Burma (Myanmar)

• tropical monsoon;
• cloudy, rainy, hot, humid summers (southwest monsoon, June to September);
• less cloudy, scant rainfall, mild temperatures, lower humidity during winter (northeast monsoon, December to April)

total:

33.23 cu km/yr (1%/1%/98%)

per capita:

658 cu m/yr (2000)

• destructive earthquakes and cyclones;
• flooding and landslides common during rainy season (June to September);
• periodic droughts

• deforestation;
• industrial pollution of air, soil, and water;
• inadequate sanitation and water treatment contribute to disease

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

noun:

Burmese (singular and plural)

adjective:

Burmese

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.04 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.99 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.77 male(s)/female

total population:

0.99 male(s)/female (2011 est.)

name:

Rangoon (Yangon)

geographic coordinates:

16 48 N, 96 09 E

time difference:

UTC+6.5 (11.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

note: Nay Pyi Taw is the administrative capital

chief of state:

• President THEIN SEIN (since 4 February 2011);
• Vice President SAI MOUK KHAM (since 3 February 2011);
• Vice President NYAN HTUN (since 15 August 2012)

head of government:

President THEIN SEIN (since 4 February 2011)

cabinet:

cabinet is appointed by the president and confirmed by the parliament; (For more information visit theWorld Leaders website)

elections:

• THEIN SEIN elected president by the parliament from among three vice presidents;
• the upper house, the lower house, and military members of the parliament each nominate one vice president (president serves a five-year term)

• remnants of the British-era legal system are in place, but there is no guarantee of a fair public trial;
• the judiciary is not independent of the executive;
• the 2011 constitution calls for a Supreme Court, a Courts-Martial, and a Constitutional Tribunal of the Union

• All Mon Region Democracy Party or AMRDP [NAING NGWE THEIN];
• National Democratic Force or NDF [KHIN MAUNG SWE, Dr.THAN NYEIN];
• National League for Democracy or NLD [AUNG SAN SUU KYI];
• National Unity Party or NUP [TUN YE];
• Rakhine Nationalities Development Party or RNDP [Dr. AYE MG];
• Shan Nationalities Democratic Party [SAI AIKE PAUNG];
• Shan Nationalities League for Democracy or SNLD [HKUN HTUN OO];
• Union Solidarity and Development Party or USDP [SHWE MANN, HTAY OO];
• numerous smaller parties

Thai border:

• Ethnic Nationalities Council or ENC;
• Federation of Trade Unions-Burma or FTUB (exile trade union and labor advocates);
• National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma or NCGUB (self-proclaimed government in exile) ["Prime Minister" Dr. SEIN WIN] consists of individuals, some legitimately elected to the People's Assembly in 1990 (the group fled to a border area and joined insurgents in December 1990 to form a parallel government in exile);
• National Council-Union of Burma or NCUB (exile coalition of opposition groups)

Inside Burma:

• Kachin Independence Organization or KIO;
• Karen National Union or KNU;
• Karenni National People's Party or KNPP;
• United Wa State Army or UWSA;
• 88 Generation Students (pro-democracy movement);
• several other Chin, Karen, Mon, and Shan factions

note: freedom of expression has been highly restricted in Burma; the restrictions are being relaxed by the government; political groups, other than parties approved by the government, are limited in number

chief of mission:

Ambassador THAN SWE

chancery:

2300 S Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 332-3344

FAX:

[1] (202) 332-4351

consulate(s) general:

none; Burma has a Mission to the UN in New York

chief of mission:

Ambassador Derek J. MITCHELL

embassy:

110 University Avenue, Kamayut Township, Rangoon

mailing address:

Box B, APO AP 96546

telephone:

[95] (1) 536-509, 535-756, 538-038

FAX:

[95] (1) 650-306

• design consists of three equal horizontal stripes of yellow (top), green, and red;
• centered on the green band is a large white five-pointed star that partially overlaps onto the adjacent colored stripes;
• the design revives the triband colors used by Burma from 1943-45, during the Japanese occupation

name:

"Kaba Ma Kyei" (Till the End of the World, Myanmar)

lyrics/music:

SAYA TIN

note: adopted 1948; Burma is among a handful of non-European nations that have anthems rooted in indigenous traditions; the beginning portion of the anthem is a traditional Burmese anthem before transitioning into a Western-style orchestrated work

agriculture:

70%

industry:

7%

services:

23% (2001 est.)

lowest 10%:

2.8%

highest 10%:

32.4% (1998)

• rice, pulses, beans, sesame, groundnuts, sugarcane;
• fish and fish products;
• hardwood

• fabric, petroleum products, fertilizer, plastics, machinery, transport equipment;
• cement, construction materials, crude oil;
• food products, edible oil

general assessment:

meets minimum requirements for local and intercity service for business and government

domestic:

system barely capable of providing basic service; mobile-cellular phone system is grossly underdeveloped

international:

• country code - 95;
• landing point for the SEA-ME-WE-3 optical telecommunications submarine cable that provides links to Asia, the Middle East, and Europe;
• satellite earth stations - 2, Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and ShinSat (2011)

• government controls all domestic broadcast media;
• 2 state-controlled TV stations with 1 of the stations controlled by the armed forces;
• 2 pay-TV stations are joint state-private ventures;
• access to satellite TV is limited;
• 1 state-controlled domestic radio station and 6 FM stations that are joint state-private ventures;
• transmissions of several international broadcasters are available in parts of Burma;
• the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA), BBC Burmese service, and the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) use shortwave to send broadcasts into Burma;
• VOA, RFA, and DVB produce daily TV news programs that are transmitted by satellite to audiences in Burma (2009)

total:

5,031 km

country comparison to the world: 36

narrow gauge:

5,031 km 1.000-m gauge (2008)

total:

29

country comparison to the world: 86

by type:

cargo 22, passenger 2, passenger/cargo 3, specialized tanker 1, vehicle carrier 1

foreign-owned:

2 (Germany 1, Japan 1)

registered in other countries:

3 (Panama 3) (2010)

• 18-35 years of age (men) and 18-27 years of age (women) for compulsory military service;
• service obligation 2 years;
• male (ages 18-45) and female (ages 18-35) professionals (including doctors, engineers, mechanics) serve up to 3 years;
• service terms may be extended to 5 years in an officially declared emergency;
• forced conscription of children, although officially prohibited, reportedly continues;
• on 27 June 2012, the regime signed a Joint Action Plan on prevention of child recruitment (2012)

males age 16-49:

14,747,845

females age 16-49:

14,710,871 (2010 est.)

males age 16-49:

10,451,515

females age 16-49:

11,181,537 (2010 est.)

male:

522,478

female:

506,388 (2010 est.)

• over half of Burma's population consists of diverse ethnic groups who have substantial numbers of kin in neighboring countries;
• the Naf river on the border with Bangladesh serves as a smuggling and illegal transit route;
• Bangladesh struggles to accommodate 29,000 Rohingya, Burmese Muslim minority from Arakan State, living as refugees in Cox's Bazar;
• Burmese border authorities are constructing a 200 km (124 mi) wire fence designed to deter illegal cross-border transit and tensions from the military build-up along border with Bangladesh in 2010;
• Bangladesh referred its maritime boundary claims with Burma and India to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea;
• Burmese forces attempting to dig in to the largely autonomous Shan State to rout local militias tied to the drug trade, prompts local residents to periodically flee into neighboring Yunnan Province in China;
• fencing along the India-Burma international border at Manipur's Moreh town is in progress to check illegal drug trafficking and movement of militants;
• 140,000 mostly Karen refugees fleeing civil strife, political upheaval and economic stagnation in Burma live in remote camps in Thailand near the border

current situation:

• Burma is a source country for women, children, and men trafficked for the purpose of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation;
• Burmese women and children are trafficked to East and Southeast Asia for commercial sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced labor;
• Burmese children are subjected to conditions of forced labor in Thailand as hawkers and beggars;
• women are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation to Malaysia and China;
• some trafficking victims transit Burma from Bangladesh to Malaysia and from China to Thailand;
• Burma's internal trafficking remains the most serious concern occurring primarily from villages to urban centers and economic hubs for labor in industrial zones, agricultural estates, and commercial sexual exploitation;
• the Burmese military continues to engage in the unlawful conscription of child soldiers, and continues to be the main perpetrator of forced labor inside Burma;
• a small number of foreign pedophiles occasionally exploit Burmese children in the country

tier rating:

• Tier 3 - the driving factors behind Burma's significant trafficking problem are the regime's gross economic mismanagement and human rights abuses, the military's continued widespread use of forced and child labor, and the recruitment of child soldiers;
• although the government of Burma has taken some steps to address cross-border sex trafficking, it has not demonstrated serious and sustained efforts to clamp down on military and local authorities who are themselves deriving economic benefit from forced labor practices (2010)

• world's third largest producer of illicit opium with an estimated production in 2009 of 250 metric tons, a decrease of 27%, and poppy cultivation in 2009 totaled 17,000 hectares, a 24% decrease from 2008;
• production in the United Wa State Army's areas of greatest control remains low;
• Shan state is the source of 94.5% of Burma's poppy cultivation;
• lack of government will to take on major narcotrafficking groups and lack of serious commitment against money laundering continues to hinder the overall antidrug effort;
• major source of methamphetamine and heroin for regional consumption (2008)