Help to Children victimized by AIDS in Northern Thailand

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The Shan people
The Shan-Tai are one of the largest remaining UPG's (Unreached People Groups) in South East Asia with between 5-6 million people in Burma, (4-5 million) SW China (300 000) and Thailand (200 000).  

They are more than 99% Buddhist and have a had a reputation for their resistance to the Gospel. "To be Shan is to be Buddhist," or so the saying goes. The Shan-Tai are facing persecution and recently this has been described as genocide. In 2002 a report was published, "Licence to Rape," which outlined the atrocities against 625 women, many of them gang raped, by the Burmese military.

Thousands of Shan have been displaced from their land and fled to other parts of Burma or come across the Border into Thailand . InThailand,unlike other minority groups, they have not been granted refugee status. Instead they mingle with the Thai population, many ending up being exploited by employers who know that

the Shan have little or no official identity papers. There are an e s t i m a t e d 50000 Shan living in the Thai town of Chiang Mai alone.

Within Burma the Shan are not unified in their response to the Burmese and there are three Shan State Armies, as well as other ethnic militias operating within the Shan State of Burma . The Burmese military are also present in force. The Shan state is renowned for its lawlessness and the production of opium and amphetamines. Burma is still the second largest producer of heroin in the world. Tension between Shan and

Burmese Junta (SPDC) has been mounting recently with the arrest of several important Shan leaders.