Asia

Much of our work in Asia focuses on Burma and ethnic minorities there who have been among the most severely affected by the rule of the current military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

The SPDC’s counterinsurgency program, the Four Cuts Policy, is targeted at ethnic minority communities of Burma, cutting off food, funding, supplies and information to contested areas. The cornerstone of the policy is forced relocation accompanied by widespread human rights abuses, including forced labor, crop and livestock destruction, torture, rape and extrajudicial execution.

As a result, hundreds of thousands of minorities are displaced within Burma and potentially more than two million people have fled to neighboring countries.

Since its inception, the Center has worked with ethnic nationalities and community-based groups from Burma's Karen, Karenni, Shan, Mon and Chin states. We also work on cross-border health initiatives on Burma's borders with Thailand, China and India. Because infectious diseases and other health threats are not restricted by arbitrary boundaries, we are forced to consider the impact of Burma’s failed health care system on the health of these neighboring populations.

Current activities include the MOM Project, Burma's Pro-democracy Movement, and the Nargis Archive Project.