Burma's government tightens its grip on international aid agencies

Mungpi
Mizzima News
www.mizzima.com
January 29, 2008

New Delhi, India – In what seems to be a renewed effort to control the movement of international aid agencies operating in Burma, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoH) has established new sets of regulations for aid groups.

The new instructions, which are supplementary to the existing rules, were told to International Non-governmental Organizations (INGOs) operating in Burma by the Ministry of Home Affairs during a meeting on January 11, 2008, held at Burma's new capital of Naypyitaw, according to the meeting minutes, a copy of which Mizzima has obtained.

According to the meeting notes, circulated among concerned government ministries, departments and INGOs, all travel by representatives of aid agencies to the field will have to be approved by the Ministry of Defense. This directive literally controls the movement of aid groups.

"No permission from Ka-Ka-Kyi [Ministry of Defense], no travel," Dr. San Shwe Win, Deputy Director General of the Department of Health, who chaired the meeting, told the aid agencies.

While the authenticity of the meeting minutes could not be independently confirmed, an aid worker in Rangoon told Mizzima, "Yes, there was a meeting in Naypyitaw and one of our senior members attended."

However the aid worker, who wished not to be named, did not elaborate on the meeting.

During the meeting, the Chairman said all visits by expatriates will be accompanied by government appointed Liaison Officers (LO), as done in previous years, and expatriates are advised to stay close to the LO.

The LO will accompany and stay with the expatriates, "if possible in the same hotel, taking the same flight, using the same vehicle." Additionally, the LO should be included in all activity-related trainings or meetings and the aid agency is to bear all expenses of the LO.

Dr. San Shwe Win said the new time frame for all Memorandum of Understandings between the government and INGOs is set at one year, and aid agencies will be required to apply for renewal at least 3 to 6 months in advance.

The Chairman of the meeting encouraged INGOs to minimize the conduct of surveys or assessments and instead utilize existing information from other agencies.

Burma, which has a tradition of hiding or providing widely inaccurate data on health, has always refused the request of international organizations to conduct extensive surveys in the country.

"Surveys and assessments should be confined to "Health Issues"… and there needs to be prior discussion and agreement with non-health sector areas such as education, socio-economic conditions, etc," the meeting minutes said.

In a closing remark, Dr. San Shwe Win, chairman of the meeting, told representatives of the INGOs to focus only on "pure health activities" in order to obtain Memorandum of Understandings from the government.

"In the future, it will be difficult to get Memorandums of Understanding from the MoH if for health-related or non-health activities," added Dr. San Shwe Win.

The Chairman referenced a famous Burmese saying in advising the representatives under what conditions the restrictions may be lifted. "If a person is liked, then the rules are reduced," meaning rules and regulations can be reduced for close friends, "…so try to be liked first!"