Burma plans to conduct its first census in 31 years, a key step in political reforms that may have a huge impact at the country's marginalized minorities.
Burma's minister of immigration and population Khin Yi signed a letter confirming his government's commitment to conduct the nationwide census by 2014. The letter says the primary survey in 31 years will adhere to global standards, include "all national races," and provides census workers access to all areas of the rustic.
During the signing ceremony in Naypyitaw, U.N. Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon said he hopes ongoing ceasefire talks will make the census possible, and should involve minorities and civil society.
Dave Mathieson, senior Burma researcher for Human Rights Watch, said a correct count of the population is a critical element of the government's political reforms.
"Potentially, in case you have a census that extends the ideal to vote to everyone within the country, you would have a much more equal and credible election in 2015," said Mathieson. "When you've got actually empowered people enough that they'll actually cast votes."
Burma's last official census in 1983 didn't count people living in areas where insurgencies were raging. Before that, the last credible census was conducted in 1931, during British rule.
Official denial of the stateless
Rights groups worry that if not conducted properly, the census could marginalize minorities inclusive of the Rohingya or those living in a single of Burma's many conflict areas.
The United Nations estimates nearly one-million ethnic Rohingya Muslims live in Rakhine State.
Myint Kyaing, Director General of Burma's Department of Population, an office which denies the existence of stateless people, is chargeable for conducting the survey.
"We don't have any stateless people in Myanmar and there's no Rohingya in Myanmar besides, because no Bengali individuals are residing in Myanmar," he said.
A key test
Analysts say resolving such classification disputes would be a key test of the census' accuracy and the government's commitment to reform.
For years, economists and academics studying Burma were forced to exploit the govt's notoriously unreliable data.
Professor Sean Turnell of Australia's Maquarie University, editor of Burma Economics Watch, said the census will allow the government to more accurately estimate key economic indicators equivalent to GDP.
"Under the former government there has been little or no, even in pretense, about having the numbers right," said Turnell. " there have been certain objectives that the govt desired to achieve and, when pressed, those numbers usually added as much as achieving those ends. And so i feel the classic example was GDP growth rates, which for many years were in double digits."
Those GDP rates, he added, would have made Burma the most effective performing economy on the earth.
In the 2 years leading as much as the information-collection period, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) may be assisting in surveyor training and drafting survey documents. UNFPA's country representative Mohamed Abdel-Ahad called it an extremely steep challenge as a result of period of time elapsed because the last census, but person who is a critical step.
"As you realize the general public doesn't know enough concerning the census," he said. "The census has not been taken for 30 years, so people who were born after 1983 in Myanmar don't know and feature not undergone the experience of conducting census, and we have to inform them that it truly is their right to count."
Abdel-Ahad said workers expect to hold out the census in April, 2014. The United Nations is anticipated to at the least partially cover the estimated $53-million cost.
From WhatNewsToday.net
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