Refugees from Myanmar (formerly Burma)
- Aung San Suu Kyi
History of Myanmar (formerly Burma)
Since Burma’s independence in 1948, various ethnic minority groups have pursued a higher level of autonomy. To fight against the aggression of the military government, ethnic insurgent groups adopted guerrilla-style tactics. In response to this, in the 1960s, the government started counter-insurgency strategy called Four Cuts that was designed to cut four main sources between insurgents, their families and local villagers, including food, funds, intelligence, and recruits. Because of the armed conflicts and political oppression, since 1984, thousands of refugees who fled Burma because of human rights abuse and persecution by Burmese military junta have lived in confined refugee camps in Thailand for over 30 years.Although there was no Four Cuts any more after 1993, people in Burma still continue to lose their land because either large-scale agriculture and jade mining or military occupation, which continues to deconstruct communities and forced migration of ethnic groups (South, 2007). Meanwhile, ethnicity/religion is a big problem in Myanmar. Rohingya Muslim minority have been denied Burmese citizenship since 1982 by Citizenship Law and still flee by sea due to communal violence in Burma.
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