Australian Government refuses to fund cross border aid into Burma
Updated
The Australian Government appears set in its decision not to fund cross-border aid into Burma. Aid and advocacy groups say it's the only way to get vital supplies to the country's ethnic minority states. Burma's military Government doesn't permit international aid to get to the border areas in particular, some of which are under seige by the military. Half a dozen other countries fund cross border aid, but Australia isn't about to join them, with the Government citing sovereignty and security issues.
Presenter: Linda Mottram
Speakers: Charm Tong, Shan Burmese aid advocate; Scott Ludlum, Australian Greens Senator; Zoe Bedford, Australian Union Aid Abroad APHEDA
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MOTTRAM: Charm Tong works tirelessly for the human rights of the Burmese. An ethnic Shan woman, based in Thailand, she's met with various world leaders pressing the case for education for displaced Burmese and for women's rights in particular. She's just as strong in her belief that Australia should join other countries in funding cross-border aid into her country.
CHARM TONG: There is over half a million people in eastern Burma especially in Shan, Karen and Kareni state that not only that they do not have any basic supports provided by the Burmese military regime but they are being attacked by the Burmese military and the army troops and they are now being the internally displaced people and also become the refugees. And there is no way that international agencies will be able to support this group of people through Rangoon that's why the only way to save the life of the people is through the cross-border aid.
MOTTRAM: Tell me who does the cross-border aid? Burmese living in Burma who come out to say Thailand, or China and India and then go back or is it foreigners going in as well?
CHARM TONG: The people who are organising the activities and the support are the people in the community inside Burma.
MOTTRAM: Last year, Australian activists even brought some cross border aid workers to Australia to explain to Canberra why it should fund their efforts. Zoe Bedford, the Thai-Burma border project officer for Australian Union Aid Abroad APHEDA says Australian officials were sympathetic.
BEDFORD: They understand that there is a gross humanitarian need in the conflict zones and in the internally displaced peoples camps. But then it's frustrating because that understanding of the need doesn't translate into direct action and funding for the programs.
MOTTRAM: When Australia's Foreign minister Stephen Smith recently announced a 40 per cent increase in Australia's aid to Burma, to 50-Million dollars next year, advocates saw a new opportunity to try to change Canberra's mind about supporting cross-border aid.
MOTTRAM: But Union Aid Abroad's Zoe Bedford says the Australian government continues to refuse to support cross border aid.
BEDFORD: They'll say that it's a complicated issue about national sovereignty, that even though the USA, UK, Norway, Spain, Denmark, Ireland and Canada have gotten past those issues of sovereignty and so forth that the difference for Australia is that Burma is in the Asia Pacific region and so therefore they think it's a more complicated issue for Australia.
MOTTRAM: Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlum is also pushing for Australian support for cross border aid and dismisses the arguments against it.
LUDLUM: In practice neither the Thai government nor the Burma government has ever raised any concerns officially or unofficially about the very common practice of cross-border aid that occurs already. So it's accepted practice and it has been working after a fashion for many years. Now the issue of risk on the other hand is very very real. Because the Burmese people is at war with it's own people. This is in some very, very fragile unstable parts of the country and it's exceptionally dangerous doing aid work in there. But what the people need really is to be allowed to make the own assessments of the areas that they can go into and the areas that they can't. And I don't think that's something that we should be planning from Canberra.
MOTTRAM: Australia is active on the Thai side of the Thai-Burma border. Since 2003, it's given seven Million Australian dollars to the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium for example. That may increase when the new Australian aid money is divided up. But Charm Tong says by not supporting cross border activities, Australia's accepting an effective aid ban imposed by the junta on some of it's own most needy people.
CHARM TONG: Absolutely this is our concern. Because if the Australian government do not allow this kind of support and this is the only way to support these people it means that the foreign policy and the aid policy of the Australian government is not in line and this is our concern and we want to express this to people in Australia to help to push this change.
