Background Info

20 May 2010

TNI's work on Burma began in 2003 as part of our Drugs and Democracy programme, through an investigation of opium farming in the country, but has since extended through our partnership with the Burma Center Netherlands to analysis more exclusively focused on the country's long-standing ethnic conflict.

TNI's work in Burma

The first TNI mission to Burma was in September 2003 when we visited villages in the Wa hills in northern Shan State - by that time the largest opium producing area in Burma - to assess the situation of the opium farmers there.

Since then TNI has carried out regular missions to Burma and to its neighbouring countries Thailand, Laos and China, and has been able to gain access to difficult and restricted or conflict areas, such as the ceasefire regions in northern Burma.

We have been able to meet with a wide variety of actors in the country, including representatives of the military government, UN agencies, various non-state actors, opposition groups, local and international NGOs, and most importantly, with (former) opium farmers and drug users.

More recently TNI has teamed up with the Burma Center Netherlands to produce rigourous policy analysis and stimulate strategic thinking to address the ongoing ethnic conflict in Burma, and give a voice to ethnic nationality groups who have until now been ignored and isolated within the international debate on the country.

Burma's history

Burma has been at civil war since 1948 and the country has lived under military rule since 1962. Decades of war and government mismanagement have caused great suffering for its peoples. Ethnic minority regions, where most of hte fighting has taken place, have suffered disproportionally. We have witnessed the devastating impact that decades of conflict and poverty have had on local communities in these war-affected areas.

burma map

Figure 1. Map of Burma

ceasefire map

Figure 2. Ceasefire Map showing the complex arrangement of land held by ceasefire groups

Recent publications from Burma Project

Access Denied The reform process in Burma/Myanmar by the quasi-civilian government of President Thein Sein has raised hopes that a long overdue solution can be found to more than 60 years of devastating civil war.	Political Reform in Burma/Myanmar and Consequences for Ethnic Conflict While there have been undeniably positive trends in Burma over the past year, these have not yet been translated into ethnic peace and justice.
The Kachin Crisis: Peace Must Prevail As 2012 progressed, perceptions of the real nature of change under the Thein Sein government were challenged by a series of disturbing events in which serious violence and mass displacement of civilians occurred in several parts of the country.	Developing Disparity Unless foreign direct investment in Burma's war-torn borderlands is refocused towards people-centered development, it is likely to deepen disparity between the region’s most neglected peoples and Burma's new military, business and political elite and exacerbate a decades-long civil war.