Ethnic minorities and indigenous people policy and rights

In a race against deadlines set by the nationwide ceasefire agreement, negotiators for eight ethnic armed groups, the government and political parties have agreed on a partial draft text of a framework for political dialogue. However, some important issues have not been decided on, such as ...

Hard-line nationalist Buddhist monk U Wirathu has revealed that his Committee for the Protection of Race and Religion, known as Ma Ba Tha, is providing aid to displaced Christians in war-ravaged Kachin State. Ma Ba Tha said it had donated K6 million for internally displaced persons ...

Myanmar’s new government to be formed by the National League for Democracy will support the nationwide ceasefire process, senior party officials on 26 November assured five ethnic armed groups that signed the pact last month with President U Thein Sein. Leaders of the five groups met the officials ...

A Muslim publisher and four others have been detained in Insein Prison for attempting to produce a calendar containing quotes from government officials in the 1950s and 1960s using the term “Rohingya”. The calendar contains quotes from speeches by former prime minister U Nu and other ...

The Myanmar government’s chief ceasefire negotiator has indicated that the ethnic armed groups that refused to sign last month’s nationwide ceasefire agreement still have a chance of being included in the process leading up to political dialogue. His remarks indicated a shift in government policy to ...

A spokesperson for President Thein Sein took to social media on 21 November to reject recommendations that Rohingya Muslims be granted a path to citizenship. The minister’s comments were made in the wake of the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review, a comprehensive human rights examination comprising recommendations from ...

Among its many victories in the 8 November election, the National League for Democracy won the seat of the minister for ethnic Kayan people in Shan State. The incoming minister, U Khun Aye Maung, says now things are going to change. Known to the world’s tourists ...

Myanmar’s political parties will meet on 21 November to select 16 representatives to take the lead on the peace process, but it remains unclear how they will be chosen. The 16 will sit on the 48-member Union Political Dialogue Joint Committee, which is drafting the framework ...

Ethnic political leaders are concerned over their marginal collective role in Myanmar’s next Parliament, with the majority of ethnic parties enjoying few gains in 8 November’s general election. “It’s like we have been hit by a tsunami,” said Sai Aung Myint Khaing, a central committee member of ...

A bomb blast at a village checkpoint in Thailand’s far south killed four people and wounded four others, police said on 13 November, in the latest deadly attack to strike the insurgency-plagued region. The bomb exploded late on 12 November evening in Khok Pho district of Pattani, ...