ICC Note:

The UN has been blocked by the Burmese government from providing aid to the estimated 100,000 people displaced by the military’s offensive in Kachin State. Separatist groups in the area have clashed with Myanmar’s military. The military response has targeted civilians from ethnic groups that are predominantly Christian. Under the former administration, UN convoys were allowed to provide aid to IDPs in this region. Under the current government, which is headed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, not only have military offensives increased against Muslim and Christian minorities in their respective regions, but aid has been cut off preventing life-saving aid for civilians that have been driven from their homes.

12/21/2016 Myanmar (The Irrawaddy) – The UN has been waiting for months to send aid to a group of refugees sheltering in territory controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), but has been unable to secure official permission to do so. According to figures provided by the UN there are about 100,000 displaced people in Kachin State and neighboring northern Shan State, about half of whom are in areas controlled by the KIO.

Under the former Thein Sein administration, UN convoys were allowed to make regular aid deliveries to refugee camps in the KIO area—the first such convoy took place in Dec. 2011. The last such shipment took place in April, and was organized before the National League for Democracy (NLD) took office. Although UN aid convoys to KIO areas conducted during the Thein Sein period were subject to frequent delays, the UN’s effort to reach the most vulnerable displaced populations in Kachin state appears to have become considerably more difficult since the NLD came to power earlier this year.

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