INTERNALLY DISPLACED CHILDREN

Note: the following photos were taken by the Free Burma Rangers. They were taken during the period November 2004 - February 2005.


In Burma, the rainy season begins in May-June and ends in September-October. Every year the Burma Army conducts a dry season offensive against the people of Eastern Burma, driving them from their homes. The offensives end - generally - once the rainy season begins.

Some of the children in the following photos, and the individuals in the associated exhibit of IDP encampments at night, may have been able to return home since the photos were taken. That is, if their homes were not burned down by the Burma Army, and if they were willing to brave the landmines the Burma Army sets arouind many of the villages it pillages and destroys. However, as sure as the rains will end, the offensives will begin again later this year, in October, and the people of Eastern Burma will have to flee again. They have been doing this year after year, for the last twenty years.

The International Community, the collection of nation/states that form Human Civilization, stands by and does nothing: No concerted pressure on the SPDC to end the repression; no supply of a peace-keeping force; not even humanitarian aid, for people who have nothing.

The last four photos show gifts and other supplies provided by the Free Burma Rangers, one of the very few organizations actively working to help the IDPs.