burma.

“If we look at countries like Canada, Norway, Denmark and US who do give funds to IDPs, they have also continued to operate their programs through Rangoon without problems from the military regime,” he said.

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