It is important to note that this report requests additional assistance and no decreases to any ongoing programmes.

********************************

Burma receives least UK aid: report
Mungpi
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)

July 25, 2007 - Despite suffering from appalling poverty and malicious human rights violation, Burmese refugees and internally displaced persons received the least quantum of aid from the United Kingdom, the House of Commons International Development Committee said today in a new report.

The report launched today said the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) failed to provide adequate aid to crisis-ridden Burma, which suffers from immense poverty and pernicious human rights abuses. It urges the UK to quadruple aid to the Southeast Asian nation, which currently receives the lowest aid among the Least Developed Countries.

Rt Hon Malcolm Bruce MP, Chairman of the Committee, in a statement said, "UK aid to Burma is unacceptably low. Burma receives the lowest aid per head in the world for a poor country."

"Given the pernicious human rights abuses and dire poverty levels within Burma, this is a scandal. We believe that the UK should quadruple the aid it gives to Burma by 2013. This additional funding should go to both in-country and cross-border assistance," he added.
According to the Select Committee Media Officer, Alex Paterson, the report, which highlights the crisis of Burmese refugees and IDPs, was launched following the committee's representatives visit to the crisis-stricken areas along the Thai-Burma border in April.

The report said, the most shocking aspect of Burma's political and humanitarian crisis is the forced displacement of its own people. It said, there are at east half a million people displaced from their homes in eastern Burma alone due to widespread human rights violation. And one third of these people suffer from forced labour and rape, which is used as a weapon of war by the Burmese Amy.

Yet Burma receives the lowest aid per head of all the world's poorest countries, said the committee urging the DFID to quadruple its aid by 2013. The DFID is one of the only four donors based in Burma.

The report said other countries with poor human rights records receive substantially more aid from the UK. Zimbabwe, for example, receives four times as much as Burma, the report added.
For the year 2007-08, Burma received £8.8 million of aid from the UK .

The report said there is a desperate need for increased aid to help displaced people hiding in the jungles and conflict zones of Burma, with over 70 percent of the population at risk from malaria.

Burma has the third highest rate of HIV prevalence in South-East Asia and less than one-fifth of the displaced children in eastern Burma survive till their fifth birthday, the report added .
The committee said in order to ensure that the increased aid does not benefit Burma's military regime, it should be channeled through community groups in Burma and aid agencies working from the Thai border. It also urged the UK to work closely with the UN to ensure aid is accurately targeted.

"An urgent mapping exercise needs to be carried out, pinpointing which displaced people within Burma have the most pressing need for food, shelter and medical assistance. DFID should support the UN to do this urgently but thoroughly," Malcolm Bruce said.

The DFID is currently providing £1.8 million to the over 150,000 Burmese refugees residing in nine camps along the Thai-Burma border.

Malcolm Bruce, who was among the team of representative who visited the refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border in April said, the team was shocked by to learn that the DFID is not making regular visits to the camps to find out the situation and also it's failure to significantly engage the Thai government on refugee policy.

"We believe DFID needs to be a more visible presence at the border, to support NGOs based in Thailand and to fulfill a the role of co-ordination and that this requires them to have at least two full-time, senior staff based in Thailand," said Malcolm Bruce.

http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/News/2007/July/60-July-2007.html

********************************

Media Release from the Burma Campaign UK
 
Strictly Embargoed 00.01 Wednesday 25th July 2007
 
Burma Campaign UK welcomes MPs? call for more aid to Burma
 
?Burma is one of the world?s forgotten crisis? ? International Development
Committee
 
The Burma Campaign UK today warmly welcomed a report on British aid to
Burma,  published by the International Development Committee. The
cross-party committee of MPs supported all of the proposals put forward by
the Burma Campaign UK.
 
The report calls for a fundamental change in DFID?s aid policy, including:
 
* A quadrupling of aid to Burma by 2013, taking aid from ?8.8m to ?35.3m a
year.
* Providing cross-border aid in addition to in-country aid, to ensure aid
reaches internally displaced people who cannot be reached through in-country
mechanisms because of restrictions imposed by the regime.
* Funding projects promoting human rights and democracy, including exile
based Burmese women?s groups and the trade union movement.
* Setting up alternative mechanisms to provide funding for HIV/AIDS, malaria
and TB in parts of the country that the 3D fund can?t reach because of
restrictions by the regime.
* Conduct a proper assessment of the needs of IDPs in Burma to ensure
adequate delivery of aid.
* Working with UN OCHA to improve co-ordination of aid efforts, which are
currently ?done poorly?.
 
?The Committee is clearly saying that DFID is not doing enough, given the
scale of the humanitarian and human rights crisis in Burma,? said Zoya Phan,
Campaigns Officer at the Burma Campaign UK. ?The British government must
ensure aid reaches those most in need, and if the regime blocks aid to
people because of their ethnicity, then others ways to deliver aid must be
found, such as delivering aid cross-border from neighbouring countries.?
 
In December last year the Burma Campaign UK published a report ? Failing the
people of Burma? ? highlighting concerns with DFID?s Burma policy. DFID has
refused to fund cross-border aid, which is the only way to reach some of the
most vulnerable people in Burma, and despite ministers stating that the
regime is responsible for Burma?s humanitarian crisis, has not funded
projects targeted at promoting human rights and democracy in the country.
 
?The report vindicates what we have been saying about the problems with
DFID?s current aid policy,? said Zoya Phan. ?If DFID implements the
recommendations of the Committee, millions of lives will be saved or
transformed. We hope that this report will shame DFID into action.?
 
For more information contact Mark Farmaner, Acting Director, on 020 7324
4713, mobile 07941239640, or Zoya Phan on 020 7324 4712, mobile 07738630139.

-- Mark Farmaner Acting Director Burma Campaign UK 28 Charles Sq London N1 6HT Mobile: 0794 123 9640 Tel: 00 44 (0)207 324 4713 Fax: 00 44 (0)207 324 4717 E-mail mark.farmaner@burmacampaign.org.uk www.burmacampaign.org.uk Join our e-mail campaign network and receive the latest updates from the Burma Campaign UK automatically. Just visit <http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/email_network.html> The Burma Campaign UK Registered Company No. 3804730 Registered office address as shown above