“They have received no aid since October and have barely any food left. They are trying to cook their tiny amounts of rice with rotten pumpkin leaves they find in the jungle.” Human rights activist Khon Ja describes the desperate conditions in non-government controlled Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps in Kachin and northern Shan State in Burma/Myanmar, where the military has been blocking humanitarian aid deliveries since September 2014.
Some 98,000 civilians have been displaced since fighting re-ignited between the military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in 2011, ending a 17-year cease fire. According to data collected by Kachin civil society organizations in October 2016, 29 IDP camps hosting 46,397 IDPs are in non-government controlled areas, with about half of inhabitants being children.
An OCHA bulletin published on 19 December 2016 estimated that an extra 17,400 people has been displaced due to an intensification of fighting since then.
Khon Ja estimates that around 65,000 IDPs are suffering from acute food shortages as a direct result of the military’s blocking of aid. This number includes around 1,000 individuals who escaped fighting in Shwegu and are now hiding in the jungle, not officially recognized as IDPs.
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