BURMA BULLETIN
ISSUE 34 – OCTOBER 2009

KEY STORY
• ASEAN backs off on Burma
• ASEAN: No civil rights for civil society
• Human Rights Commission inaugurated
INSIDE BURMA
• Daw Suu’s appeal rejected
• Sanctions talks
• Ethnic groups oppose 2010 elections
• Ceasefire groups resist BGF ultimatum
• Pro-junta groups incorporated into BGFs
• ASEAN, US, and EU pledge new aid
• Rats reach Kachin and Arakan States
• Burmese heroin still a threat to the region
HUMAN RIGHTS
• Human rights situation “alarming”
• Arrests
• Prison sentences
• Custodial death
• Freedom of information
• Religious freedom
• Forced labor
DISPLACEMENT
• Number of IDPs rising
• Rohingya used as pawns
• Burmese migrants in Thailand
INTERNATIONAL
• Burma-Bangladesh crisis
• Switzerland, East Timor call for arms embargo
ECONOMY
• Burmese timber exports to China
• Mobile phones in Naypyidaw
• SPDC gem sales
• Trade with Bangladesh, Thailand, and Sudan
OTHER BURMA NEWS
REPORTS