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As a massive international relief effort
gets underway to help hundreds of thousands of Burmese affected by the
recent cyclone, Minority Rights Group international calls on the UN and
international aid agencies to make sure that ethnic minorities are not
left out of the process. There is limited information on the ethnic breakdown
of the population in the affected Irrawaddy region but ethnic Karen and
Mon communities are known to live in these areas. Previous research by
MRG shows that when a natural disaster occurs minority communities are
often worst affected and last to have access to aid. They also face discrimination
in the aid distribution process. According to Burmese government figures
22,000 people have been killed and 41,000 are reported missing after the
cyclone. More than a million are believed to be homeless.
For more details on ethnic communities in Burma see the country entry in the World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. See also MRG's climate change briefing paper.