Day 12: Palaung Women’s Organisation report Still Poisoned

A briefing paper released in October by the Palaung Women’s Organization (PWO) exposes a dramatic increase in opium cultivation in Burma’s northern Shan State in the constituency of a drug lord elected into the new military-backed parliament. PWO reports have consistently shown that drug addiction in Palaung areas has negative impacts on Palaung women, including increased risks of domestic violence and human trafficking. (The Voices for Change report featured on Day 3 of the 16 Days also touches on this subject.)

Still Poisoned, a follow-up to PWO’s 2010 Poisoned Hills report, documents how opium cultivation in 15 villages in Namkham Township has increased by over 78% in only two years. Still Poisoned finds that this dramatic increase is rooted in politics: “Burma’s drug problems are set to worsen unless there is genuine political reform that addresses the political aspirations of Burma’s ethnic minority groups.”

Both reports follow PWO’s 2006 report Poisoned Flowers, which addresses the affects of drug addiction on Palaung women specifically. According to Poisoned Flowers, drug addiction in Palaung communities “forces women to single-handedly support their families, at the cost of their health and the education of their children. The increased financial difficulties and the resulting tension frequently lead to domestic violence. These women are further burdened by cultural taboos that trap them in a vicious cycle of affliction.”

Still Poisoned reinforces this finding: “Drug addicts often do not work to contribute to their family income and they frequently become violent towards their spouses, especially if they are denied money from their wives to buy drugs. Verbal and physical abuse becomes a part of everyday life for the family of an addict.”

Still Poisoned finds that drug addiction can also expose Palaung women to human trafficking as documented in the 2011 PWO report Stolen Lives. “Those Palaung women whose husbands are addicted to opium have to single-handedly provide financial support for the whole family. As a result of high unemployment in the Palaung area, many women are forced to migrate in search of work so that they can make enough income for their family’s survival. This exposes them to the risk of human trafficking.”

PWO’s latest research underlines the urgent need to address the political problems at the root of the drug problem in Burma. “Local paramilitary leaders are being allowed to cultivate and profit from drugs in return for helping the regime suppress ethnic resistance forces,” said Lway Nway Hnoung, principal researcher of Still Poisoned. “Burma’s civil war and drug production are two sides of the same coin.”

Read the PWO reports at the links below:

Still Poisoned: Opium cultivation soars in palaung areas under Burma’s new regime

Stolen Lives: Human trafficking from Palaung areas of Burma to China

Poisoned Hills: Opium cultivation surges under government control in Burma

Poisoned Flowers: The impacts of spiraling drug addiction on Palaung women in Burma

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The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership in 1991. For each of the 16 Days from 25 November to 10 December 2011, the IWDA website will be featuring a different piece to highlight the work of our partners and explore ways that IWDA supporters can take part in the effort to end gender-based violence.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 under 16_Days, Front page, Thai Burma Border.