The Burma Collective

A travel and landscape imagery art show opened March 13 at the Tualatin Heritage Center at 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR 97062. The show runs through April 4. Hours are generally 10-2 M-F, Thursday evenings and Saturdays. Call 503 885 1926 for hour details.

The show features imagery from Burma, India, and Africa, as well as landscape imagery from Oregon and Kauai. About 40% of the images shown were taken in Burma in 2007.

The travel imagery is by Paul Sivley (www.paulsivley.com) and the landscape work by Adrian Klein (www.adrianklein.com).

An art, wine and food reception is scheduled for March 19 from 5-7 pm. Travel abroad without the hassles of airline security and baggage fees!

Paul Sivley

The video from the Ignite Portland presentation "How to be a Refugee: Several not-so-easy steps from oppression to resettlement" is now available to watch online.

Ignite is a community event where speakers get 5 minutes to present on a topic of their choice - they get 20 slides, and 15 seconds per slide. Ignite Portland is now coming up on its 6th event. The last Ignite Portland had over 700 people in attendance, and more watching the event live on streaming video. It's a great opportunity to share knowledge and issues you are passionate about with an intelligent and interested audience. You can check the Ignite site for Ignite events in your city.

Welcome to everyone who's managed to find their way here after the Ignite presentation! I thought it might be helpful to assemble some old posts and information on refugees to supplement the very brief five minute presentation. If you were not at Ignite Portland 5 to see the presentation on "How to be a Refugee", these links will probably still be interesting, and depending on how the presentation went, the video will likely be available soon.

The presentation was based on the experience of being a refugee in Malaysia. It's worth noting that the UNHCR operates differently in each country, but, the examples were fairly representative of what it is like to be an urban refugee. I spent two months working with the Chin Refugee Committee in Malaysia in 2005, and again for two weeks in 2006. Below are blog posts from the time I was there - they offer a lot more details and have some of the stories that provided inspiration for the presentation. Scroll down for links to other organizations working on refugee issues.

You can also browse the Reports tag for research and human rights reports on refugees and Burma.

2005 Malaysia Posts:

Leaving...
Day 2 in Malaysia
An Experience in Contrasts
Politics of Representation
Listening
Passing Time
Passing Time Again

2006 Malaysia Posts:

Background on Malaysia Trip
Malaysia 11-30-06
Malaysia 12-01-06
Malaysia 12-02-06
Malaysia 12-03-06
Malaysia 12-04-06 Part I: Pickled tea and detainees
Malaysia 12-04-06 Part II: Rejection
Malaysia 12-05-06: The KDO
Malaysia 12-06-06: Generals and Chickens
Arakanese Refugees in Malaysia

Organizations working on refugee rights:

Green Empowerment: A Portland non-profit that works on alternative energy projects for refugee camps and war-zone medics based in Thailand.
The Chin Human Rights Organization
Foundation for the People of Burma
National Health and Education Committee: A community-based coalition operating education and health programs for refugees along the Burmese borders.
Refugees International
International Refugee Rights Initiative

India Should Offer Chin Refugees Protection

(Bangkok, January 28, 2009) – Burma’s military government should end human rights abuses against the ethnic Chin population in Burma’s western Chin state, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch also called on the Indian government and newly elected Mizoram state government to extend protection to Chin who have fled to neighboring India to escape ongoing abuses and severe repression in Burma.

In the 93-page report, “‘We Are Like Forgotten People’: Unsafe in Burma, Unprotected in India,” Human Rights Watch documents a wide range of human rights abuses carried out by the Burmese army and government officials. The abuses include forced labor, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, religious repression and other restrictions on fundamental freedoms. In Mizoram state, India, Chin people remain at risk of discrimination and abuse by local Mizo groups and local authorities, and of being forced back across the border into Burma.

“For too long, ethnic groups like the Chin have borne the brunt of abusive military rule in Burma,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “It is time for this brutal treatment to stop and for the army to be held to account for its actions. India should step forward to protect those desperately seeking sanctuary.”

The following text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was made available by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Forward

On 10 December 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the full text of which appears in the following pages.

After this historic act, the General Assembly called on all Member States to ensure that the Declaration is "disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other education institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories."

The pursuit of human rights lies at the heart of the mission of the United Nations. It underpins the hopes of millions of people for a life of freedom, security and prosperity. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights remains as relevant today as it was on the day it was adopted. I hope you will make it a part of your life.

[Signed]
Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General