<p>A report released on Sept 6 reveals the disturbing extent to which China has advanced construction of a trans-Burma oil and gas pipelines project despite raging conflict and associated abuses.</p>

<p>It is time the EU work to establish a UN-led Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity and other crimes under international law in Myanmar.</p>

<p>The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) welcomes the efforts of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, Tom&aacute;s Ojea Quintana, to ensure that justice and accountability measures are introduced to address human rights violations and build peace in Myanmar. We call on the European Union and ASEAN to support Mr. Quintana&rsquo;s call.</p>

<p>Numbers of villagers fleeing Burma Army atrocities have soared to over 30,000 during recent intensified attacks against the Shan State Army North (SSA-N), causing a dire humanitarian crisis in northern Shan State.</p>

<p>Over 16,000 refugees fleeing escalating fighting and systematic sexual violence in Kachin State and sheltering in makeshift camps along the China-Burma border are urgently in need of aid, according to the Kachin Women's Association Thailand (KWAT).</p>

<p><span lang="EN-GB">(18 June 2011) For the first time the AIPMC has engaged with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi through teleconference which was held simultaneously in Jakarta and Bangkok. AIPMC MPs who presented were Eva Kusuma Sundari, the current president of the AIPMC, and the former president, Kraisak Choonhavan.</span></p>

<p>Recent fighting near the Dapein and Shweli hydropower dams in northern Burma shows how the buildup of Burma Army troops to secure deeply unpopular Chinese dam projects is fuelling conflict.</p>

<p>(8 June 2011) Mr. President,</p> <p>Amnesty International estimates that there are more than 2,200 political prisoners in Myanmar held under vague laws frequently used by the government to criminalize peaceful political dissent. Some have been detained since the 1990s and others have more recently been sentenced to more than 60 years&rsquo; imprisonment. Many are held in inhumane conditions with inadequate food, sanitation or access to medical treatment. Amnesty International believes that the vast majority are prisoners of conscience held merely for peacefully exercising their rights to free expression, assembly, and association.</p>

<p>Reporters Without Borders reiterates its support for Democratic Voice of Burma&rsquo;s call for the release of the 17 DVB journalists who are currently jailed in Burma. One of these journalists, Ngwe Soe Lin, is spending his 30th birthday today continung to serve the 13-year sentence he was given for his investigative coverage of children orphaned by Cyclone Nargis.</p>

<p>23 May 2011 &ndash; The announcement on 16 May 2011 by Burmese president Thein Sein that all prisoners will receive a one-year sentence reduction is so woefully inadequate that it should be regarded as nothing but another attempt to present a fa&ccedil;ade of change while the regime continues to restrict fundamental freedoms and commit serious crimes against civilians, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (Altsean-Burma) and the Burma Lawyers&rsquo; Council (BLC) said today.</p>

<p>Authorities in Rangoon, Burma have banned video recordings of press conferences of the regional government after a foreign-based media group broadcast a video clip of the first such event.</p>

<p>On 13th March 2011 the dictatorship in Burma broke a 22 year long ceasefire agreement with the Shan State Army &ndash; North. 3,500 Burmese Army soldiers took part in a military offensive in north-central Shan State, an area with a population of 100,000. Sixty-five clashes were reported in the first three weeks of the dictatorship breaking the ceasefire. Civilians are being targeted in the military offensive, with mortar bombs fired at civilian villages.</p>