The Irrawaddy
Savings spare women from labor in Myanmar
Ma Nwe places a rock the size of a baseball at her feet, then tightens the string holding her bamboo hat in place. “I can’t risk it falling off,” she explained, squinting in the sun. “It’s only going to get hotter as the day goes ...
As catch and sales fall, Myanmar’s fishermen sink into debt
On a recent afternoon, the beach at Jatetaw village was bustling with fishermen hauling their boats a shore and off loading the catch. Local women carried the fish off in bamboo baskets and laid them out to dry in the sun, after which they would ...
Reporter killed in Sagaing Division
The Monywa Central Police Station has confirmed that local reporter Ko Soe Moe Tun of Eleven Media Group was beaten to death with a wooden stick, his body discovered early Tuesday morning. Ko Soe Moe Tun, 36, a Monywa-based EMG journalist was found dead and ...
Report: prison reforms must respect human rights
Prison reforms currently being considered in Myanmar fall short of meeting international human rights standards, Amnesty International said on November 10. New draft prison legislation represents a significant improvement on laws currently in effect that are more than a century old, but it still fails to ...
Tata Tea project fails to protect Indian workers
A World Bank investigation into a tea plantation project in India that it jointly finances with tea giant Tata Global Beverages has found that it has failed to tackle alleged abuses of impoverished workers, the group said on November 9. The International Finance Corporation—a member ...
Myanmar’s disappointing new investment law
A new investment law has been rushed through Burma’s Parliament, with the Upper House giving its approval on October 6. According to the Myanmar Investment Commission, the law is expected to take effect soon. Earth Rights International and other civil society groups are concerned that the ...
Aid delegation meets displaced Arakan State communities
A delegation from the United Nations, led by the under-secretary general of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, visited displaced communities outside of the Arakan State capital of Sittwe on October 14. Reporters from The Irrawaddy accompanied Stephen O’Brien, who also serves as ...
Production slowing at Wa Tin mine
Output from a mysterious Myanma tin mine that has disrupted the global market in the metal is falling sharply and deposits could be depleted in “two to three years,” senior mine officials told Reuters. A surprise discovery of large quantities of tin has propelled the formerly ...
Giant jade stone uncovered in Kachin State
A giant jade stone estimated to weigh 210 tons was uncovered in the jade mining hub of Hpakant in Kachin State last week and is now being guarded by police. “We can say it is the largest piece of jade ever unearthed in Myanmar,” confirmed U ...
Mongla: ‘the wildlife trafficking capital of the world’
Mongla lies on the border of the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in southwestern China and Shan State in northeastern Myanmar. Situated in the heart of the Golden Triangle, the city is known among other sad epithets as the wildlife trafficking capital of the world and for drugs, gambling, ...
