Crisis in Burma: The Crackdown, the Cyclone, and the International Response
Leading UN Official Defends International Aid Presence in Burma
NEW YORK, June 9, 2008 - More than a month after the devastating cyclone that killed more than 135,000 people in Myanmar/Burma, the Asia Society and the Open Society Institute convened a panel discussion to assess the situation there, focusing on the international humanitarian response and its reception by the country's ruling junta.
Top UN humanitarian official Sir John Holmes gave a firsthand account of the UN's discussions with Burmese military leaders and their reluctant acceptance of aid.
 Watch the video/read more | | | |  |
| NGAPUDAW, MYANMAR/BURMA - JUNE 3: Cyclone survivors walk back to a relief camp after collecting food from donors in Yangon. (KHIN MAUNG/AFP/Getty Images) |
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Slideshows
 Cyclone Nargis: The Children's Perspective
View drawings by young cyclone survivors, ages 6 to 13, created while their parents were waiting for food and supplies in Myanmar/Burma.
 Cyclone Nargis Hits Burma
Photos, on-the-ground report, and how you can help the relief and reconstruction efforts.
Op-Eds
 What Mr. Ban Can Do for Burma
In a piece in the Far Eastern Economic Review, Suzanne DiMaggio, director of Asia Society's Asian Social Issues Program (ASIP), discusses
what UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should do to prevent further loss of life in cyclone-ravaged Myanmar/Burma.
 Crisis: Burma's Agony
Suzanne DiMaggio on the growing crisis in Myanmar/Burma and how "junta leaders have done little to facilitate recovery efforts in the wake of the disaster."
 Burma road goes through Beijing
Asia Society Executive Vice President Jamie Metzl discusses China's role in fostering national reconciliation in Burma.
Podcasts
May 27, 2008: Suzanne DiMaggio talks about the diplomatic front in the movement to get aid into Burma. How has UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon handled the situation?
May 6, 2008: Bernard Schwartz Fellow Tion Kwa gives an analysis of the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar/Burma. What kind of impact will aid have? Will there be democracy? What will the military's next steps be?
More Asia Society Resources
 The Crisis in Burma: In Search of a Unified International Response
NEW YORK, March 25, 2008 - Six months after the Burmese military government's violent crackdown on thousands of monks and pro-democracy demonstrators, Asia Society and Open Society Institute convened a panel to revisit the situation in Burma in light of that government's recently announced "roadmap to democracy."
Listen on Demand (1 hr., 34 min.)
 Burma Emergency Town Hall
NEW YORK, October 5, 2007 - Monks' and eyewitness accounts of the Burmese crisis with live call-in from the leader of the monks in Burma, and dramatic video.
Watch the video
Human Rights and Public Health: The Myanmar/Burma Tragedy
On September 13, 2007, a panel of experts in health and human rights explored the challenges of delivering humanitarian aid to Myanma/Burmar. Speakers included Helen Epstein, author of The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West and the Fight Against AIDS, Aryeh Neier, President, Open Society Institute, Joseph Amon, Program Director, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights Watch, and Brian Williams, UNAIDS Country Coordinator, Myanmar.
Listen on Demand (1 hr., 33 min.)
Burma Today
Speech by Shari Villarosa,
Charge d'Affaires, US Embassy in Rangoon, May 31, 2007
Read her remarks
Additional Resources
Burma: Desperation Mounts
Suzanne DiMaggio discusses the situation in Myanmar/Burma in an online chat on washingtonpost.com.
Read the chat transcript
No News Is Bad News
In an op-ed in The New York Times, Asia Society fellow Roby Alampay discusses how the Myanmar government's censorship of the press may hinder rescue and relief efforts.
Read the article
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