Drugs and conflict

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Description: "...THE Tatmadaw True News Team held a press conference at the Defence Services Museum in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday. Chairperson of the team Maj-Gen Soe Naing Oo, Vice Chairperson Maj-Gen Tun Tun Nyi, Secretary Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun and officers from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief (Army) clarified confiscations of arms and ammunitions from 28 February to 16 March near Lwal Kham village in Kutkai Township, about K 315 billion worth of narcotic drugs and related items, peace-making efforts in 2020, and thwarting AA groups in their attempts to control a military post in Rakhine over 40 days..."
Source/publisher: The Global New Light of Myanmar, 2020
2020-03-23
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Drug Trade, People’s Militias, Shan State, Tatmadaw
Topic: Drug Trade, People’s Militias, Shan State, Tatmadaw
Description: "A people’s militia leader in Nansang Township, in southern Shan State, was detained last week by the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) on suspicion of involvement in illicit drug production and trade, according to local sources. Sai Tah was detained last week and has been under interrogation since. “We have not charged him yet, but we detained him and are interrogating him in relation to illegal drug trading,” Tatmadaw spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun said the military attempted unsuccessfully to detain two additional people’s militia members, who are now in hiding. According to the Shan Herald Agency for News, Sai Nyut, a junior leader and militia captain, is one of the two suspects the Tatmadaw is looking for; he fled with some 60 armed troops, the news agency reported. According to the Shan Herald Agency for News, the military has offered to release Sai Tah if Sai Nyut turns himself in..."
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Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-09-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Special newsletter on why we don’t need another world drug day
Description: "Today marks the United Nations’ International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Its origin can be traced back to the institutional architecture of the global drug control system which for the last five decades has served as a mechanism that regulates, controls, or prohibits the use and distribution of more than 300 psychoactive substances. Programmes Drugs & Democracy This is a republished version of one of TNI’s dedicated newsletters on drug policy issues, sent out to subscribers once a month. Click here if you wish to stay informed on TNI’s work on drugs and drug policy. The initial decision to dedicate this day to the global fight against drug abuse and illicit trafficking was surely a well-intentioned one. But the foundation upon which this international day is commemorated each year remains distant from realities on the ground. Though much has improved in the past decades, there is more work to be done in order to make sure that such an international instrument is utilised to enhance, and not to undermine, the well-being of communities around the globe. The annual Support. Don’t Punish campaign leads the world in this regard..."
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute (TNI) ( Netherlands)
2019-06-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: ''After decades of fighting between the central government and various ethnic armed organisations in Myanmar, the links between drugs and conflict have spiraled into a complex chain reaction. The roots of the conflict are political, but today very few of the conflict parties in drugs-producing areas can claim to have clean hands when it comes to the narcotics trade. Myanmar has been under military-dominated government since 1962, and it remains one of the most militarized countries in the world. The recently-released “Myanmar Opium Survey 2018” by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) makes the following conclusion: “[In] parts of Shan and Kachin experiencing a protracted state of conflict, high concentrations of poppy cultivation have continued – a clear correlation between conflict and opium production.”1 There is nothing controversial in this statement, and the description reflects the situation in the field. The UNODC, however, then goes on to make specific accusations against several of the conflict actors. In the process, the UN agency makes a number of errors and appears to omit important information, thereby distorting realities of the situation on the ground...'' "ကုလသမဂ္ဂ မူးယစ်ဆေးဝါးနှင့် ပြစ်မှုဆိုင်ရာရုံး(UNODC)၏ လတ်တလောထုတ်ပြန်ခဲ့သည့် “၂၀၁၈ ခုနှစ် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ ဘိန်းစစ်တမ်း”၌ ပဋိပက္ခတွင်း ပါဝင်ပတ်သက်နေသည့် အဖွဲ့အစည်းအချို့ကို တိတိပပစွပ်စွဲပြောဆိုထားသည့် အချက်များပါဝင်လျက်ရှိသည်။ ဤ သုံးသပ်ချက်အတွင်း မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ ရှုပ်ထွေးလွန်းလှသည့် လက်တွေ့အခြေအနေများကို ထင်ဟပ်မှုမရှိဘဲ လိုရာဆွဲ၍ မည်ကဲ့သို့ပုံဖော်ရေးသားထားကြောင်း ရှင်းလင်းဖော်ပြထားပါ သည်။ မန်မာနိုင်ငံအတွင်း ဆယ်စုနှစ်ပေါင်းများစွာ ဗဟိုအစိုးရနှင့် တိုင်းရင်းသားလက်နက်ကိုင် တော်လှန်ရေး အဖွဲ့အစည်းများအကြား ဖြစ်ပွားလာခဲ့သည့် တိုက်ပွဲများ၏အဆုံး၌ မူးယစ်ဆေးဝါးနှင့် ပဋိပက္ခအကြား ဆက်စပ်မှုသည် အလွန်ရှုပ်ထွေးသည့် ကွင်းဆက်ဖြစ်စဉ်တစ်ခုအဖြစ် ကျယ်ပြန့်လာခဲ့သည်။ ပဋိပက္ခ၏ ဇစ်မြစ်သည် နိုင်ငံရေးဖြစ်သော်လည်း မူးယစ်ဆေးဝါးထုတ်လုပ်သည့် နယ်မြေဒေသများရှိ မူးယစ်ဆေး ဝါးကုန်ကူးမှုနှင့် ပတ်သက်လာပါက မိမိတို့၏လက်များ စွန်းထင်းခြင်းမရှိဘဲ သန့်စင်လျက်ရှိသည်ဟု ပြောဆိုနိုင်သည့် ပဋိပက္ခဇာတ်ကောင်များ လွန်စွာနည်းပါးသည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသည် ၁၉၆၂ ခုနှစ်က တည်းက စစ်တပ်ကြီးစိုးထားသည့် အစိုးရအဆက်ဆက်အောက်၌ ကျရောက်ခဲ့ပြီး ယခုအချိန်ထိလည်း ကမ္ဘာ့မျက်နှာစာထက် စစ်ပုံသွင်းမှု အကျယ်ပြန့်ဆုံးနိုင်ငံတစ်ခုအဖြစ် ရပ်တည်နေဆဲဖြစ်သည်။ လတ်တလောထုတ်ပြန်ခဲ့သည့် ကုလသမဂ္ဂ မူးယစ်ဆေးဝါးနှင့် ပြစ်မှုဆိုင်ရာရုံး၏ “၂၀၁၈ ခုနှစ် မြန်မာ နိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ ဘိန်းစစ်တမ်း”၌ အောက်ပါအတိုင်း သုံးသပ်တင်ပြထားသည်။ “ကာလရှည် လက်နက် ကိုင်ပဋိပက္ခဒဏ်သင့်ခဲ့သည့် ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်နှင့် ကချင်ပြည်နယ်တို့၏ အချို့သောနယ်မြေဒေသများ၌ ဘိန်းစိုက်ပျိုးထုတ်လုပ်မှု ဆက်လက်ထူထပ်နေခြင်းက ဘိန်းစိုက်ပျိုးထုတ်လုပ်မှုနှင့် ပဋိပက္ခအကြား အပြန်အလှန် ဆက်နွယ်ပတ်သက်မှုရှိကြောင်း ရှင်းရှင်းလင်းလင်းပြဆိုလျက်ရှိသည်။”၁ ဤအဆိုနှင့် ပတ်သက်၍ ဝိဝါဒကွဲပြားစရာ အကြောင်းမရှိသလို သုံးသပ်ဖော်ပြချက်သည်လည်း မြေပြင်အခြေအနေ ကို ထင်ဟပ်လျက်ရှိသည်။...''
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute (TNI)
2019-03-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-03-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
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Description: ''After decades of fighting between the central government and various ethnic armed organisations in Myanmar, the links between drugs and conflict have spiraled into a complex chain reaction. The roots of the conflict are political, but today very few of the conflict parties in drugs-producing areas can claim to have clean hands when it comes to the narcotics trade. Myanmar has been under military-dominated government since 1962, and it remains one of the most militarized countries in the world. The recently-released “Myanmar Opium Survey 2018” by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) makes the following conclusion: “[In] parts of Shan and Kachin experiencing a protracted state of conflict, high concentrations of poppy cultivation have continued – a clear correlation between conflict and opium production.”1 There is nothing controversial in this statement, and the description reflects the situation in the field. The UNODC, however, then goes on to make specific accusations against several of the conflict actors. In the process, the UN agency makes a number of errors and appears to omit important information, thereby distorting realities of the situation on the ground...''
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute (TNI)
2019-03-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-03-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: ''In regards to current drug trends, particularly methamphetamine (both in crystal and pill form) has become increasingly accessible and affordable throughout Asia, reflecting the trend of rising use of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) in the region. Governments in the SEA region have implemented different kinds of national drug policy reform, including diversion programmes (Indonesia and Cambodia), harm reduction measures (Malaysia and Myanmar), and steps towards decriminalisation of cannabis cultivation and use for medical and scientific purposes (Thailand). The scale of illicit cultivation of crops continues to be largely influenced by various socioeconomic and political factors such as poverty, conflict, and weak institutions, both in Myanmar and Afghanistan. In areas affected by conflict, households often grow opium poppy as a means of survival in an environment where markets are not accessible. Lessons can be learned, for instance, from experiences in Thailand or Colombia. The Thai experience demonstrates the importance of integrated rural development as a foundation of AD measures, addressing short-term needs as well as long-term sustainability. This includes community planning, inclusive value-chain development and sustainable land management, among other aspects. Experiences regarding coca cultivation areas and the recent peace agreement in Colombia confirm that multi-stakeholder dialogue is important for being able to access local communities and building trust...''
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute (TNI)
2018-05-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-01-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 397.01 KB
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Description: "Tar Aik Bong is a leader of the Ta?ang (Palaung) people, one of Burma?s ethnic nationalities that continues a daily struggle for survival in largely inaccessible areas in northern Shan State. He joined the Ta?ang liberation movement in 1987, and currently serves as Chairman of Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF) and Head of the military commission of Ta?ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). TNLA is one of the few ethnic armies that continues to fight against the Burma army and vows not to lay down arms until equal rights and a lasting political solution is achieved. TNLA fights to ?obtain freedom for all Ta?ang nationals from oppression, to form Ta?ang autonomous regions that guarantee democracy and human rights, to oppose and fight against dictatorship and any form of racial discrimination, to attain national equality and self-determination and to establish a genuine Federal Union that guarantees Ta?ang autonomy and to eliminate cultivation, production, sale and use of narcotics.” Tar Aik Bong is also a member of the ethnic alliance United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) council and Foreign Affairs Department. In an exclusive interview with Burma Link, Tar Aik Bong talks about the causes and current situation of the Ta?ang conflict, the role of the UNFC, and the brutal tactics that the Burmese military uses against Ta?ang civilians in order to cut the opposition movement. Tar Aik Bong also discusses the Burmese military?s instrumental role in the epidemic drug usage in Ta?ang areas, and TNLA?s plan to eradicate the drugs."
Source/publisher: Burma Link
2014-11-11
Date of entry/update: 2016-03-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Ta?ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the armed wing of Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF), is one of the ethnic resistance armed organisations that vows not to lay down arms until there is a guarantee of political negotiations. Burma Link spoke with two TNLA soldiers, Mai and Mai Main, who were sent by their leaders to study human rights and politics in Mae Sot, so that they could go back to Ta?ang land and educate other soldiers. These two soldiers studied in Mae Sot for a year, and believed it is their responsibility to go back to Burma to educate others and safeguard their people?s rights. In this interview, they share their story on how and why they became involved with the TNLA and why the Ta?ang people so strongly support their army. Mai and Mai Main, aged 23 and 26, are now back in the battle fields of northern Shan State." ..."END NOTE: Although TNLA is a member of the ethnic alliance United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), the government has tried to exclude the group from the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) talks. TNLA is an ally of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and fights alongside the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in northern Shan State, to obtain freedom and to establish a genuine federal union. TNLA also fights to eliminate cultivation, production, sale and use of drugs in their traditional lands. Read more."
Source/publisher: Burma Link
2015-07-13
Date of entry/update: 2016-03-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: ?Silent Offensive? by the Kachin Women?s Association Thailand (KWAT) reveals how the Burma Army is allowing its local militia to grow opium and produce heroin and other drugs in exchange for fighting against the KIA. As Burmese troops and their allies have progressively seized control of KIA areas, drug production has been increasing. The main opium growing areas in Kachin State are now in Chipwi and Waingmaw townships, under the control of the Burma Army and its local Border Guard Forces led by Zakhung Ting Ying, a National Assembly MP. In northern Shan State, opium is booming in areas under the Burma Army and thirteen government militia forces, four of whose leaders are MPs in the Shan State Assembly. Opium, heroin and methamphetamines are flooding from these government-controlled areas into Kachin communities, worsening existing problems of drug abuse, particularly among youth. It is estimated that about one third of students in Myitkyina and Bhamo universities are injecting drug users. The report details the harrowing impacts of the drug crisis on women, who struggle to support their families while husbands and sons sell off household property and steal to feed their addiction. Frustrated with the authorities? lack of political will to deal with the drug problem, women are taking a lead among local communities in setting up their own programs to combat drugs. KWAT critiques UNODC and other international donors for not focusing on the role of the war, and particularly the anti-insurgency policies of the government, in fuelling the drug problem in Burma. KWAT urges all stakeholders to focus on finding a just political settlement to the conflict as an urgent priority in tackling the drug crisis.
Source/publisher: Kachin Women?s Association, Thailand
2014-10-08
Date of entry/update: 2014-10-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 2.57 MB 2.71 MB
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Description: မြန်မာတပ်မတော်၏ နည်းဗျုဟာကြောင့် ကချင်ဒေသများတွင် မူးယစ်ဆေးဝါးပြဿနာ ကြောက်ခမန်းလိလိ ကြီးထွားလာခြင်း
Source/publisher: Kachin Women?s Association, Thailand (KWAT)
2014-10-08
Date of entry/update: 2014-10-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
Format : pdf
Size: 2.71 MB
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Description: "...Opium farmers in Afghanistan and Burma are coming under huge pressure as local authorities implement bans on the cultivation of poppy. Banning opium has an immediate and profound impact on the livelihoods of more than 4 million people.These bans are a response to pressure from the international community. Afghan and Burmese authorities alike are urging the international community to accompany their pressure with substantial aid. For political reasons, levels of humanitarian and alternative development aid are very different between the two countries. The international community has pledged several hundred millions for rural development in poppy growing regions in Afghanistan. In sharp contrast, pledged support that could soften the crisis in poppy regions in Burma is less than $15 million, leaving an urgent shortfall. Opium growing regions in both countries will enter a downward spiral of poverty because of the ban.The reversed sequencing of first forcing farmers out of poppy cultivation before ensuring other income opportunities is a grave mistake.Aggressive drug control efforts against farmers and small-scale opium traders, and forced eradication operations in particular, also have a negative impact on prospects for peace and democracy in both countries. In neither Afghanistan nor Burma have farmers had any say at all in these policies from which they stand to suffer most. It is vital that local communities and organisations that represent them are given a voice in the decision-making process that has such a tremendous impact on their livelihoods..."
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute (TNI)
2005-06-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-08-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Burma is on the brink of yet another humanitarian crisis. In the Kokang region, an opium ban was enforced last year, and by mid-2005 no more poppy growing will be allowed in the Wa region. Banning opium in these Shan State regions adds another chapter to the long and dramatic history of drugs, conflict and human suffering. TNI tries to bring nuance to the polarised debate on the Rangoon-focussed political agenda, the demonising of the ceasefire groups and repressive drug policy approaches. Hundreds of thousands of farmers who depend on the opium economy risk being sacrificed in an effort to comply with international pressures about drug-free deadlines. Community livelihoods face being crushed between the pincers of the opium ban and tightened sanctions. The unfolding drama caused by the opium bans is forcing the international community to rethink its strategies. Enforcement of tight deadlines will result in major food shortages and may jeopardise the fragile social stability in the areas. To sustain the gradual decline in opium production, alternative sources of income for basic subsistence farmers have to be secured. Without adequate resources, the longer-term sustainability of ‘quick solutions? is highly questionable. Since military authorities are eager to comply with promises made, law enforcement repression is likely to increase, with human rights abuses and more displacement a potential outcome. The only viable and humane option lies in a simultaneous easing of drug control deadline pressures and increasing international humanitarian aid efforts. Both require stronger international engagement of a different kind to that we have seen so far."
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute
2003-12-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-08-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: The Golden Triangle is closing a dramatic period of opium reduction?, wrote UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa in his preface to the 2007 survey on Opium Poppy Cultivation in South East Asia. ?A decade long process of drug control is clearly paying off.? According to the survey, the region produced one-third of world opium production in 1998, now down to only about 5 percent. The once notorious region ?can no longer be called Golden Triangle on the reason of opium production alone.? There has clearly been a significant decline in opium production in Southeast Asia over the past decade in spite of a resurgence in Burma (Myanmar) in the last two years. In this study, we try to assess the causes and consequences, and come to the conclusion that the region is suffering a variety of ‘withdrawal symptoms?, leaving little reason for optimism. The rapid decline has caused major suffering among former poppy growing communities in Burma and Laos, making it difficult to characterise developments as a ‘success story?. Meanwhile, the market of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) has increased rapidly and higher heroin prices are leading to shifts in consumer behaviour. While the total numbers of opium and heroin users may be going down, many have started to inject and others have shifted to a cocktail of pharmaceutical replacements, representing largely unknown health risks. Confronted with harsh domestic repression and little support from the international community, both farmers and users in the region are struggling to find coping strategies to deal with the rapid changes. Drug control officials have presumed that reducing opium production would automatically lead to a reduction in drug consumption and drugrelated problems. The reality in Southeast Asia proves them wrong. Had quality treatment services been in place, more drug users may have chosen that option. In the absence of adequate health care and within a highly repressive law enforcement environment, however, most are forced to find their own ‘solutions?. Harm reduction services are still only accessible to a tiny proportion of those who need them in the region, even though most countries have now adopted the basic principles in their policy framework. China, especially, has started to significantly scale up needle exchange and methadone programmes to prevent a further spreading of blood-borne infections. In 1998, the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting signed the declaration for a Drug-Free ASEAN by 2020 and two years later even decided to bring forward the target year to 2015. Countries elaborated national plans to comply with the deadline putting huge pressure on rural communities to abandon poppy cultivation and traditional opium use and on police to arrest as many users and traders as possible. This also led to the 2003 ‘war on drugs? in Thailand in which thousands of drug users and small-scale traders were killed. The 2008 status report on progress achieved towards making ASEAN and China drug-free, ?identifies an overall rising trend in the abuse of drugs?, however, and acknowledges that ?a target of zero drugs for production, trafficking and consumption of illicit drugs in the region by 2015 is obviously unattainable?. This TNI publication makes extensive use of the research carried out by our team of fifteen researchers working in Burma, Thailand, Laos and Yunnan province in China. Hundreds of interviews were conducted with farmers, users and traders. We cannot thank them enough for their motivation and courage. Most prefer to remain anonymous and continue their research to detect new trends and help fill gaps in knowledge that have become apparent while writing this first report. A more detailed publication incorporating their latest findings is due at the end of this year. We intend to discuss our outcomes with authorities, civil society and researchers in the region with a view to contributing to a better understanding of the changes taking place in the regional drugs market and to design more effective and humane drug policy responses for the future.
Creator/author: Tom Kramer, Martin Jelsma
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute (TNI) Debate Papers No. 16
2008-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-08-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Burma?s history of militias immersed in corruption dates back a long way...In a military effort to contain the southward spread of communism, a convoy of military vehicles relocated Kokang and Wa warlords and landlords from Tangyan to mountain areas closer to the border. The increase in traffic meant that heroin could transit freely in mule caravans from Tangyan to Doilerng under military protection. The genie was out of the bottle. Khun Sa and his army set up a sovereign kingdom of their own in places once haunted by the Kuomintang. With profits from the burgeoning drug trade, Khun Sa could rest easy in his mountain kingdom. It wasn?t until 1973, when the international community begged for something to be done about Burma?s flourishing drug trade, that the junta dissolved the kakweye. But the junta?s response was too little, too late. And though there has been campaign after campaign against armed opposition forces, the Burmese army has never called for a serious military campaign to quell or wipe out drug barons. Why would they? Top military leaders enjoy all kinds of favors and kickbacks from drug traders..." "
Creator/author: Pho Thar Aung
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 11, No. 1
2003-01-00
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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