Most nations in our world have some problem neighbours, and Myanmar is no exception.
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To be reflected upon: Myanmar has to pay for China’s problems This article appeared in The Guardian, a British newspaper, in March 2019 (and it is only one example of what kinds of problems a difficult neighbour might pose): Burmese and Chinese authorities are turning a blind eye to a growing trade in women from Myanmar’s Kachin minority, who are taken across the border, sold as wives to Chinese men and raped until they become pregnant, a report claims. Some of the women are allowed to return home after they have given birth, but are forced to leave their children, according to an investigation by Human Rights Watch, titled Give Us a Baby and We’ll Let You Go. One survivor said: “I gave birth, and after one year the Chinese man gave me a choice of what to do. I got permission to go back home, but not with the baby.”[i] What are the root causes for this? What should be done to stop this kind of thing happening? What can be done? |
One of the reasons, why Myanmar is interesting to some of its neighbours, are the country’s rich natural resources. Many of the earlier mentioned SDGs (see Part II, Chapter 5), deal with sustainable care of natural resources; see especially SDG 14 and SDG 15. These rich resources have a linkage to the armed rebellions. To whom does the richness of nature belong? The local people, who have always depended on their surroundings for their livelihoods, or the whole nation, which can develop the resources and create income for the benefit of wider groups? Or some big companies, which might be most effective in turning raw material into goods?
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To be reflected upon: Ownership of natural resources Are there, in the area where you live, natural resources which interest various stakeholders, also ones from further away? Is there a means with which you could help make sure that the people in your own area are the ones who benefit of the richness of nature – in a sustainable way? |