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Burma News

Newsletter from the Danish Burma Committee

Unfair and irresponsible criti cism of assistance


to exposed Burmese
The Danish Burma Committee rejects the allegations made in the Danish newspaper
“Ekstra Bladet” regarding assistance to Burmese refugees. The publication of
confidential information is putting the security of the Burmese refugees at risk.

On 10 and 11 January 2010 a number of allegations regarding the partners of the Danish
Burma Committee were put forward in the Danish newspaper “Ekstra Bladet”. The
articles were based on two reports made by a Thai auditor. The Danish Burma Committee
has sent their response to the reports to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 4 January. Our
partners have been given the possibility to respond to the reports as well and have been
able to prove most of the allegations made in the articles wrong.

The Danish Burma Committee welcomed the investigation of the practices of as well
National Health and Education Committee (NHEC) as of Forum for Democracy of
Burma (FDB), as we are very open to suggestions and recommendations on how
procedures can be improved. Nevertheless we emphasized to the Danish embassy in
Bangkok that our partners were concerned about security as they were requested to hand
over sensitive information e.g. regarding visa status.

We were told by both the embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that all
information would be treated as strictly confidential, which we told our partners.
Consequently both our partners and we were very upset when we found out that the
pass word protected reports, which were stamped “strictly confidential” and were
only in the position of the Thai auditor, the Danish embassy in Bangkok, and the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were leaked to the press. Not because of the reputation

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of DBC, but because of the security of our partners. After being informed about the
leak of the reports containing names, addresses, description of working methods, our
partners have taken steps to avoid the serious risk, they are being exposed too, as being
politically active inside Burma.

Lack of knowledge

In the Danish Burma Committee we are astonished to see the Thai auditor’s lack of
knowledge about the conditions under which Burmese refugees in Thailand are living.
Furthermore the reports show that the auditor has not been briefed about the formal
regulations regarding the projects. As an example we can mention that she states
“Receipts have not been promptly sent to the Danish Embassy as soon as a grant is
transferred to NHEC”. The Danish Embassy has nothing to do with the administration of
the projects what so ever, and it would be greatly strange if receipts for transfer of funds
were submitted to the Embassy.

The auditor finds that our partners are failing to comply with the contract with the Danish
Burma Committee, as the contract stipulates that our partners are not allowed to engage
in illegal activities. As a prove to the so-called illegal activities she mentions that our
partners have telephone numbers in Burma, that have been set up in a way that is illegal
under Burmese law, and is thus not respecting the contract. These kinds of allegations
leave you completely speechless. Yes it is illegal to have non registered telephones in
Burma. It is illegal to take photos of peacefully demonstrating monks being beaten up by
the military. It is illegal to inform people about their democratic rights. And these are
exactly the kind of activities that are the core of the projects in which the Danish Burma
Committee is involved. This has never been a secret to anyone. And these are the kind of
activities that the official representatives of Denmark were so proud to support during the
Saffron Revolution in September 2007.

The Burmese military regime has announced that elections will be carried out in 2010. If
FDB is not able to mobilize their network inside Burma the elections will be carried out
entirely on the terms of the Burmese military junta. If activities that are illegal according
to Burmese law cannot be supported, then Democratic Voice of Burma will not be able to
cover the elections via photos of TV transmissions. If NHEC cannot deliver medicine
cross border from Thailand, the most vulnerable groups inside Burma will not receive
any medicine at all. These groups cannot be reached by the assistance supported via the
Danish Embassy. Their support can only be distributed to areas to which the Burmese
regime can grant you permission. And logically the regime cannot grant permissions to
access the areas they don’t control – the ethnic areas - which are the most vulnerable
areas where the need, hardship and suffering are biggest.

Based on the audit reports, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has suspended all
support to NHEC and FDB while further investigations are taking place. It is still unclear
whether the support for these two partners as well as for DBC’s other partners will be
continued.

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The Danish Burma Committee has full confidence in our partners and a thorough
understanding for the very difficult situation under which they have to operate. We hope
the Danish authorities will have the sufficient decency to stand by the Burmese
democracy movement and show that their support is not just empty words.

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