The first time she was forced to flee, Nyein, 32, was only 12 years old. That was 20 years ago, and only now is she returning to her home village to stay.
(The names of the mother and daughter are not their real names. The mother chose their fake names: Nyein means “peace” and Yone Lay means “rabbit”)
The whole village had to flee to the forests every time fighting between the government army and Karen National Liberation army (KNLA) drew close to their village. At the most, all the 60 families in the village had to hide in the forest for three months.
In the forest
“In the forest we were a big group, so we chose a group leader who would delegate everyone’s duties. The men went hunting for monkeys and the women picked vegetables,” said Nyein.
The fighting continued, and the villagers went back and forth between their home and the forest. In 2001, the fighting stopped, but the villagers did not feel safe and some of them continued going to the forest every now and then.
Forced to serve the army
The government army continued passing the village, and every time they passed by, they forced the head of every family to work for them for free, bringing them food or carrying their loads.
Nyein was the head of her family. During the fighting days, her father, the head of the village, was killed by the government army. They suspected him of sharing information with the KNLA. Her four older brothers were already married and her mother was old.
Nyein was forced to work for the same group that killed her father.
“I was very worried and felt suffocated,” she explained. She did not want to continue living like that.
Thailand
In 2005, Nyein made up her mind. Her father had passed away, her brothers were married and her mother could not afford her studies. She left her village and headed to Thailand.
She had heard that people made good wages there and she could also get the chance to go to school. Her mother let her leave on one condition, that she would not only work, but started studying in Thailand.
She arrived at a refugee camp in Thailand. For the first six months she was not able to find a job, and she stayed in the camp. Then, through a friend, she was employed as a nanny. Later, she had a job as a waiter for a while.
Three years passed without Nyein having any contact with her family. Her life in Thailand was work and study.
She worked for six months, studied English at night, then went to high school for four months during the day and then back to work for six months with English in the evenings.
In 2008, she met her husband, also a Burmese, but from another ethnic group.
After their now eight-year-old daughter was born, they continued living in the camp, working during daytime and tutoring the daughter in the evenings.
Home at last
Last summer, Nyein returned back to her home village. She brought her husband and their 8-year-old daughter, Yone Lay.
In Thailand, she could earn good money, but she was worried that her daughter would not get a citizenship in Thailand, and that she would have to work instead of going to school.
Also, rumours had it that the camp in Thailand was going to be relocated, which would mean that all those living in it would yet again have to move.
“I heard that the new government had signed a peace agreement with the Karen National Union (KNU), and trusted that it would be safe to return.”
She had missed her home village, especially at Christmas. The family returned to the village the spring of 2016 and her daughter started going to the local school.
Nyein has hopes for her daughter’s future:
“I want her to be well educated, have a good job, a citizenship in Myanmar.”
Since the family moved back, NRC has been I the village two times (In June 2016 and February 2017) to give ID-cards to those who does not have them. The parents, who already have the ID-cards, asked NRC whether their daughter would be eligible to have a ID-card as well, and NRC told them she would be when she reached the age of ten.
Today
Today, Nyein has opened a little shop in their house in the village, where she sells beetle nuts, a few grocery articles and medication. She took a basic medical course in the camp in Thailand, and is now giving the villagers medical advice and medicines. Those who come by to seek her advice often have no money, and as she cannot turn away a sick neighbour – her shop is not going very well.
Her husband works as a volunteer for a local NGO who is working to take care of the forest.
Future of Myanmar
“My father was killed because of the conflict and the suspicions between the warring parties. I wish for peace. I want freedom of movement and for the suspicion that has existed between groups and people for so many years to go away. I want people to trust each other and live together in harmony.”
“For now, we are just trying to make the best of things. Although I’m quite happy, I would wish for better conditions for my family.”
Her daughter just finished 2nd grade and is starting in 3rd grade in June, after the holiday (Summer holiday lasts from March to the end of May)
In January 2017, the new school in the village opened. The school was built thanks to NRC who financed the new building, and is providing school material such as school bags and notebooks.
“The old school was always covered in dust, it did not have good hygiene conditions,” said Nyein, “the new school has a white board, not a blackboard with charcoal.”
“Yone Lay loves to go to school, she loves writing and English. Her teacher says she is good in languages but not so good in maths.”
When I ask the daughter what she wants to become, she whispers in her mother’s ear that she wants to be a doctor.”
---
In Myanmar, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) helps building schools in villages situated in remote areas and homes for local teachers, and we distribute school material such as school bags and note books.
In the southeast, we are working together with the authorities to give people information about the importance of civil documentation and distributing ID-cards to those who do not have it. With the ID-card, they have access to public services such as medical services and the possibility of opening a bank account, secondary education and they have freedom of movement.

Myanmar – the context
After fifty years of military rule, Myanmar welcomed a new era of democracy and reform with its first civilian elections in 2015. However, the newly formed government still faces the same issues as before.
Known as the “longest running civil war,” Myanmar has been tormented by internal conflicts led by ethnic groups struggling for representation since the country’s independence in 1948. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced in the decades-long conflict. Every day, people are being displaced by violence, leaving everything they own behind. Years of fighting have forced many to flee over and over again.
Since late 2011, the government has signed ceasefire deals with the majority of ethnic armed groups in the country, and in October 2015, the government negotiated a nationwide ceasefire agreement with eight of the largest ethnic armed groups. Still, some groups have refused to sign the agreement, and they continue negotiating with the government.
In addition to conflict, disasters and, increasingly climate change are forcing people in Myanmar to flee their homes.
In Myanmar, NRC helps displaced people and people affected by conflict through building disaster-resistant schools and wells, providing civil documentation, youth education and camp coordination. We have been working in the country since 2008 and all of our activities are managed from seven field offices within the Southeast Region, Kachin and Rakhine States.
We are working for people in Myanmar to have the right to education, work and property, so that they can live safe and independent lives.

Photo:NRC/Ingrid Prestetun — “The whole village had to flee to the forest every time the fighting drew closer.” At the age of 12, twenty years ago, "Nyein" was displaced for the first time. “The whole village had to flee to the forest every time the fighting drew closer.” Nyein left her village and headed to Thailand. Last summer, she returned back to her home village. “I wish for peace. I want freedom of movement and for the suspicion that has existed between people for so many years to go away.” Photo: Ingrid Prestetun/NRC (Nyien is not her real name)

Myanmar: Minoriteter på flukt mens dørene åpner for business

Publisert 04. jul. 2017|Oppdatert 03. jul. 2017

Mens regjeringen i Myanmar snakker om fred og åpner opp for utenlandske investeringer, er mange burmesere fortsatt avhengige av nødhjelp for å overleve. Når utenriksminister Børge Brende besøker landet denne uken, må Norge minne styresmaktene om deres forpliktelser overfor minoriteter og mennesker på flukt.

- Å hindre mennesker tilgang til grunnleggende tjenester, rettigheter og beskyttelse, vil undergrave enhver økonomisk eller politisk fremgang i landet, advarer Prasant Naik, Flyktninghjelpens landdirektør i Myanmar.

- Man kan ikke kalle utviklingen i landet en suksess så lenge de mest sårbare i samfunnet faller utenfor, uten muligheter til å skape trygge og gode liv for familiene sine, sier han.

Etniske minoritetsgrupper i Myanmar har vært i konflikt med militæret og regjeringen i flere tiår. 644.000 mennesker er drevet på flukt fra sine hjem som følge av vold, mange mangler tilgang til grunnleggende tjenester som helse og utdanning. Over 500.000 mennesker i Myanmar er avhengige av nødhjelp.

- I skogen følte vi oss ikke trygge. Jeg hverken spiste eller sov, og var redd for at vi skulle dø, forteller Daw Aye Shwe, en 34 år gammel mor drevet på flukt fra hjemmet sitt i Shan-staten. Flyktninghjelpen møter henne og barna i en leir for internt fordrevne i byen Bhamo.

- Jeg er veldig bekymret for barna mine. Min største drøm er at de skal få en utdannelse. Jeg ønsker meg et fredelig Myanmar i fremtiden, sier hun. Enn så lenge er hverdagen en kamp for å overleve i leiren.

- Det er fortsatt utfordrende å nå frem med livreddende hjelp til mange deler av landet, ikke minst i delstatene Kachin, Shan og Rakhine. Tusenvis har blitt drevet på flukt gjentatte ganger. Hver gang tvinges de til å legge et helt liv bak seg, og de står igjen på bar bakke, sier Naik.

Økonomisk fremgang og en fredelig løsning på de mange konfliktene i Myanmar er viktig, men den prekære humanitære realiteten hundretusener står overfor må også tas på alvor. Hittil i år er mindre enn 40 prosent av behovet for nødhjelp i 2017 dekket, viser beregninger fra FN.

Noen fakta:

I den humanitære handlingsplanen for Myanmar i år, en plan FN og humanitære partnere legger frem for å kunne nå de aller mest trengende med livreddende hjelp, har man bedt om 1,26 milliarder kroner. Mindre enn 40 prosent av disse midlene er så langt samlet inn.
I den humanitære behovsplanen kommer det frem at mer enn en halv million mennesker trenger akutt og livreddende hjelp i de tre delstatene Kachin, Shan og Rakhine. Det er i disse delstatene man finner flertallet av mennesker drevet på flukt i landet.
Handlingsplanen viser at det er et særlig behov for utdanning (141.000 mennesker), trygg tilgang til mat og et livsgrunnlag (384.000 mennesker), helsetjenester (474 .000 mennesker), livreddende ernæring (122.000 barn), beskyttelse mot vold og overgrep (244.000 mennesker), et tak over hodet (219.000 mennesker), og rent vann og sanitære tjenester (356.000 mennesker).
Myanmar er på Flyktninghjelpens liste over de ti mest neglisjerte fluktkrisene i verden. Dette skyldes manglende innsats for politiske løsninger, lite oppmerksomhet knyttet til fluktsituasjonen, samt mangel på økonomisk støtte for å lette lidelsene mange sivile står overfor.

Flyktninghjelpen i Myanmar:

Flyktninghjelpen har jobbet i Myanmar siden 2008.
Flyktninghjelpen jobber i elleve områder: Bago, Tanintharyi, Kayin, Kayah, Mon, Rakhine, Chin, Kachin, Nord- og Sør Shan og Yangon.
I 2016 hjalp Flyktninghjelpen 220.333 mennesker i landet. 16.000 mennesker har hatt nytte av Flyktninghjelpens utdanningsprogram, 13.000 har fått hjelp til å skaffe seg et tak over hodet, 8.000 mennesker har bodd i leirer støttet av Flyktninghjelpen, 96.000 mennesker har fått juridisk støtte og rådgivning, mens 17.000 mennesker har hatt nytte av Flyktninghjelpens arbeid med å sikre tilgang til rent vann og sanitæranlegg.
En halv million fordrevne og marginaliserte mennesker har fått tilgang til grunnleggende rettigheter gjennom Flyktninghjelpens arbeidet med utstedelse av ID-papirer.

Til redaksjonen:

Bilder og sitater fra mennesker drevet på flukt I Myanmar, til fri bruk, kan man finne på denne linken.
B-roll som viser forholdene fordrevne i Myanmar lever under, også til fri bruk, finner dere her.
Vi har talspersoner i Myanmar som snakker engelsk og norsk.

Pressekontakter:

Tuva Bogsnes, Leder for medieseksjonen, tubo@nrc.no, 932 31 883.

Becky Bakr Abdulla, Medierådgiver, beba@nrc.no, 416 13 766.

Media hotline, info@nrc.no, 905 62 329.

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