The Irrawaddy Information

The Irrawaddy was founded in 1993 by a group of Burmese journalists living in exile in Thailand. It originated from the activities of a group of young Burmese activists who were forced to flee the persecution of the military regime in Burma/Myanmar, over the 1988 democracy uprisings. They fled into exile in Thailand where they worked passionately to alert the international community about the atrocities occurring in their homeland. 1992: Irrawaddy Director Aung Zaw founded the Burma Information Group (BIG) in Bangkok, Thailand, to document the human rights violations in Burma, including the unlawful detention of members of the democratic opposition, other dissidents and ethnic groups. The BIG released several reports on human rights inside Burma: to Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch Asia and other agencies, as well as Bangkok-based newspapers such as The Nation and The Bangkok Post. 1993: Aung Zaw launched The Irrawaddy news magazine in Bangkok, covering Burma affairs. It was the first independent news publication unaffiliated with Burmese political dissident groups in exile and in Burma. The magazine became a monthly publication, promoting press freedom and independent media, and gained an international reputation for balanced, informative and in-depth reporting. The Magazine was banned by the regime in Burma and anyone found with a copy could be arrested and imprisoned. 1999: The Irrawaddy magazine expanded its coverage to include other countries in Southeast Asia undergoing transitions to democratic forms of government, with a core focus on Burma. 2000: The Irrawaddy online websites were launched including the English language (2000) and Burmese language (2001) news sites. The Irrawaddy websites were banned by the military regime in Burma/Myanmar and blocked by state censors for 12 years - but we continued to publish in exile and become the most popular Burmese online news-site worldwide. Readers in Burma/Myanmar accessed the Irrawaddy via proxy servers whenever they could beat the state censorship ...