A beautiful country in south east asia, Burma (Myanmar) is ruled by a military dictatorship charged by the United Nations with a “crime against humanity” for its systematic abuses of human rights...

It is routinely condemned across the world for refusing to transfer power to the legally elected Government after elections saw the pro-democracy party - led by Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi - receive a whopping 82% of all votes...

In the popular uprising of August 1988 which led to the elections, the military killed an estimated 1000 students & democracy supporters in events mirroring the infamous Tiananmen Square massacre in China – sparking a refugee exodus to the Thai-Burma border...

The regime uses widespread forced labour to build roads, railways & tourist attractions, has incarcerated and tortured as many as 1300 people for believing in their right to have their say & voice an opinion, and spends half the country’s wealth on an army which includes 70,000 Child Soldiers...

The military has forced the removal of 1.5 million people from their homes – creating the biggest refugee population in South East Asia — living in camps on the nation’s insecure & violent borders...

The Burmese army makes frequent incursions across the border to raid the camps, and thai authorities often treat the refugees as little more than illegal immigrants. Sadly for most, life is often marked by insecurity, poverty and fear...