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Burmese troops; in 2005 Thailand sheltered about 121,000 Burmese
refugees; Karens also protest Thai support for a Burmese
hydroelectric dam on the Salween River near the border;
environmentalists in Burma and Thailand continue to voice concern
over China's construction of hydroelectric dams upstream on the
Nujiang/Salween River in Yunnan Province; India seeks cooperation
from Burma to keep Indian Nagaland separatists from hiding in remote
Burmese uplands

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
IDPs: 540,000 (government offensives against ethnic insurgent
groups near the eastern borders; most IDPs are ethnic Karen,
Karenni, Shan, Tavoyan, and Mon) (2006)

Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Burma is a source country for men, women, and
children trafficked to East and Southeast Asia for sexual
exploitation, domestic service, and forced commercial labor; a
significant number of victims are economic migrants who wind up in
forced or bonded labor and forced prostitution; to a lesser extent,
Burma is a country of transit and destination for women trafficked
from China for sexual exploitation; internal trafficking of persons
occurs primarily for labor in industrial zones and agricultural
estates; internal trafficking of women and girls for sexual
exploitation occurs from villages to urban centers and other areas;
the military junta's economic mismanagement, human rights abuses,
and policy of using forced labor are driving factors behind Burma's
large trafficking problem
tier rating: Tier 3 - Burma does not fully comply with the minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making
significant efforts to do so

Illicit drugs:
remains world's second largest producer of illicit opium (estimated
production in 2004 - 292 metric tons, down 40% from 2003 due to
eradication efforts and drought; cultivation in 2004 - 30,900
hectares, a 34% decline from 2003); lack of government will to take
on major narcotrafficking groups and lack of serious commitment
against money laundering continues to hinder the overall antidrug
effort; major source of methamphetamine and heroin for regional
consumption; currently under Financial Action Task Force
countermeasures due to continued failure to address its inadequate
money-laundering controls (2005)

This page was last updated on 8 February, 2007

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