The Thailand Burma Border Consortium’s (TBBC’s) 2010 survey of internal displacement in eastern Burma is now available for download from http://www.tbbc.org/resources/resources.htm#idps
TBBC has collaborated with community based partners to document the scale and characterstics of dispalcement in eastern Burma since 2002. This year’s survey included household poverty assessments across eastern Burma and compared the results with official data and independent surveys conducted elsewhere in Burma. Indicators of vulnerability in eastern Burma were significantly higher than government figures, and comparable to the worst findings that have been reported anywhere in the country. Official data suggest that poverty rates in Kachin State and Magway Division are amongst the worst in the nation, but the findings released by TBBC indicate that basic living conditions are inferior in eastern Burma. Three quarters of households in rural areas of eastern Burma will suffer from staple food shortages for at least three months this year, while access to income and employment is more limited than elsewhere in the country. TBBC and community-based partners have documented the destruction, forced relocation or abandonment of more than 3,600 civilian settlements in eastern Burma since 1996. At least 73,000 people were forced to leave their homes during the past year, and over 446,000 people remain internally displaced in the rural areas of eastern Burma alone. The highest rates of displacement were recorded in the northern Karen areas as a result of armed conflict and Burmese Army attacks against civilians.