Famine in Chin State

Mostly ignored by the world public, an enormous number of Burmese people from various ethnic groups manages to cross the border into India and enter the states of Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland. These refugees stem from a group of over 500 000 members of the Chin and Kachin ethnicities living in Western Burma who are systematically being oppressed by the junta. Incidents of extra-judicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, systematic rape and sexual violence, forced labor and portering and various forms of discrimination result in many families searching for a more bearable destiny away from home.

Currently the situation is even harder for the Chin people, as their land has been infested by famine. The crisis was triggered by a native species of bamboo, Melocanna baccifera, which flowers only once every 50 years giving rise to an explosion in the rat population, which goes on to eat other crops and consequently causes severe food shortages. This tragic phenomenon has been known about since 1862 and was most recently observed in early 2006 in Tonzang Township in Northern Chin State, Burma, from where it spread during 2007. The scale of destruction is disastrous for people who largely have to rely on farming: In the worst-affected areas, farmers are left with no more than a tenth of their usual harvest. Thirty children starved to death in 2008 when the famine gained momentum, and 100 000 people are still at risk, 20 % of the population in the affected areas.

Local self-help groups have started to lobby internationally for help and have established infrastructure for delivery of rice to the people in need. The regime, however, does not share its immense wealth with its people and leaves them to their own devices. Many see no other way out of their suffering than emigration.