Suffer the little children: why China is to blame

IT is an absolute travesty that while the PR coup that is the Beijing Olympics continues, thousands of Burmese children remain abandoned and alone.

Recent reports detailed how more than 2,000 children remain separated from their parents and face an uncertain future in government-run homes. The children could easily be reunited with their families but cannot afford the bus fare to return to their homes.

When Cyclone Nargis struck Burma earlier this year the situation warranted a major international reaction. But due to the callousness of the Burmese authorities towards the suffering of their own people and the indifference of the Chinese to force their neighbour’s hand, many thousands of people were forced to suffer needlessly. Aid agencies such as GOAL were able to trickle aid in but we were never permitted to establish the large-scale response that was needed.