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Burma
>> Regional Overview >> Burma Overview
Previous Years' Activities
2002 2001
Last updated: Wednesday, 29-May-2002 18:51:24 EDT
THE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE: U.S. Government foreign policy towards Burma seeks (1) progress toward democracy; (2) an improved human rights climate; and (3) more effective counternarcotics efforts. The U.S. also pursues a global strategic goal of preventing or minimizing the human costs of conflict and natural disasters.
Conditions in Burma continue to reflect the State Peace Council's (SPDC, formerly the State Law and Order Restoration Council or SLORC) struggle for political and military control of the country. Despite multiparty elections in 1990 that resulted in the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), winning a decisive victory, SPDC refused to hand over power. During most of the past decade, the SPDC has attempted to divide the NLD and weaken key opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi's authority as well as her reputation among members of the international community. However, in late 2000, the SPDC initiated talks with Aung San Suu Kyi that have led to the release of some political prisoners and reopening of some NLD offices in Rangoon and Mandalay. It is unclear if ongoing talks will lead to eventual transition to civilian rule.
More than 25% of the population subsists on less than $1 a day; infant mortality is 79 per 1000; an estimated 1.6 million Burmese people have fled fighting and poor economic conditions; another 1.5 million are internally displaced. The military believes it is the only institution capable of keeping Burma united as a single country, and that pluralism is destructive to national unity. It views economic progress, reform, and liberalization as secondary to the maintenance of political control. The military is now more powerful than it has ever been, due to an aggressive recruitment program, improved weaponry, and cease-fire agreements with several ethnic armies that have allowed troops to be concentrated in fewer areas.
The SPDC has signed cease-fire agreements with all but three armed insurgent groups representing the Shan, Karenni, and Karen ethnic groups. The army continues to scour the homelands of these people for resistance and forcibly relocate entire villages in its efforts to eliminate armed resistance. Extrajudicial killings, torture, forced labor, rape, and other abuses commonly occur in most ethnic states.
Economic policies pursued by the Burmese Government have resulted in a deteriorating social and economic situation. Approximately 13 million of Burma's 48 million people, more than 25% of the population, live below the subsistence level of $1 per day. Ten percent of Burmese children are severely malnourished, and 20% suffer nutritional deficits, according to a recent World Bank report.
As a result of ethnic fighting and deteriorating economic conditions in Burma, more than 1.6 million people have fled Burma and an estimated 1.5 million more remain inside Burma as internally displaced people. Of the population that fled Burma, approximately 155,000 reside in refugee camps in Thailand and Bangladesh and more than 800,000 live as illegal migrant workers in Thailand, Bangladesh, India, China, and Malaysia.
THE USAID PROGRAM: In FY 2002, USAID will devote $6.5 million to its Burma program and requests $6.5 million for FY 2003. USAID suspended assistance to Burma following the 1988 suppression of the pro-democracy movement. A FY 1993 earmark of $1 million reinstated USG assistance, initially through the Department of State's Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (State/DRL). Since 1998, USAID has co-funded and co-managed the Burma earmark with State/DRL. In FY 1999, 2000, and 2001, the Appropriation Act earmarked $6.5 million to support democracy in Burma and support for pro-democracy groups and refugees located outside Burma. This earmark was funded with $3 million in Development Assistance and Child Survival funds for humanitarian activities along the Burma-Thailand border, and $3.5 million in Economic Support Funds for pro-democracy activities. Humanitarian activities include improving primary healthcare and food security for refugees, and improving the quality of education that refugee children receive. Democracy activities support training and advocacy for transition to a democratic government in Burma.
ONGOING PROGRAMS FOR WHICH NO FY 2002 FUNDING IS REQUESTED: None.
OTHER PROGRAM ELEMENTS: The Department of State's Population, Refugee and Migration Program funds refugee assistance activities that complement USAID activities.
OTHER DONORS: The activities being funded under the earmark operate independently of the Burmese regime, but are coordinated with over 30 other donor agencies through either the Burma Donors Forum or the Coordinating Council for Support to Displaced Persons in Thailand. Bilateral donor programs that focus on humanitarian assistance to Burma and to Burmese Refugees include the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Multilateral donors with activities in Burma include the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Development Program, the World Food Program, and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
Program Data Sheets
- 482-002 Promote Democracy and Aid Burmese Refugees
Country Background Information Resources
CIA Factbook
Library of CongressNational Geographic Country Maps
State Dept. Country Information
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Last Updated on: May 29, 2002 |
