Bloggers Unite for Human Rights : Burma

This post is made in support of Bloggers Unite on Human Rights.



This blog post hopes to make readers more aware of the humanitarian disaster that continues in Burma / Myanmar in the wake of the cyclone that hit that hit there during the first of May.

Burma / Myanmar is ruled by one of the most brutal and corrupt regimes in the world, a military regime that has refused to recognize the lawfully elected Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), who won 82 percent of the seats in elections held in 1990. The people of Burma have overwhelmingly rejected military rule yet the military continues to refuse to transfer power to Burma's democratically elected leaders.

The military is also responsible for:

• The widespread use of forced labor;
• Over 1 million people forced from their homes;
• At least 1100 political prisoners, many of whom are routinely tortured;
• As many as 70,000 child soldiers, which is more than any other country in the world.
• Rape as a weapon of war against ethnic women and children;
• Nearly half the government budget spent on the military and just 19p per person per year on health; and,
  
• One in ten babies die before their fifth birthday.

However, the worst crimes of the corrupt regime occurred during the first week May, when they did not evacuate or warm residents of Myanmar that a deadly cyclone was going to hit their country. The military leaders chose NOT to warn their countrymen that danger and death were coming ashore through the most populated area of their country.

Now, the military continue in their mission of genocide by refusing to let relief workers inside the country to help. They reroute relief aid where they want it and mark the supplies and medicines with their names and hand it out to their political supporters.

The Burmese military plan to go ahead with the constitutional referendum on May 24 in the devastated areas affected by Cyclone Nargis. Using aid supplies and medicines, the military is going to try to take by coercion what they could not take in legal elections.




The military regime continues to handicap any relief effort to help the people devastated by the cyclone. People are living in flood waters, surrounded by their dead, without food or drinking water. Please take action by donating what you can afford or by writing or calling your congress person and demanding action.

If you cannot do anything else, please pray for these people who are lost in a hell of nature and their government's making.

Tags: burma, myanmar, corruption, cyclone, genocide