In late October-early November Union Aid Abroad ran a study tour to the Thai-Myanmar border. This tour contained participants from the Australian union movement who attended to learn about our projects in the region and the struggle for democracy in Myanmar. The following is an excerpt from a report by study tour participant and ANMF organiser Julie Wearing-Smith. It has been edited for brevity:
From the very first day we were immersed in the experience of the Burmese people, in Bangkok we met with young women who were participating in the ALTSEAN Burma ‘Women of Burma Internship’; individuals are selected from their communities for their advocacy and community engagement. The aim of the program is to give training in advocacy, activism and engagement. We met confident young people with a determination and confidence that they could go back to Burma (a dangerous and confronting war environment) and make a real difference to the future of their people.
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The next day we met with the Karen Women’s Organisation (KWO) in Mae Sot – we were made very welcome and heard about the amazing organising work of the Karen Women to facilitate girls and women’s education, social welfare, reduction in family violence, health education and empowerment. We were treated to a Karen lunch in a beautiful Mae Sot garden.
The bravery and solidarity of the groups we had met so far was remarkable, all the people we met spoke of the ‘CDMers’ (CDM – Civil Disobedience Movement) – nurses, doctors and teachers (predominantly) who on the Junta’s Coup on 1 February 2021 withdrew their labour and joined the CDMers, a staggering half of these people are still CDMers or are indeed refugees (and effectively ‘on strike’).
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We moved into 4 wheel drives to go into the (Umpien Mae refugee camp), based in incredibly hilly countryside. The camp is home to approximately 11,000 people – we again met with KWO leaders and KWO women, a dignified and determined community who spoke to us about life in the camp and their hopes to return home. We then split up and some went to see the water treatment plant, the school and special school and I and two others went to the hospital. This was a sobering experience; as due to Trump’s aid funding cuts there are no longer any health care funding so the wards are closed and empty…
Tragically the Burmese population is compelled to vote, they are required to participate and if they do not they risk arrest and imprisonment, even those outside the country are required to vote, and they must do this to protect those still within Burma. So there is a physical or psychological compulsion to engage in the process.
The messages everywhere we went were please make sure you let APHEDA know what we are doing with the Union Aid Abroad funding and how important it is… And then following the direct need for the funding to be maintained, the need to lobby the Australian Government to not recognise the military junta nor the sham elections in accordance with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) resolution passed under Article 33 of its Constitution against Myanmar – the most serious measure available to the ILO (passed in June 2025).
I am very grateful (for the opportunity) … to attend this study tour and to see firsthand the work that Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA engages in with the Burmese people. It was an inspiring (and also confronting) experience, it certainly has strengthened commitment to APHEDA fundraising.