Burma | Burma Center Prague

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) travelled to the India-Burma border with a delegation led by Baroness Cox, Chief Executive of the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART). During what was CSW’s fourth visit to the area since 2004, the delegation received first-hand testimonial evidence of continuing human rights violations, and the effects of chronic under-resourcing of health care in Chin State. The delegation also heard allegations that international funding for emergency food relief for victims of the chronic food shortage, provided to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the World Food Programme (WFP) by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), was being offered to villagers in the form of loans repayable at 200 per cent interest, in at least 17 villages in Paletwa Township. CSW and HART have reported these allegations to the UNDP and called for an urgent investigation. If true, they raise grave questions about the integrity of the UNDP’s assistance in the area.