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Month: January 2025

Myanmar junta blocks military-aged men from work abroad

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Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese. Myanmar’s junta has banned employment agencies from sending military aged men abroad as it struggles with a growing civil war while promising to extend peace and stability for an election that it hopes will bolster its legitimacy. Millions of Myanmar people have gone abroad to work, many through arrangements it has with other governments, organized by employment agencies. While the overseas workers are an important source of income for the junta that seized power in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021, the military is also keen to fill the ranks of its armed forces as it battles ethnic minority insurgents and allied pro-democracy fighters. Nearly a year after the junta enforced a conscription law, began recruiting women and arresting young men to serve, it has sought to block prospective soldiers from travelling abroad for work, representatives of employment agencies told Radio Free Asia on Friday. “Starting today, people between the ages of 18 and 35 will no longer be eligible for the OWIC,” an official at a Yangon-based oversea employment agency told Radio Free Asia, referring to the Overseas Worker Identification Card, issued by the Ministry of Labor, which everyone hoping to work abroad must obtain. “The restriction does not apply to women yet, only males between the ages of 18 and 35,” the official said, referring to a ministry order to stop issuing the cards. RFA tried to telephone the junta’s spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Htun, to ask about the policy, but he did not answer. Minister of Labor Nyan Win also declined to comment and referred RFA to Zaw Min Htun. The ruling military extended a state of emergency for another six months on Friday saying more needed to be done to ensure peace and stability for a successful general election. No date has been set for an election, which anti-junta forces have dismissed as a sham. The constitution mandates that an election must be held within six months after a state of emergency is lifted. RELATED STORIES Myanmar aid groups struggle with freeze as UN warns of ‘staggering’ hunger Tide of Myanmar war refugees tests Thailand’s welcome mat for migrants Myanmar junta prepares to send migrant workers to Russia in 2025 In December, junta authorities ordered job agencies to add a clause in migrant workers’ contracts stating they could be called home for military service. One young man hoping to get a job through an agency to work in Thailand – where about 1.8 million Myanmar workers are officially employed and many more work unofficially – was despondent about his chances. “I already signed a contract with the agency and put a deposit down,” said the 25-year-old who declined to be identified. Another employment agency employee said migrant workers who come home for a visit could be banned from going back to their jobs abroad. “Some people might come back without studying the situation here … They won’t be given permission to go abroad again,” said the agency staffer, who also declined to be identified. Under Myanmar’s Military Service Enactment Law, anyone summoned for military service, as well as anyone who manages to postpone their service, are not allowed to travel to go abroad. Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Thousands of ‘Terrorism Suspects’ on ‘Shanghai List’ Include Uyghur Children, Elderly

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>>> See the special page here. May 11, 2021 The recently leaked document provides new insight into how China characterizes extremist threats. More than three quarters of the names on a recently leaked Chinese government list of some 10,000 “suspected terrorists” are ethnic Uyghurs, while the document includes hundreds of minors and the elderly, providing rare insight into how Beijing characterizes threats it has used to lock up more than a million people. In 2020, a group of Australian hackers obtained the list, which was culled from more than 1 million surveillance records compiled by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau “Technology Division” and, after vetting it for authenticity, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) published it last month. The PSB unit is responsible for building databases and “image, wireless, and wired communication systems,” according to ABC, and experts say it most likely determines who should be placed on watchlists and further investigated as potential threats to the state. Most of the entries on the document, which RFA’s Uyghur Service has obtained a copy of and refers to as the “Shanghai List,” include dates of birth, places of residence, ID numbers, ethnicity, and gender of the individuals, nearly all of whom are referred to as “suspected terrorists,” although some are identified as having “created disturbances.” More than 7,600 of the people listed on the document are ethnic Uyghurs, while the rest are mostly Kazakh and Kyrgyz, fellow Turkic Muslims. The list, which analysts believe was compiled in 2018 at the latest, contains entries for individuals from all walks of life in Uyghur society, including ordinary citizens, children as young as five and six years old, senior citizens in their 80s, and Uyghurs who have lived and traveled abroad, as well as Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) who have never been abroad before. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Myanmar aid groups struggle with freeze as UN warns of ‘staggering’ hunger

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MAE SOT, Thailand – Groups helping victims of Myanmar’s turmoil are struggling to provide assistance after the U.S. put a 90-day freeze on nearly all foreign aid, one organization said on Thursday, as the U.N. warned of looming hunger five years after the military ousted an elected government. More than 3.5 million people have been displaced in Myanmar due to war between a junta that seized power in 2021, which is backed by China and sanctioned by Western governments, and a loose alliance of pro-democracy and ethnic minority groups battling to end military rule. In the 2024 fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, the U.S. provided $141 million in humanitarian aid to Myanmar, much of which is channeled through groups working on the Thai-Myanmar border. The U.S. State Department on Friday announced the freeze on nearly all aid in order to give the State Department time to review programs “to ensure they are efficient and consistent with U.S. foreign policy under the America First agenda.” In the days since, stop-work orders have been sent by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, to implementing partners ranging from media organizations to clinics. One aid worker, who declined to be identified, said about 20 relief groups providing healthcare with USAID assistance along the Thai-Myanmar border were at risk of being suspended. Nai Aue Mon, program director of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland group,which documents human rights violations, said communication and travel costs, salaries and stipends would be hit. “To be honest, it’s widespread, it’s huge,” Nai Aue Mon said of the impact of the aid freeze on humanitarian groups in areas under the administration of the anti-junta Karen National Union in Kayin state and to the south in Mon state, affecting thousands of people. “It significantly impacts those groups … nearly every organization is more or less impacted by this executive order.” Groups might have some funds in reserve and were scrambling for other sources of donations but the outlook was grim, he said. “As far as I know, my organization, we still have some resources but we don’t know after that,” Nai Aue Mon said. “We’re definitely struggling a lot.” RELATED STORIES China undermines its interests by boosting support for Myanmar’s faltering junta Tide of Myanmar war refugees tests Thailand’s welcome mat for migrants Thailand to try to fill the gap Some 100,000 ethnic Karen people from eastern Myanmar war zones have lived in camps on the Thai side for decades and people fleeing more recent repression in Myanmar’s towns and cities have also sought shelter on the border. Refugee camp hospitals were having to discharge patients because health workers had been suspended from duties, a health worker speaking on the condition of anonymity for security reasons told RFA. Thailand will help fill the gap in funding for the camps on its soil, at least for the time being, a government minister said, according to The Bangkok Post. “We cannot abandon or chase them away since they have lived here in the camps for a long time,” Thai Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin told the newspaper. “We cannot just talk about refugees who have been affected … All kinds of healthcare and assistance must be provided to other groups of people who live in this country.” The freeze in U.S. aid comes as Myanmar is spiraling into a humanitarian crisis, aid groups say. “A staggering 15 million people are expected to face hunger in 2025, up from 13.3 million last year,” the World Food Programme said in a report on Wednesday. Almost 20 million people, or nearly one in three people in Myanmar, will need humanitarian assistance in 2025, the U.N. food agency said. “Growing conflict across the country, access restrictions, a crumbling economy and successive weather-related crises are driving record levels of hunger,” said the WFP Country Director Michael Dunford. “The world cannot afford to overlook Myanmar’s escalating crisis. Without immediate and increased international support, hundreds of thousands more will be pushed to the brink.” Edited by RFA Staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Freeze to US aid hits Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar hard

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On the Thai-Myanmar border, sick patients are being sent home from hospital. In Laos, school meals have been interrupted. And in Cambodia, hundreds of staff at the agency responsible for clearing land mines have been furloughed. The U.S. State Department on Friday in Myanmar due to AIDS, and testing and treatment programs have allowed hundreds of thousands to access antiretrovirals as well as lower the likelihood of contracting the virus in the first place. On Tuesday, the Trump administration issued a waiver permitting distribution of HIV medications, but this does not appear to restart broader preventative programs. In Bangladesh, where more than 1 million Rohingya who fled violence in Myanmar live in that has sent the cost of food and other basic goods skyrocketing. In Houaphan, which is one of the poorest provinces in the country, a school meals program has already had to scale back, according to a teacher who spoke to RFA on the condition of anonymity. Cambodia Like Laos, Cambodia still struggles with the legacies of decades of conflict as unexploded ordnance continues to maim and kill. The U.S. halt on funding demining programs is likely to set the government back in its goal to be mine-free by the end of the year. Chok Sopheap, then-executive director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, delivers a speech to mark International Women’s Day, March 8, 2023, in Phnom Penh.(Heng Sinith/AP) Heng Kimhong, executive director of the Cambodian Youth Network, said that the suspension of U.S. government assistance would reduce some of its activities related to youth empowerment and the ability to protect natural resources. A USAID fact sheet issued last year noted that deforestation contributed heavily to climate change in Cambodia, which is considered particularly prone to natural disaster. Still, Heng Kimhong said he was “optimistic” funding would be restored as the U.S. is “not a country that only thinks about itself,” he said. “The United States is a country that protects and ensures the promotion of maintaining world order, building democracy, as well as building better respect for human rights.” Tibet Tibet’s government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration, or CTA, represents the Tibetan diaspora and administers schools, health centers and government services for Tibetan exiles in India and Nepal. Several sources speaking on the condition of anonymity told RFA that the suspension affects programs run by the CTA, the Tibetan Parliament and a range of Tibet-related non-governmental organizations, raising concerns over the continuity of key welfare programs supporting Tibetans outside of China. An upcoming preparatory meeting for the Parliament-in-Exile was postponed as a result of the funding pause, sources told RFA. “The directive applies uniformly to all foreign aid recipients. Since Tibetan aid has been secured through congressional support and approval, efforts are underway to work with the State Department and relevant agencies to expedite the review and approval process for continued assistance,” Namgyal Choedup, the representative of the Office of Tibet in Washington, told RFA. A person holds an “Aid Tibet” sticker before a press conference to highlight the plight of Tibetans, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on March 28, 2023.(Stefani Reynolds/AFP) Various Tibetan NGOs and activist groups based in India expressed their concerns about the impact of the freeze in foreign assistance programs and said they hoped it would be soon lifted. Gonpo Dhondup, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress, emphasized the importance of U.S. aid for the Tibetan freedom movement and community stability. Tsering Dolma, president of the Tibetan Women’s Association, said assistance has been crucial for maintaining the exile Tibetan community. “Despite the 90-day suspension, I hope an alternative arrangement can be made to ensure continued U.S. support,” Tashi, a Tibetan resident in Dharamsala, told RFA. North Korea While the U.S. has long banned providing aid to the North Korean government, it has been a supporter of North Korean human rights organizations. Such programs help with global advocacy efforts on behalf of those living inside the closed nation, and also support refugees abroad. A representative from a North Korean human rights organization, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said the group received the stop-work order from their U.S. funders Saturday and requested an exemption waiver. “We will not be able to pay staff salaries, making furloughs or contract terminations inevitable. Backpay is also impossible because providing backpay would imply that employees worked during that period.” Ji Chul-ho, a North Korean escapee who is the director of external relations at the South Korea-based rights organization NAUH, told RFA he worried about the longer term impacts of such a pause. “While this is said to be a temporary suspension of grant expenditures, I worry that it will lead to a reduction in North Korean human rights activities and make it harder for various organizations to raise their voices collectively,” he said. Sean Kang, co-founder of the Ohio-based North Korea Human Rights Watch, told RFA a funding pause was hugely disruptive. “U.S. government projects related to North Korea require meticulous planning and scheduling, maintaining security, and being carried out cautiously over the medium to long term,” he said. “A three-month [pause] in such projects can cause significant disruptions, and if funding is ultimately canceled, all the efforts made so far could be wasted, leading to an even greater loss.” Reporting by RFA Burmese, RFA Khmer, RFA Korean, RFA Lao, and RFA Tibetan. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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About 5,000 people displaced by war return to Myanmar border town

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last month for the arrest of the junta chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, in connection with the 2017 violence. The United Nations Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar has also vowed to investigate abuses by the AA. Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Moveable feasts: Asia offers many ways – and dates – to celebrate the New Year

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Hundreds of millions of people in China and other parts of East Asia are on the move this week to celebrate New Year’s with family gatherings, feasts and traditional activities honoring ancestors and hoping to bring good fortune. Colloquially known as “Chinese New Year,” the Lunar New Year falls on Jan. 29 this year, but it can come as early as Jan. 21 or as late as Feb. 20. In 2026, the holiday falls on Feb. 17. The variation is the result of using a lunar calendar based on the phases of the moon, modified into a lunisolar calendar that addresses leap years to keep it roughly in line with the solar year of the Western, or Gregorian, calendar. Most East Asian nations adopted the Gregorian calendar in the late 19th or early 20th centuries, and the lunisolar calendar is used for cultural events, religious ceremonies, and for some people, birthdays. A Chinese woman lights a prayer candle during a service at Dhanagun Vihara in Bogor, West Java, Jan. 28, 2025, on the eve of the Lunar New Year of the Snake.(ADITYA AJI, Aditya Aji/AFP) The reason “Chinese New Year” is a misnomer is that the holiday is also observed on the same date in South Korea and Vietnam –- two neighbors of China that were heavily influenced by Chinese culture centuries ago. Like China, they will ring in the Year of the Snake on Wednesday. In South Korea, the holiday is called Seollal and features a return to hometowns, the wearing of traditional hanbok attire, playing folk games, and performing rites and offering food to deceased relatives to honor the family lineage. Young people bow deeply before their elders and receive gifts and money, and rice cake soup is a main treat for the holiday, which is a three-day affair. Kim Dynasty and Tet North Korea, separated from the South in the wake of World War II in a division cemented by the 1950-53 Korean War, returned to the practice of celebrating the Lunar New Year in 1989, and made it an official holiday in 2003. But the most important holidays in North Korea focus on the birthdates of founder Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il, the father of current leader Kim Jong Un. Even Lunar New Year is observed mainly by visits to statues of the two elder Kims. Tibetan women prepare for a ritual dance as they celebrate the Losar, or Tibetan New Year in Kathmandu, Nepal, Feb. 23, 2023.(Bikram Rai/AP) The ceremony Monlam (“Wish Path”) held at major monasteries of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism entails monks chanting and praying to bring peace and good fortune to their Himalayan region. The Uyghurs of the Xinjiang region, annexed by China in 1949-50, celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year. It falls on or near the Spring Equinox and will be observed on March 20 this year. The holiday is observed by various ethnic groups in countries along the Silk Road, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Iraq, central Asian states and Turkey. For the Uyghurs, facing repression under Chinese rule and heavy-handed assimilation policies, there is a strong emphasis on preserving cultural identity through gatherings, feasts of special food, music and dance. RELATED STORIES Cash-strapped Chinese take the slow train home for Lunar New Year China swamped with respiratory infections ahead of Lunar New Year travel rush In song and dance, Uyghurs forced to celebrate Lunar New Year Splashing water, Buddhist rites In Southeast Asia, while Vietnam follows the Chinese-inspired calendar and traditions, the traditionally Buddhist nations of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar mark the solar new year in mid-April, when the sun enters the sign of Aries the Ram. Revelers take part in mass water fights on the first day of Songkran, or Thai New Year, in Bangkok on April 13, 2024.(Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP) The people of Myanmar celebrate the Burmese New Year, called Thingyan, or Water Festival, by throwing buckets of water on each other and on Buddha images as an act of prayer to wash away misfortunes to welcome the new year. It falls on April 13-16 this year. Edited by Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Arakan Army captures junta camp on road to central Myanmar

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, one of the few places left under junta administration, residents said. The other main area under junta control in the state is the Kyaukpyu economic zone on the coast, where China aims to build a deep-sea port, and has energy facilities including natural gas and oil pipelines running to southern China. Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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I was 10 when my father paid a smuggler to take me out of Tibet

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When my editor asked me to report on the secret journey Tibetans take to escape into exile, I did not think that there was much worth writing about. It is the story of almost everyone in my community. It is not news, and we are in the news business. But as I reported the story, I could feel its power – and it reminded me of details of my own journey that I hadn’t thought about in years. I was born in Kham, in eastern Tibet, my parents’ first born. A brother and sister followed, and the five of us lived with two cousins in a home that sat in a valley where the Salween River flows, surrounded by farm fields and mountain peaks. My mom sold produce in a town closer to the border with China, and I remember her taking me with her to pick the fruit to sell, teaching me a little Chinese as we worked. When she sold the fruit, she would bring back Chinese toys. All the neighborhood kids would gather around to play with me and my new plastic guns and cars. I loved the attention the gifts from my mother brought me. Lobsang Gelek and his housemates at Kempty Falls in Mussoorie, India, during summer vacation in 2006.(Provided by Lobsang Gelek/RFA Investigative) I haven’t spoken to my family since then, though I occasionally get word through relatives also in exile that they are safe and healthy. I hope that sometimes they see videos I do for RFA or read articles I write and know that I am well. Back in Nepal and India reporting for RFA last year, I felt nostalgia and emotion I did not expect after one of the people I interviewed shared a similar story of having walked in the snow with little food. In just a few weeks, I’ll become a parent myself. As I approach fatherhood, I admit that sometimes I feel anger toward my father for his decision. But I try not to blame him because I know he did what he thought was best for me. And I think he did give me a brighter future – I would never have been here in the U.S., or met my beautiful wife, who, like me, was also smuggled out of Tibet as a child, if I had stayed back. Like all expecting parents, we’re anxious and excited for what’s to come. One thing I know for sure: I will never send my child far away from me. The pain of separation is something that lingers in your soul, until the moment you can be finally reunited. I still hope for that day. Edited by Jim Snyder and Boer Deng. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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North Korea tests cruise missile; warns US, South Korea on ‘provocation’

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the successful test of a cruise missile system, North Korea’s state media reported, as it accused the United States and South Korea of provocations and vowed the “toughest counteraction” to defend itself. The underwater-to-surface strategic cruise guided weapons traveled for 1,500 kilometers between 7,507 and 7,511 seconds in the Saturday test before “precisely” hitting targets, the North’s KCNA news agency reported. “The test was conducted as a link in the whole chain of efforts for carrying out the plan for building up the defence capability of the country, aimed at improving the effectiveness of the strategic deterrence against the potential enemies in conformity with the changing regional security environment,” KCNA reported. Kim was cited as noting that the North armed forces were perfecting ”the means of war deterrence.” On Sunday, North Korea accused the United States and South Korea of “staging serious military provocations” with their military exercises. “The U.S. and the ROK will never evade the responsibility for the aggravation of regional situation to be entailed by an increase in the visibility of military provocations”, a senior foreign ministry official said in a statement, referring to South Korea by the initials of its official name, the Republic of Korea. “The DPRK Foreign Ministry is closely watching the military provocations of the U.S. and the ROK escalating the tension on the Korean peninsula and seriously warns them that such moves will entail a reflective counteraction,” the official said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea. “The DPRK will not permit the imbalance of strength imposed by the military nexus between the U.S. and the ROK and take the toughest counteraction to defend the sovereign right, security and interests of the state and thoroughly ensure peace and stability in the region.” RELATED STORIES Interview: Trump would like to resume personal diplomacy with Kim Jong Un North Korea reiterates it has ‘no intention’ of abandoning nuclear program ‘Smart balloons’ drop leaflets, loudspeakers into North Korea The inauguration of President Donald Trump has led to speculation about an improvement in ties between the old foes. During his first term, Trump embarked on unprecedented but ultimately unsuccessful engagement with North Korea to try to get it to abandon its nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief and he has suggested he would be open to a new effort. Last week, North Korea reiterated that it had no intention of giving up its nuclear program, blaming the United States for creating tensions. North Korea has drawn closer to Russia since Trump’s first term and has sent large volumes of arms and ammunition, as well as some 12,000 soldiers, to help Russia in its war against Ukraine. Neither Russia nor North Korea has acknowledged the North Korean support. Edited by RFA Staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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