Zoya Phan
Encyclopedia
Zoya Phan is a high profile exiled political activist from Burma of Karen
descent. Currently, she resides in the United Kingdom, where she is International Coordinator of the human rights organization Burma Campaign UK
. She is an outspoken critic of the Burmese government and has repeatedly called for democratic reform in Burma, as well as economic sanctions from both the British government and the United Nations
. In April 2009, she published her autobiography, Little Daughter, in the UK, which was published under a different title in the United States in May 2010.
, headquarters of the Karen National Union
(KNU), on October 27, 1980, the second of her parents' three biological children. Her father was Padoh Mahn Sha Lah Phan, General Secretary of the KNU, and her mother was Nant Kyin Shwe, a former soldier for the KNU. Zoya got her unusual name from her father, who named her after the Russian
World War II
hero Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya
because he saw several parallels between the Soviet fight against the Nazis and the Karen struggle against the Burmese government. She spent most of her early life in a Karen village called Per He Lu, an hour's walk away from the KNU headquarters in Manerplaw
. When she was six, she began to spend more time in Manerplaw, and it was here that she had her first exposure to the fighting in Burma, as land mine
victims frequently went to the hospital there for treatment.
When Zoya was 14, the Burmese army attacked Manerplaw and Per He Lu, forcing her and her family to run to Mae Ra Moh, a refugee camp
just across the border in Thailand
. In 1996, she and her family managed to cross back into Burma, settling in a Karen village called Ther Waw Thaw (The New Village). Halfway through the school year, she nearly died of an unknown disease, only recovering after weeks of being on a drip. In March 1997, the village came under attack by the Burmese army, and she and her family fled back across the border to another refugee camp called Noh Poe
, near a Thai-Karen village. After ten months, Zoya and her older sister, Nant Bwa Bwa Phan
, were able to get to Mae Sot
in Thailand for three months, hoping for a chance to go to a university in Australia; however, this fell through, and they decided to complete their education at another refugee camp, Mae La
. In 1999, Zoya and Bwa Bwa took an Open Society Institute
(OSI) exam to earn a scholarship to go to a university. Both of them passed the first time; however, there was only enough space for Bwa Bwa, who went to Bangkok University
, and Zoya had to retake the exam the following year. While waiting, she caught cerebral malaria, and almost died a second time. In 2000, she retook the OSI exam and was granted an OSI scholarship and a scholarship from Prospect Burma, giving her the chance to join her sister studying in Bangkok.
. She attended one rally in traditional Karen dress, and was asked on the spot to be the master of ceremonies
. She accepted, and soon afterward, she was asked to do an interview with the BBC
, and rapidly became a sought-out speaker for issues related to Burma and Burma-UK relations.
Zoya has accused the Burmese government of using child soldiers and violent repression tactics, including torture
, ethnic cleansing
, religious discrimination, and killing of political opponents and protesters. She says that this has had a particularly devastating effect on the Karen, who are an ethnic minority and around 40% Christian and 20% animist in predominantly Buddhist Burma. In addition, she accuses the Burmese government of extreme corruption, saying that the leaders of the military junta have intentionally mismanaged the economy to benefit themselves. She has called for both the UN and the British government to place economic sanctions on Burma, and to cease all arms deals with the government. In 2010, she sharply denounced the international community's response to the 2010 Burmese elections, saying it was overly focused on very small changes that might occur while ignoring the fact that their impact would be minimal and would not lead to any significant increase in freedom. While Aung San Suu Kyi
was under house arrest, she repeatedly urged the UN and the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights
to work towards her release.
In 2007, she spoke at a Conservative Party
conference, calling for the British government to cease trade the Burmese government, and expressed her anger at the British government's continued inaction towards Burma even in the face of human rights abuses. She was also very critical of the UN for failing to impose an arms embargo on Burma after Russia
and China blocked a Security Council
motion. Later, she met with then-British prime minister Gordon Brown
to encourage imposition of a trade embargo with the Burmese.
In 2008, she accused the Burmese government of using Cyclone Nargis
to proliferate ethnic cleansing. She said that the government's lack of warning people about the impending cyclone and refusal of foreign aid to assist with medical treatment and rebuilding lead to thousands of unnecessary deaths. In addition, she harshly criticized Western governments, especially the United Kingdom, for refusing to push further when Burma agreed to allow relief workers into small parts of the country, saying that they did not do enough to hold the Burmese government accountable for its lack of response to the cyclone. She pointed out that the junta had already bent to international pressure by allowing workers in at all, and said that the international community should have pushed harder, which she said would have forced the junta to allow more essential aid. Ultimately, she said the international reaction was symbolic of the past several decades of inaction towards political and human rights abuses in Burma.
In addition to her work with the Burma Campaign UK, she is the coordinator of the European Karen Network, secretary of the Karen Community Association (UK), and serves of the board of the Austrian Burma Centre.
and the Independent
.
In February 2008, just before Zoya received her MA from East Anglia University, her father was assassinated by agents of the Burmese military dictatorship on February 14, 2008. Despite her name still being on the Burmese government's hit list, she and her family decided to attend his funeral in They Bey Hta, just inside Kayin State
in Burma. Following this, Zoya and her remaining family set up the Phan Foundation, which aims to fight poverty, promote education and human rights, and protect the culture of the Karen people of Burma. She received her MA in politics and development from the University of East Anglia
in May 2008.
Today, she resides in the UK, in an apartment in north London.
Zoya has two brothers and one sister. Say Say, her older brother, was adopted by her parents when she was four months old, and her younger brother Slone Phan was born when she was two. Nant Bwa Bwa Phan, her older sister, is currently the UK representative of the Karen National Union. Slone currently lives in Manitoba
, Canada, where he studied at the University of Manitoba
and became active in the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, an organization assisting refugees coming into Manitoba.
Fellow. In March 2010, she was honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum
(WEF).
Karen people
The Karen or Kayin people , are a Sino-Tibetan language speaking ethnic group which resides primarily in southern and southeastern Burma . The Karen make up approximately 7 percent of the total Burmese population of approximately 50 million people...
descent. Currently, she resides in the United Kingdom, where she is International Coordinator of the human rights organization Burma Campaign UK
Burma Campaign UK
Burma Campaign UK founded in 1991 is a London based Non Governmental Organisation that aims to achieve the 'restoration of human rights and democracy in Burma . BCUK campaigns on behalf of the Burmese pro-democracy movement and is the largest campaigning organisation for Burma in Europe...
. She is an outspoken critic of the Burmese government and has repeatedly called for democratic reform in Burma, as well as economic sanctions from both the British government and the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. In April 2009, she published her autobiography, Little Daughter, in the UK, which was published under a different title in the United States in May 2010.
Early life
Zoya Phan was born in ManerplawManerplaw
Manerplaw is a city in the Kayin State of Burma and is also the suggested capital of the proposed Kawthoolei state that the Karen people of Burma have been trying to establish since the late 1940s. The headquarters of the Karen National Union were located in Manerplaw until January 1995.The...
, headquarters of the Karen National Union
Karen National Union
The Karen National Union is a political organisation with an armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army that represents the Karen people of Burma. It operates in Eastern Burma, and has underground networks in other areas of Burma where Karen people live. In Karen, this Karen area is called...
(KNU), on October 27, 1980, the second of her parents' three biological children. Her father was Padoh Mahn Sha Lah Phan, General Secretary of the KNU, and her mother was Nant Kyin Shwe, a former soldier for the KNU. Zoya got her unusual name from her father, who named her after the Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
hero Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya
Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya
Zoya Anatolyevna Kosmodemyanskaya, alternatively Romanised as Kosmodem'yanskaya was a Soviet partisan, and a Hero of the Soviet Union...
because he saw several parallels between the Soviet fight against the Nazis and the Karen struggle against the Burmese government. She spent most of her early life in a Karen village called Per He Lu, an hour's walk away from the KNU headquarters in Manerplaw
Manerplaw
Manerplaw is a city in the Kayin State of Burma and is also the suggested capital of the proposed Kawthoolei state that the Karen people of Burma have been trying to establish since the late 1940s. The headquarters of the Karen National Union were located in Manerplaw until January 1995.The...
. When she was six, she began to spend more time in Manerplaw, and it was here that she had her first exposure to the fighting in Burma, as land mine
Land mine
A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
victims frequently went to the hospital there for treatment.
When Zoya was 14, the Burmese army attacked Manerplaw and Per He Lu, forcing her and her family to run to Mae Ra Moh, a refugee camp
Refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees. Hundreds of thousands of people may live in any one single camp. Usually they are built and run by a government, the United Nations, or international organizations, or NGOs.Refugee camps are generally set up in an impromptu...
just across the border in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. In 1996, she and her family managed to cross back into Burma, settling in a Karen village called Ther Waw Thaw (The New Village). Halfway through the school year, she nearly died of an unknown disease, only recovering after weeks of being on a drip. In March 1997, the village came under attack by the Burmese army, and she and her family fled back across the border to another refugee camp called Noh Poe
Noh Poe
Noh Poe or Nu Po is a refugee camp of approximately 14,000 people in the Amphoe Umphang district of Tak Province in Thailand. Located near the Thai border with the Karen state in Burma, it was set up in 1997 to accommodate Karen refugees fleeing fighting between the Burmese and the Karen...
, near a Thai-Karen village. After ten months, Zoya and her older sister, Nant Bwa Bwa Phan
Nant Bwa Bwa Phan
Nant Bwa Bwa Phan is the United Kingdom representative of the Karen National Union, a political organization representing the Karen ethnic people of Burma. She is also Vice-Chair of the Karen Community Association – UK, and on the board of the European Karen Network...
, were able to get to Mae Sot
Mae Sot
- External links :* * : an audio documentary.* *...
in Thailand for three months, hoping for a chance to go to a university in Australia; however, this fell through, and they decided to complete their education at another refugee camp, Mae La
Mae La refugee camp
Mae La is a refugee camp in Thailand. It was established in 1984 in Tha Song Yang District, Tak Province and currently houses 30,000 refugees, with more arriving each week from Burma. Mae La Camp is the largest Burmese refugee camp...
. In 1999, Zoya and Bwa Bwa took an Open Society Institute
Open Society Institute
The Open Society Institute , renamed in 2011 to Open Society Foundations, is a private operating and grantmaking foundation started by George Soros, aimed to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform...
(OSI) exam to earn a scholarship to go to a university. Both of them passed the first time; however, there was only enough space for Bwa Bwa, who went to Bangkok University
Bangkok University
Bangkok University is the oldest and largest private university in Thailand, established 1962. Located in the central business district of Bangkok, the university expanded its operation to Rangsit campus in Pathumthani province to accommodate its rapid growth....
, and Zoya had to retake the exam the following year. While waiting, she caught cerebral malaria, and almost died a second time. In 2000, she retook the OSI exam and was granted an OSI scholarship and a scholarship from Prospect Burma, giving her the chance to join her sister studying in Bangkok.
Bangkok University
At Bangkok University, Zoya enrolled in the business administration program, as that was the only program her scholarship would permit her to enter. Zoya and her sister had no papers, and like other students from Burma had to maintain a low profile to avoid the scrutiny of the Thai police. During her second year, she and Bwa Bwa helped to secretly organize a support group for other Karen students, collecting money to give a prize to a student in one of the refugee camps. In her third year, Zoya entered a three month internship in the consumer department of Telecoms Asia, and was offered a position after she completed her degree. After three years, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in business administration. Upon returning to the refugee camps, she and several other Karen students from their organization illegally crossed the Burmese border to Papun, to personally deliver their prize to the winner and to document what was happening to Karen people still in Burma. Soon after they returned, Zoya considered accepting Telecoms Asia's offer, but ultimately accepted a scholarship to study in the United Kingdom with her sister, while her younger brother Slone went to study in Canada. Before she left, her father took in two Burmese child soldiers who were sent to kill both him and Zoya; although they failed, it was the first time the Burmese government had specifically targeted her. Her mother died a few weeks later, and Zoya considered staying to help her father; however, he insisted that she go.Political activism
Zoya first saw her father speak while her family was in Ther Waw Thaw, inspiring her to become an activist herself. Upon entering the UK in 2005, she began volunteering with the Burma Campaign UKBurma Campaign UK
Burma Campaign UK founded in 1991 is a London based Non Governmental Organisation that aims to achieve the 'restoration of human rights and democracy in Burma . BCUK campaigns on behalf of the Burmese pro-democracy movement and is the largest campaigning organisation for Burma in Europe...
. She attended one rally in traditional Karen dress, and was asked on the spot to be the master of ceremonies
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
. She accepted, and soon afterward, she was asked to do an interview with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, and rapidly became a sought-out speaker for issues related to Burma and Burma-UK relations.
Zoya has accused the Burmese government of using child soldiers and violent repression tactics, including torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
, ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
, religious discrimination, and killing of political opponents and protesters. She says that this has had a particularly devastating effect on the Karen, who are an ethnic minority and around 40% Christian and 20% animist in predominantly Buddhist Burma. In addition, she accuses the Burmese government of extreme corruption, saying that the leaders of the military junta have intentionally mismanaged the economy to benefit themselves. She has called for both the UN and the British government to place economic sanctions on Burma, and to cease all arms deals with the government. In 2010, she sharply denounced the international community's response to the 2010 Burmese elections, saying it was overly focused on very small changes that might occur while ignoring the fact that their impact would be minimal and would not lead to any significant increase in freedom. While Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi, AC is a Burmese opposition politician and the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. In the 1990 general election, her National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 81% of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained...
was under house arrest, she repeatedly urged the UN and the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights
ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights
The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights was inaugurated in September 2009 as a consultative body of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations...
to work towards her release.
In 2007, she spoke at a Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
conference, calling for the British government to cease trade the Burmese government, and expressed her anger at the British government's continued inaction towards Burma even in the face of human rights abuses. She was also very critical of the UN for failing to impose an arms embargo on Burma after Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and China blocked a Security Council
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
motion. Later, she met with then-British prime minister Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
to encourage imposition of a trade embargo with the Burmese.
In 2008, she accused the Burmese government of using Cyclone Nargis
Cyclone Nargis
Cyclone Nargis , was a strong tropical cyclone that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Burma. The cyclone made landfall in Burma on Friday, May 2, 2008, causing catastrophic destruction and at least 138,000 fatalities...
to proliferate ethnic cleansing. She said that the government's lack of warning people about the impending cyclone and refusal of foreign aid to assist with medical treatment and rebuilding lead to thousands of unnecessary deaths. In addition, she harshly criticized Western governments, especially the United Kingdom, for refusing to push further when Burma agreed to allow relief workers into small parts of the country, saying that they did not do enough to hold the Burmese government accountable for its lack of response to the cyclone. She pointed out that the junta had already bent to international pressure by allowing workers in at all, and said that the international community should have pushed harder, which she said would have forced the junta to allow more essential aid. Ultimately, she said the international reaction was symbolic of the past several decades of inaction towards political and human rights abuses in Burma.
In addition to her work with the Burma Campaign UK, she is the coordinator of the European Karen Network, secretary of the Karen Community Association (UK), and serves of the board of the Austrian Burma Centre.
Little Daughter
In speeches and interviews, Zoya frequently speaks about her experiences to describe conditions in Burma. In 2009, she worked with Damien Lewis to publish her autobiography, Little Daughter: a Memoir of Survival in Burma and the West, 2009. It is published by Simon and Schuster. In May 2010, it was published in the United States under the title, Undaunted: My Struggle for Freedom and Survival in Burma. She said that the goal of her book was to share her story as a Karen living in Burma, and to raise international awareness of the ongoing fighting and human rights abuses in Burma, especially in the east, which she says does not receive enough attention. At the end of the book, she also expresses her extreme skepticism over the upcoming elections, criticizing the UN and governments who believe that real reform will be attained. She maintains that the situation in Burma is exactly the same as when she fled the country, and that only pressure and sanctions from other countries will bring about the reform necessary to create democracy within Burma. The book has received positive reviews from papers such as the Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
and the Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
.
Personal life
As Zoya had entered the UK with a falsified passport, she was almost deported, but was allowed to stay while applying for refugee status. After applying for judicial review in August 2007, two years after her initial application, the British government granted it to her. After delivering her first speeches for the Burma Campaign UK, a radio transmission was intercepted, which contained a Burmese government's hit list with her name on it.In February 2008, just before Zoya received her MA from East Anglia University, her father was assassinated by agents of the Burmese military dictatorship on February 14, 2008. Despite her name still being on the Burmese government's hit list, she and her family decided to attend his funeral in They Bey Hta, just inside Kayin State
Kayin State
Kayin State is a state of Burma . The capital city is Hpa-an.-History:The region that forms today's Kayin State was part of successive Burmese kingdoms since the formation of the Pagan Empire in mid-11th century...
in Burma. Following this, Zoya and her remaining family set up the Phan Foundation, which aims to fight poverty, promote education and human rights, and protect the culture of the Karen people of Burma. She received her MA in politics and development from the University of East Anglia
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
in May 2008.
Today, she resides in the UK, in an apartment in north London.
Zoya has two brothers and one sister. Say Say, her older brother, was adopted by her parents when she was four months old, and her younger brother Slone Phan was born when she was two. Nant Bwa Bwa Phan, her older sister, is currently the UK representative of the Karen National Union. Slone currently lives in Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Canada, where he studied at the University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...
and became active in the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, an organization assisting refugees coming into Manitoba.
Awards and recognition
In 2009, Zoya became a TEDTED (conference)
TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
Fellow. In March 2010, she was honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
(WEF).