The Human Rights Forum of Monland (HURFOM) recently released their report detailing how internally displaced people (IDP’s) are struggling to survive during Covid-19. The report is titled “Left Behind and Destitute” and is available online in English and Burmese.
During the months of April and May, HURFOM sent 5 researchers to conduct interviews in Kyaikmayaw, Mudon, Ye, Mawlamyine, and Thanbyuzayat townships, Mon State; Yebyu Township, Tenasserim Region; and Kyainnseikgyi Township, Karen State; and in IDP villages in New Mon State Party (NMSP) administrative areas.
The interviews reveal that the economic consequences of COVID-19 are having a significant and detrimental effect on the everyday lives of villagers, leaving many close to destitution, without access to livelihoods or emergency relief aid. This is exacerbated by the stringent restrictions on freedom of movement by township authorities and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) intended to curb the spread of the virus, in addition to the mandatory quarantine for the thousands of returning migrant workers which puts added stress on these communities who must also support them.
The HURFOM report references data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) who documented that nearly 100,000 migrants have returned to Burma/Myanmar through border checkpoints between 22 March and 10 June, a telling figure of the global economic slowdown brought about by the pandemic. Mon State has seen a large influx of returnees, particularly from Thailand, with more than 15,500 having returned by the first week of April 2020—a number that has no doubt grown throughout May and June (no up to date data could be found).
Nai San Oo, 44, of Baleh Doon Phite village, in the NMSP’s controlled area, told the researchers, “Most of us have been moving into a situation of destitution. Yes, the situation is one of moving from poverty into destitution and the virus [COVID-19] has made us increasingly isolated due to the lockdown. New regulations and rules make it very hard to access our jobs, we cannot afford to feed our families. Now, that some restrictions are lifted, it is already too late, and the rainy season has begun. We did not have a chance to work to collect and store foods during the dry season.”
Most of the villagers in these regions are subsistence farmers or daily wage laborers, many of them have expressed that they are in trouble, particularly running out of rice, without a chance to earn an income—the current state of most households—and facing a food shortage and crisis.
Nai Aue Mon, HUFOM’’s Program Director, said, “State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi [promoted the government’s Covid-19 Economic Relief Plan claiming it leaves no one behind], but Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) didn’t get support in Southern Burma/Myanmar, in the ethnic army control areas.”
He added, “No one left behind is a good rule but it has not been implemented in the border regions. So, we call the [affected people] left behind and destitute.”
Although Ethnic Army Organizations (EAOs), from Mon and Karen States and in the Thanintharyi region signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) there is no genuine stability in the area yet. IDP communities are not only struggling to survive they are also yet to receive any benefits from the national peace process, nor are they able to see an end to frequent armed conflicts or consequences from landmine explosions.
Nai Aue Mon points out that, “The CBO, CSO, INGO, NGO and the other donor organizations have helped the NMSP’s protection committee. But this is not enough. Some people got supplies, and some did not get anything. If Mon villages received some support, then Karen villages would not get anything. We want to show this process to the Government, the Ethnic Army and the donors.”
HURFOM’s report concludes with recommendations for the government, EAO’s as well as the international community. The report can be downloaded at the following.
HURFOM’s report link>>https://www.rehmonnya.org/reports/Left%20Behind%20and%20Destitute.pdf
